As officials rush to get ahead of spreading coronavirus and mounting public alarm, restaurateurs are finding themselves on the wrong end of a worldwide lockdown.

As a restaurateur, your priority is obviously the safety of your team and your guests. But after ensuring a safe environment, you’ll need to get proactive — and creative — to stay afloat during the current period of lower dine-in business.

This article presents strategies and tips to help restaurants minimise the revenue impact of the coronavirus, and for driving new revenue where possible. We’ll cover the above-and-beyond precautions your restaurant needs to take to accept dine-in guests, how you can streamline your operation temporarily, and promotional initiatives you can take to drive revenue.

In these surreal times, remember that this situation is a chance for you to leverage and deepen relationships with your loyal customers. They’ll be the ones who will carry your business through the uncertain times ahead, and who will help you return to normal when the world emerges again.

HOW YOUR RESTAURANT CAN RESPOND TO THE CORONAVIRUS

No one knows how long this situation will last. Some are hoping that warm weather will slow the virus’ spread and let health officials get a hold of the situation; others are preparing for a very bleak few months. The only thing we know is that it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

The below advice falls into two categories: preventative measures you can take to minimize the revenue hit of the current slowdown, and proactive initiatives that can help you drive incremental revenue now — while setting your restaurant up for an eventual return to normalcy.

MAKE YOUR RESTAURANT FEEL LIKE A SAFE SPOT TO GUESTS

1. The first step in combating coronavirus is to make your restaurant as clean as possible. Soap really is effective. The virus is coated in an oily membrane, which means it is disintegrated by soap and water.
2. Pay special attention to any surface customers touch, like light switches and doors, and any system that circulates air. Provide antibacterial gloves for your team, especially if they handle cash. (Some operators are going temporarily cashless.) Finally, many restaurants have scheduled multiple daily professional cleanings. Take every initiative you can to keep your restaurant disinfected.
3. But don’t just clean to make your restaurant safe. Send a message to your customers that your restaurant is a haven from what’s outside.
4. Leave a hint of disinfectant in the air. Have your bussers make performances of wiping down tables and chairs after each guest leaves. Put up signage touting your frequent and committed sanitizing efforts. Add disinfectant napkins to service.
5. Make an abundance of caution part of your brand. Put language about your efforts on your site and in your booking flow. If you choose to put more space between tables, broadcast that on social media. Do everything you can to make guests seek out your restaurant as a place of refuge.
6. Use a commercial laundry for all your linen, Cleantex laundries specialise in linen and garment laundry services with rigorous, audited standards of infection control. They provide laundered linen using best practices and certifications to meet the Australian ISO 4146 standards for microbiological contamination control. You can rest assured that sterility has been comprehensively assessed throughout our collection, laundering and delivery processes.

OPEN UP YOUR RESERVATION POLICIES

Lower rates of walk-ins and new bookings mean that you should plan to overbook more than usual.

• Open up your pacing to allow more flexibility for when guests can book.
• Make more inventory reservable available across booking channels. This is a good time to leverage third-party booking channels.
• Revisit your cancellation policies to accommodate the situation. If you normally charge a no-show fee, for example, consider waiving it.
• Consider making changes to your floorplan. Some restaurants are removing tables so they can put more space between each guest.

You can also minimize no-shows by communicating with guests to confirm existing reservations. It’s a good opportunity to reassure guests of the precautions you’re taking, and to offer any promotions you have to get them to complete the reservation: a complimentary appetizer, drink, loyalty rewards, etc.