How Restaurants Can Generate Revenue During Coronavirus

If you are a local restaurant owner or staff member and fear the consequences of COVID-19 and are unsure of what to do, it may be time for a little innovation. Maybe you’ve thought of signing up for a third-party delivery platform or start your own delivery service and just never did. Well, now is the time!

We know that restaurants operate on tight margins on an everyday basis, let alone during an ever-evolving global pandemic. Because of this, a lot of people are trying their hardest to support local businesses right now. 

So, if you are a restaurant owner or staff member here are a few ways to make it easier for your customers to continue to support you, and to generate revenue during the COVID-19 shutdown.

One way to keep generating revenue is to offer Curbside/Pickup Services for your customers. It’s a sort of drive-thru for restaurants that don’t typically do that. 

This may seem like an easy fix to the COVID-19 shutdown, but it does come with its limitations and hardships so be sure to do your research before starting. 

Here are a few helpful tips from the National Restaurant Association that you should consider, like carefully structuring your staffing, investing in the appropriate packaging, and setting up the correct POS system for payment.

Check out this article from Entrepreneur on ‘Why Curbside Pickup Is the Right Thing to Do’ and to learn more about how to successfully start curbside-pickup services. 

ToastTab (Toast) is a restaurant platform that offers everything from a point of sale (POS) system to payroll management to online ordering directly from your restaurant. 

Today, you can get Toast Now for 3 months free with no hardware or POS purchase required. 

Toast Now allows guests to order directly from your restaurant with Toast Online Ordering where you can access thousands of potential guests, offer e-gift cards, and allow customers the ability to opt for pickup or contactless delivery. There is no third-party delivery platform, so there are no commission fees, but means that you have to supply the delivery drivers which could be good news for your staff looking to continue working. 

Toast is also offering a full list of resources that will help you, your restaurant, and your staff during this trying time. Be sure to take a look at their ‘Resources and Relief Programs Available to Restaurants During COVID-19’ for a full list of helpful information. 

Want the ability to offer delivery without hiring delivery drivers? Think about signing up for DoorDash or GrubHub. Using a third-party delivery service is great for restaurants that can’t or do not want to shoulder the cost of starting their own delivery service.

DoorDash is currently offering free sign up with zero commission fees for 30 days and a commission relief and marketing support package to help partner restaurants generate additional sales this year.

GrubHub has created Supper for Support to give restaurants $250 to use as promotional dollars. This move is to help restaurants boost orders through daily promotion inclusion and high value marketing.  

Working with a third-party delivery platform may seem overwhelming, but it does help to keep the orders flowing in. We recommend that you do as much research as possible to ensure you work with a company that you are more than comfortable with.

This may seem like a no brainer, but have you thought about selling gift cards for a lower amount than they are worth? Sell a $125 Gift Card for only $100 or sell a $250 Gift Card for $200. 

That may sound strange especially today, but it does give your customers an incentive to buy more than they originally would. It also ensures that customers do indeed come back when this is all over. 

We don’t mean to keep coming back to Toast, but the resources they are offering are endless. Rally for Restaurants is an easy way for people in or out of your community to support you.

This platform allows customers to decide how they want to give back. Customers can order takeout, buy a gift card or just donate money. Rally for Restaurants makes it easy for restaurants to sign up and even allows customers to add their favorite places onto the platform. 

They are also offering even more resources on what the CARES Act means for restaurant owners and staff. Be sure to take a look to see how it may help you. 

We’re not experts in the restaurant industry, but we do love food and our local restaurants. 

If you are a restaurant owner, we encourage you to do the research for yourself and take advantage of the many different programs out there trying to help.

If you are a staff member, bring these recommendations to your owners and sit down and discuss what you can all do together.

If you are like us, and just love food, now is your time to truly support local. If you are able, we encourage you all to go to your favorite restaurant, buy a gift card, order a meal for takeout or just donate. 

We’re all in this together and we’ll get through this together! #SupportLocal