Female chef washing hands in the commercial kitchen
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By Ed Avis, Publisher, and Kathleen Furore, Editor
This is a scary time for everyone—including for restaurant owners and employees who are seeing fewer and fewer of their business’ seats filled with diners, who are practicing social distancing and self-quarantining to combat the coronavirus.
We here at el Restaurante share your fear—and your pain. So while we can’t stave off the virus, we’ve put together a few tips we hope might help keep business flowing during these uncertain times:
1) Take extra sanitation steps to put customers at ease.
Puesto Restaurants in Southern California stressed their efforts in an email to customers: “We have increased cleanings and sanitizations during open hours and with after-hour deep cleans. We’ve emphasized health protocol with all employees, including washing hands with soap and water for 20 seconds each and every time; sanitizations of tables and menus; avoiding touching of the face; and heightened personal hygiene. The back of the house team will continue to use gloves when handling all food. Most importantly, any staff showing signs of illness will stay home.”
Rustic Canyon Restaurants in Santa Monica removed all self-serve drink stations and cutlery stations, took all toys out of their kids’ areas, installed more hand sanitizer stations, and have encouraged credit card use instead of cash.
Click here for guidance from the National Restaurant Association about this.
2) Offer a special on gift cards. $100 in gift cards for $90 might be one place to start. This would bring in cash now to keep your bills paid and give your customers an incentive to visit your restaurant once this crisis passes. Rustic Canyon encouraged gift card purchase with this email: “This is a scary time for many people, but it's also a very nerve-wracking time for local, independent businesses. … One way to support, if you're not comfortable visiting public spaces, is to purchase gift cards from your favorite local businesses in as high denominations as you're comfortable with. That allows businesses to have funds accessible to pay employees during these slow-downs, and gives you cards to redeem when you're ready to go out and have some fun again!”
3) Offer a discount for delivery, drive-through or curbside pickup. Old Pueblo Restaurant in Chicago sent customers an email offering 15 percent off all curbside pickup. It said, “We understand you might want to navigate these uncertain times from the comfort of your own home. We’d like to help.”
4) If your restaurant can handle it, encourage customers to order delivery directly from you rather than through GrubHub, Postmates or another service. This will save you the commission, and you can ensure customers that no one else is handling their food.
5) If you have the room, consider spreading out tables to increase the “social distance” among your customers. Or seat only every other table. Guelaguetza Restaurant in Los Angeles did the former and told customers about it in an email: “Our entire team is being extremely cautious in handling anything and everything. We’ve also spread out tables in our dining room to give everyone a safe distance from one another.”
6) If you have a patio, remind customers of that dining option. The CDC advises that “open, well-ventilated spaces” are safer than confined spaces, and patios certainly fall into that category.
7) Finally, remember that everyone is stressed right now, so maybe a little humor can help. Tacos Tequila Whiskey in Denver sent a super-funny “Step-by-step guide for thriving through the Coronavirus." It started with: “…We’d like to take a moment to say, ‘Fuck You, Coronavirus!’ We’re all adults here and everybody’s thinking it. Covid-19…you suck. Scream it at the top of your lungs. Right now. Get it all out. Doesn’t that feel better? Now go make yourself a margarita, if you have the means, and then come back to read the rest of our step-by-step guide… (Click here to read the whole hilarious email)
Click here to read how the CARES Act can help your restaurant.
Ed Avis is the publisher of el Restaurante magazine, and Kathy Furore is the editor. Is your restaurant doing something innovative to deal with this situation? Tell us and we'll share it with other readers!