It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a catastrophic impact on the national and global economy. World economies are currently struggling to contain rising unemployment rates as well as drastic downturns in GDP. As well as all of the health implications of the virus, economies are also being hit incredibly hard. One of the sectors struggling most is the hospitality industry. Restaurants, bars, café and hotels are under some of the most strict COVID restrictions and, as such, have had to completely alter the way their businesses operate. Although times are tough, it’s important that the hospitality industry learns lessons from this crisis and makes changes that will foster lasting success. From deepening ties with local wholesale food distributors to investing in delivery infrastructure, we’ve covered lessons the hospitality industry can learn from COVID.
Sell ‘Make at Home’ Kits
With restrictions on the number of patrons allowed inside restaurants and bars during COVID and a hangover of those restrictions likely to continue, many businesses are seeking ways to diversify their business. As people are likely to remain anxious about heading out, footfall may continue to be well below what it used to be for some time. If you run a café, restaurant or bar, one way to diversify is to market and sell ‘make at home’ kits.
If you have a signature dish, drink or snack product, you can sell the ingredients and recipe to your customers for them to make at home. Once you are back up and running, your customers will be able to enjoy these products back in your establishment. If you’re worried that your customers aren’t going to return if they can make your products at home, only sell limited quantities of these kits or leave out some favourites that can only be bought when you re-open. If your customers are loyal and your brand identity is strong enough, these kits can whet the appetite of your customers and see them pouring back in when you’re allowed to re-open again.
Invest Further In Delivery and Takeaway Services
As well as selling ‘make at home’ kits, you can also improve the delivery and takeaway infrastructure at your business. These services will help improve the diversification of your business and add revenue streams for the future. You never know, you might end up prioritising deliveries in the future if they become popular!
Act As part of The Comunity Supporting Local Businesses and Working Together
COVID has hit a wide range of businesses equally hard. For that reason, supporting the local business community can help you to grow back stronger together. By working closely with local wholesale food distributors, manufacturers and other organisations in your area, you’ll be able to strengthen the local economy. Supporting each other at this critical time fosters positive and lasting relationships into the future. If we don’t work together and instead create a competitive siege mentality between local businesses, everyone is set to fail. Communicate with other businesses in the area, local wholesale food distributors and other organisations to create a common strategy for community survival.
Keep Some of The Tech Innovations
COVID has forced companies to adopt new forms of technology to ensure they are compliant with strict COVID regulations. For example, many bars, restaurants and cafés have been using apps to take orders while customers sit at their tables. This has become popular among many patrons and is a solution that could be used in the future to improve customer experience. Although many of the tech innovations during COVID have been necessary, some of them might be advantageous post-COVID.
Use In-House Data To Improve Customer Experience
By keeping tech solutions – like digital sign-ins for table service – you can also improve the customer experience and learn where to refine your service. Using the data you gather from these sign-ins – as long as you’re compliant with GDPR – you can ask your customers to provide feedback, advice and complete surveys to improve your own business. As well as this, as long as customers opt-in to email communications, you can increase email newsletters to give yourself a growing bank of loyal customers to market and advertise to.
Marketing Ideas For Survival Post-COVID
When re-opening your business, you’ll have to have a great marketing strategy in mind to ensure you stay open and can survive after this tough period. Consider new marketing plans like video recipes on social media, refreshing your website, creating an app, video webinars and other innovative ideas to market your business. Coming out of this tough period makes us all think about how we can better the industry and our businesses as a whole.
Diversification is Key
As mentioned already, diversification is vital for businesses going forward post-COVID. It’s become more apparent that businesses need to protect themselves, their staff and their customers, which is likely to see an increase in the range of products and services provided. Whether you opt for increased takeaway options, the idea of ‘make at home kits’ or any other ways of diversifying products, having more that one string to your bow is critical.
Consider Post-COVID Discount Period To Bring In Custom
When you open back up, it’s going to be a celebration. To celebrate the reopening of your pub, bar, restaurant or café, you could run a period of discounts. Not only will this give something back to the customers who have stuck with you through thick and thin, but it also helps to shake off the cobwebs and entice new customers through the doors. Increasing footfall with alluring deals and discounts will help to ensure that you get a kickstart. These deals could be a recurring strategy on a rolling monthly basis to ensure your property is always full of happy, paying customers.
Prepare For More People Working From Home and Adapt
More and more people are going to be working from home for the foreseeable future. The COVID pandemic has changed the way we all work. If you’re a pub or restaurant operating mainly in the evening, this may not impact your work too much. However, for cafés, commuter footfall is often a huge chunk of revenue. Rather than pretending this issue will go away, it’s vital to adapt. Think of initiatives to accommodate those working from home. For example, you could sell breakfast packages to customers in the local area, run a discount for customers between the usual commuter times or advertise your place as a free wifi hub with quiet zones for those working remotely.
Choose Freshways As Your Wholesale Food Distributors
Have you been searching for wholesale food distributors who can guarantee you high-quality service at a competitive price? If so, look no further than Freshways. We are the UK”s largest independent processing dairy and well-renowned wholesale food distributors. We’re dedicated to providing all of our customers with the highest quality produce as well as excellent customer service. We pride ourselves on our independence. As a family-run business, we foster close relationships with our clients as well as having a large, national reach. When searching for the best wholesale food distributors for your business, choose Freshways.
We understand just how important the quality of the products you sell is for the lasting success of your organisation. That’s why, as wholesale food distributors, we are committed to supplying only the highest quality fresh products at a competitive price. Get in touch with a friendly member of the team today for further insight into our services.
To find out more about our services, please feel free to contact us today. You can find us at our head office at 16 Eastman Road, Acton, London, W3 7YG. Alternatively, call us on 0208 746 2046 or email us at nfo@freshways.co.uk.