How Covid-19 is changing the way restaurants operate
The Covid-19 outbreak has become not only a challenge for public catering places, but also the impetus for development. The pandemic made all the restaurants and cafes owners be proactive and set priorities, forcing their mass closure and throwing millions of workers and their local suppliers out of work. It’s been estimated that over 2.2 million restaurants worldwide won’t reopen even after the crisis.
Due to new health and sanitization recommendations being given to all the catering places, bars, pubs and shops all those who wanted to stay afloat were forced to rethink their arrangements. Plexiglass and planters space division, hand-washing stations and airflow were included in the top-list for installation.Those who couldn’t manage such costs had limited their sitting places via table plan changes in order to create a safe spot for clients.
Cost optimization has become the next thing to take care of. Business owners started paying more attention to pricing management, revealing real net costs and corporate performance, started using more analytics and inventory management.
A big step for many businesses was the introduction of online ordering and delivery systems. While people have been forced to move all their activities home the number of online orders has grown exponentially. Near 88% of customers all over the glob make a reservation online nowadays. Statista has recently pulled the data that shows that these numbers will only grow, projecting online ordering for restaurants to be a 32.2 billion dollar segment by 2024. They also predict the revenue in the online food delivery segment will reach $26.5 billion by the end of 2020. 25-34-year-olds will be the largest segment to use online ordering that is a round 32% with 34-44-year-olds in second - 24%.
The pandemic has forced people to look at nutrition in a new way. In order to meet new customer requests restaurants are to focus on removing processed or prepackaged ingredients from their inventory, on using seasonal produce to ensure peak freshness, sourcing ingredients locally from all-natural farms.The studies also show that although small restaurants and cafes seek financial support they are more willing to survive thanks to the narrow focus and greater specialization of their menu.
A ghost kitchen is to become a new trend in catering industry which represents a restaurant that only operates out of a kitchen with no dining space. For restaurant owners such structure means lower overhead costs, no need in service staff and delivery-only ordering. The main thing they should invest into is creating a good website for their restaurants and building strong online presence.To make the most of the new format in marketing strategy and keep everything in safe as well it’s useful to install a glass window into the kitchen which allows pick-up customers to watch chefs preparing their orders.
The last but not the least is personalization of the product. In times when everything is unstable the only time people can relax is while enjoying their lunch. Even a simple signature wishing a good day with the name of a client will affect the psychology of the consumer encouraging him to choose this particular restaurant. Also the ability to personally customize the order by making an order through online systems will give an additional advantage. Ord.to ordering system was created taking into account all the requirements that are to become new trends in the service sector. Ord.to main goal is not only to help restaurants and shops survive but to grow and reach a new level following the technological change.
