Recently the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that vaccinated individuals should feel comfortable entering all indoor spaces without their masks. As the pandemic winds to a close, restaurants have either begin or are planning to begin allowing full indoor dining without restrictions.
It’s great news for business owners! However, many individuals may still feel uncomfortable eating inside, and it will take some extra effort in order to ensure your restaurant is a comfortable environment.
Ready to get back to normal? Here are our tips for helping your customers feel comfortable coming back through your doors.
Keep Gloves and Masks an Option
While it’s no longer a requirement, we know from McKinsey reports that customers feel safer when it seems their food is being handled with the upmost of safety standards in mind. Therefore, it’s important that certain precautions be taken to show your customers that you’re keeping them top of mind.
Aside from masks, it may be a good idea to continue to have wait staff and others wear gloves for the protection of customers. Pandemic aside, these measures are great for ensuring foodborne illnesses and other diseases aren’t passed along. A more apprehensive crowd will appreciate the extra effort, and of course, keeping masks optional for the time being may also help with bringing in crowds.
Use Your Growth Marketing Tools!
If you’re using a growth marketing toolset with powerful communication functionality like Franpos, an easy way for you to put your customers at ease is by reaching out directly and explaining your approach.
Knowledge is power—and giving your customers the knowledge that they will be safe eating at your restaurant can mean the difference between a slow night and a jam-packed store!
Seeking inspiration? Why not message your customers explaining you’re offering a certain percentage off for a particularly slow day or explain how you’re keeping their safety top of mind!
Even without a physical or financial incentive, the time you spent reaching out to your customers will be remembered!
Offer Those Alternatives!
Just because indoor dining is back doesn’t mean it’s time to pack up curbside and remote delivery! For those particularly apprehensive customers, it means a lot for you to continue bringing food directly to their cars with a smile.
And, with delivery management tools built into your point of sale system like Franpos, you can manage your delivery orders directly from your store’s cash register!
It also may be worth considering making some of your COVID changes permanent. For instance, curbside delivery or extended delivery radius’ will be great as the future of food service continues to innovate and thrive both inside the restaurant—and out!
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for a way to keep your customers happy, we strongly recommend you take some time to consider our tips or simply work on ways you can make your customers feel at ease coming back to the store!
And, if you want a total solution for your business, the Franpos solution gives you the ability to implement growth marketing, delivery, eCommerce, and much more right into your register! For more information, please reach out for a free demo today!
