How to Keep Customers Coming Amid COVID-19

It’s no secret your restaurant’s customers are scared of getting sick. Restaurant operators are, too, but they’re also afraid COVID-19 will keep guests from coming to their restaurants. The disease is putting restaurants between the proverbial rock and a hard place. It may be possible, however, to ease a sales slowdown by making sure guests know that your restaurant is taking the necessary precautions to keep employees and customers safe. Here are several ways to accomplish that.

• Make sure your back-of-the-house staff wear gloves at all times, as do employees preparing/handling ingredients in plain sight of customers.
• Make sure hand-sanitizer, soap and paper towel dispensers in your bathrooms are always filled.
• Servers and managers should explain, if asked, your restaurant’s daily FOH cleaning procedures; they should also note that employees who show flu-like symptoms are instructed to stay home or are sent home.
• Think about carrying an electronic thermometer and use it to take the temperature of employees who may feel sick.
• Send employees home if they are sick.
• Get ready for delivery with appropriate packaging and menu items. If you do not use a third-party delivery service, you or your manager may have to deliver food yourselves to customers.
• Also check to see if ghost kitchens are in your area and if they can accommodate your menu and make deliveries.