England is now in its third lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic and the hospitality industry has once again had to temporarily shut its doors. Whilst necessary to maintain the safety of customers, staff, and the public more generally, it’s certainly a blow to anyone involved in the sector. Whilst your restaurant is closed, all is not lost. Besides offering a delivery service, in this post we’re going to outline three ways restaurants can pivot during this lockdown. These suggestions will help you to continue bringing in revenue and keep you connected to your customers…
3 Ways Restaurants Can Pivot During Lockdown
01. Online Cooking Classes
Have a signature dish that is a hit with your diners? Why not host an online cooking class showing exactly how to recreate it at home. Now, this certainly won’t make attending your restaurant redundant as everyone knows the joy of eating out is the experience and having the food prepared for you!
This could be hosted on Zoom with an entrance fee, and also recorded for anyone to purchase who might have missed it the first time around. Should this be a hit, you could then do these weekly showing both dishes on your menu and family recipes that aren’t available at your restaurant…
02. Recipe Cards and eBooks
Similar to the classes, you could create recipe cards or eBooks full of different dishes people can try to recreate at home whilst they cannot visit for a sit down meal. These don’t require any sort of fancy graphics, just a clear ingredient list and set of instructions. These can then be sold at a premium as a way to experience your restaurant from home, at a time that suits the customer.
03. Ingredient Boxes
Assuming your suppliers are still operating, why not create ingredient boxes full of fresh produce to allow your customers to make delicious meals at home? These can tie into your recipe cards and be filled with pre-measured ingredients to make creating restaurant-quality food at home that little bit easier.
To go one step further, rather than just a main meal, you could also include the ingredients for starters and desserts as well as a bottle of wine or champagne. These can then be marketed as more of a special occasion product for birthdays, anniversaries, or Valentine’s Day whilst people are unable to go out and celebrate.
These are only three ideas of things that restaurants can do to continue making revenue during this lockdown, there are plenty of other strategies too. Whilst it’s naturally very upsetting to have had to close your doors, think of this as an opportunity to branch out and try something new!
