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Month: May 2020

Future of Restaurant Business

Posted on by inrestoblog

The COVID-19 outbreak has had a crippling effect on the restaurant industry business. In restaurants across India, over the past few weeks, owners have gotten increasingly used to the sight of deserted halls and the soundtrack of total, eerie silence. In many eateries, there are no happy hours and no money flowing in; electricity has been switched off in the dining areas, casting a particularly dark, motionless shadow on what used to be a lively spot in the town. 

The implementation of a countrywide lockdown by the Government of India has pushed businesses in a corner. Restaurants across the country had to adapt to restrictions such as delivery only; customers cannot dine-in, or will face total permanent closure. Select restaurants have adopted the cloud kitchen concept; with only a functional kitchen. They are focusing on food delivery to continue operations at some level.

But it doesn’t have to be as eerie as it sounds.

Transition time

For many, this sudden transition means an abrupt change of their modus operandi. Many restaurants are renegotiating terms with landlords and shifting into a revenue share model to survive. Many restaurants have gone back to the blackboard and started revamping their food menu; while some are scrambling to work out a deal with food delivery partners.

Menu Re-engineering –

  1. Shortlist the most popular/sought after items from the existing menu
  2. New items based on taste palette and local ingredients

The shortlisted items should be assessed based on required ingredients, their availability, prep-time, travel friendliness and delivery radius. This transition from dine-in to delivery can be extremely daunting, but the result can make a huge difference when it comes to bouncing back to business. It is essential to recognise the fact that this sudden change in model is a means to survive and not necessarily thrive. 

The world is changing and with that comes along behavioural changes as well. This means the social norms are constantly evolving and undergoing change. And to be able to operate in a changing world, we need a revised operating model. 

So how can we get cracking at a revised modus operandi?

Rearrange Dining Area Layout

Once this stringent lockdown is lifted, diners would want to experience what life was like before the onset of this fatal virus. This won’t be without caution and constant doubt. In such a scenario, it is important to share the precautionary measures being taken by your restaurants with the diners. One such measure is a limited seating capacity. Health advisory by WHO suggests people stay at least one meter away while socially interacting.

Rearrange your seating layout and maintain a 2-meter distance between tables to build confidence amongst diners and successfully cater to them.

Delivery only

Restaurants are a communal place for our society and provide entertainment to people from all walks of life. But not all restaurants can operate on limited seating arrangement only. In such cases, food delivery comes to the rescue. If running on usual business hours is not suitable, then restaurants can map out certain hours when the demand is high and operate during those hours. This will reduce nonessential operational cost. They can also anticipate demand, prepare a delivery-only menu and provide a wholesome meal to their diners stuck at home. 

Additionally, staff members who were once servers could work as delivery agents and sustain their livelihood.

Curbside Service and Drive Through

Many popular food joints across India have been operating on this model. The food is delightful here, and that’s what the diners come for. One such example is Rajinder Da Dhaba in New Delhi. It has a dine-in facility, but even then diners park their cars outside and enjoy a good meal in their vehicles.

If your restaurant has an ample amount of parking space, utilise it by converting it into a drive-through or curbside restaurant facility. Prepare a parking space model for crowd control. And invest in new serving containers that fit this way of serving. In case of lack of space for curbside service, restaurants can also adopt a drive-through model where diners can place an order, pick and get going.

Food Trucks

In the recent past, this operating model has witnessed a lot of interest, especially within the food festival community. Now it’s time to revamp our modus operandi and join the game. 

Once the lockdown is lifted, restaurants, especially with multiple outlets, can look to revise and adopt this. There are popular pockets in every city that have become a hub for people. One such spot is office spaces. There are plenty across our cities, and many working professionals scrolling through their Instagram looking at food. 

The first place anyone will visit, post the lockdown, is their office and it is an opportune place for your restaurant to be. Reach your diners if they can’t reach you. Create meal packs in your kitchen, dispatch them to areas where the diners have easy access. And Voila!

While all of these are ways for your business to continue operations, it is also crucial to have a sound inventory management system that helps you avoid losses. This shift is necessary as the priorities for both diners as well as restaurants have changed now.

So, let’s get cracking!

Revival Steps of Restaurant Industries in the Middle East

Posted on by inrestoblog

How are the restaurateurs in UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries resurrecting their business in the aftermath of the coronavirus lockdown? The countries which have set to open their market shed light on how Indian restaurants could act post-lockdown. Industry stalwarts from the international market—Avinash Ratta (CEO| Managing Director, Grain Velocity), Sajan Alex (Manager | Tablez Food Company), Kamran Khan (Managing Director | AIM Restaurant Consultancy & Marketing)— shared their thoughts on Dineout’s latest Facebook Live hosted by Vivek Kapoor, (Co-founder | Dineout). 

New Business Models

In an unprecedented lockdown situation where everyone is struggling to survive, restaurateurs can – 

Realign strategies and business models according to post-lockdown business prospects: Include social distancing, sanitising, creating hygiene-oriented supply chain into novel models. These will garner consumer confidence by ensuring hygiene-specific concerns are addressed at the right time. Clean the slate: Build new prototypes, models, and supply chains, emphasise cleaning material as both operational and marketing tool, rework PNLs and costs. Comparative cuisines, virtual brands collaborating with online aggregators, using chatbots for customer interaction, building cloud-kitchens with aggregators, customer loyalty apps. Shifting priorities and pecking orders: Short-run fixed costs cannot change with a drop in business; reducing customer pessimism is the new priority. 

Contactless Dining

Many restaurateurs are looking at contactless dining to remove nonessential human interaction and continue to safeguard both diners and staff interest. Diners are skeptical about stepping out and wary about touching un-sanitised surfaces. They want to avoid touching things like currency notes, which goes through multiple hand exchanges. To counter that, restaurants need to build trust and habits that reassures anxious diners. 

There are a multitude of touchpoints with a diner that restaurateurs are looking to modify and facilitate with the introduction of technology. These can be simple actions like booking a table, pre-ordering meals, takeaway, digital ordering, digital payment, etc. Priority for diners will shift and restaurants are planning accordingly. 

New Government Regulations (UAE)

Continuous sanitisation, testing each member of staff, consistently cleaning of premises is mandatory. 

Restaurants must register in the food watch portal and ensure compliance Utilise restaurant dining space with a maximum 30% for seating guests capacity. Impose restrictions discouraging children less than 12 and old people from dining. Use disposable cutleries and crockery for diners, and masks and gloves for staff. Ensure that the produce arrives through legitimate and trustworthy channels (countries of origin must be known). Provide leadership-level training, with trained person-in-charge (PIC) on every restaurant shift certified to maintain food hygiene. Ensure minimal risks for diners and open restaurants in a phased manner. As one cannot control customer confidence due to the asymptomatic nature of coronavirus.

Religious Tourism

This has come to a sudden halt and adversely affected tourism-related businesses. 

Coronavirus has upended the core of the hospitality industry. Reviving the aspect of personal touch in such an environment has become a task. Curfew has been lifted now, but only for takeaway or home delivery will be operational in the first phase. This has led to small-time restaurants struggling to make ends meet, while big ones show decreased revenues. 

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)

Business models (fine/casual/quick-dining services) must be analysed, along with differences in dining traffic. In the QSR industry in UAE, takeaway/online ordering traffic almost matches the casual dining traffic; convenient in a lockdown situation. Now, the takeaway concept must be made more viable to increase diner traffic. Businesses belonging to families, e.g. Americana group etc. concept clusters which can be collated across locations to drive further synergies.  Innovative food & beverages businesses are creating ordering platforms from where consumers can directly order food, eliminating middlemen, as existing models lead to lowered sales, revenue, and capacity. M&A must review concept clusters and formats: Revenue can be managed with cost-effective rentals and mobile sales opportunities.  Attract the swaying public who are torn between delivery and dining: Restaurants can hold evening shows, quizzes on dining brands and experience etc. 

Loyalty Programs 

Businesses cannot survive solely on home delivery models, as the costs would increase beyond rental, food, and dining costs. Plus, food becomes the only selling commodity in online delivery.  Re-engineer and remodel: Smart utilization of dining space, delivery-friendly menus, alternative supply chains due to reduction in international transport/mobility, increased non-cash transactions to revive revenue, and digitization of orders and transactions. 

In conclusion, contactless, hygienic, and safe order delivery is integral to increasing diner loyalty and restart business.

Our Diners and Restaurants are Ready for Contactless Dining

Posted on by inrestoblog

The worldwide pandemic has brought the whole world to a standstill. This has had a widespread effect on individuals as well as businesses. The restaurant industry has been gravely injured due to the lockdown. But that never stopped diners from craving their favourite dishes. The new social commentary in the form of memes paints a significant picture for us.

As human beings and a social community, we have undergone immense change. Usually this change has been gradual and slow paced. But as the world has suddenly halted to take notice, we are bound to change few things to fit into the new narrative. The restaurant industry too is posed with an improved way of operations, and luckily we have been able to unravel the same.

Contactless Dining | The way forward for restaurant industry

The world is gearing up for a ‘new normal’. The restaurant industry is not far behind, either. But what does this new normal entail for us? The answer is in technology. And we have figured out the best way to integrate tech with the existing operating model, without compromising on the human side of the hospitality business.

Contactless Dining comes to the rescue here, enabling restaurants to serve these diners in a safe and secure environment.

How does this work?

It aims at reducing nonessential physical interactions between staff and diners, keeping both the parties involved at a safe distance. It allows ease of business. These can be simple actions like booking a table, pre-ordering meals, takeaway, digital ordering, digital payment, etc. 

  • Contactless dining taking shape and working seamlessly with the existing restaurant operating model.
  • In-restaurant behaviour with respect to order placement, payment mode, and feedback is set to change dramatically. 
  • Restaurants will need to engage and interact with the diners closely and rebuild their trust. 
  • Diners standing outside the restaurant in a queue will be a thing of the past. Soon most visits will be pre-planned and booked in advance.
  • Hygiene and safety precautions will add to the deciding factor list of diners.

Read a more detailed White Paper with revamped guidelines, best practices and how exactly contactless dining is paving the way for the restaurant industry.

What’s on the Diners Mind?

We have been in constant touch with our diners, interacting and engaging with them. So, we took this opportunity to understand them better. We launched a survey to get a pulse of diner sentiments at this hour. What came to the surface was surprising and reassuring at the same time. 

Our diners are waiting with bated breath to visit their favourite restaurant and gorge on food.

  • The city that can’t wait to party hard is Bengaluru.
  • Diners miss casual dining the most. They want to sit back and relax as their favourite dishes get served to them in a beautiful setting.
  • Big Chill in delhi has many takers, guess their years of amazing service has left a lasting impression on the diners mind and soul.
  • What dish most diners want to devour? 100 points for guessing it right. It’s PIZZA!

This was just a taste of what the diners are looking forward to. Find out about their food preferences, reservation mode, what all they want to avoid.