"May you live in interesting times"
A Chinese curse
As the threat from COVID-19 takes hold of the hospitality industry are you doing everything you can to try and minimise the impact on your business?
Here are my Top 5 suggestions for trying to coronavirus proof your business:
1. Cleaning & sanitising
Now is not the time to go soft on cleaning.
You need to to double down on your cleaning and sanitising efforts as well as make these processes visible to your customer base.
Wipe down tables and chairs with sanitiser after every customer leaves
Remove the bucket of cutlery and napkins from the table as this is quite possibly unsanitary
Use sanitary gloves for every thing, even your servers.
2. Rent relief
This has the potential to hit at every level of Australian business.
If multiple restaurants and cafes go to the wall, there will be no one lining up to take over these businesses in the foreseeable future, so either way the landord is going to be out of pocket. Use your relationship with him to strike a deal.
Look at reduced rent, no rent or come up with your own proposal. Remember to involve your lawyer.
3. Grab 'n' Go
As the prospect of a total shutdown looms is it time to consider repositioning your front counter to a servery window or front door and redesigning your menu to make everything ready for a grab and go style operation.
Count the number of people who walk past your front door, it is bound to be a huge number and then realise that they are all potential customers. I don't think people are going to stop drinking coffee or ordering their lunch anytime soon and they may welcome the chance to purchase these things from you, especially if you make it easy to do.
Maybe you need a mobile bench to help set this up.
4. Chest freezers
To make sure you have adequate supplies of the products you need to keep your business operational, it might be time to buy a commercial chest freezer for your business.
Yesterday we had multiple enquiries for these items so your competitors might already be thinking of this as a possibility.
5. Hot & Cold Food displays
If you don't already have hot & cold food displays then now might be the time to look at these as an option.
Any grab and go style menu will benefit from both of these style units and they can definitely speed up service.
There are many different styles to choose from, from counter top to freestanding models.
In this difficult time maybe you should consider hanging on to your cash and using a product similar to Silverchef to purchase any new equipment. You can always pay it down when things improve.
Don't dream, do...
SilverChef understand that every hospitality business journey is unique.
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