The pandemic has shaken the hospitality industry. The people opting for the services have become less than half of what it was in the pre-pandemic era.
Restaurants being one of the largest in the hospitality sector had the maximum impact. Adoption of newer ways to stay afloat and sail through in such a situation is what they eagerly need.
The rise of third-party delivery apps in such a scenario has its good and bad impact on the industry. What else can the London restaurants do for restaurant marketing to increase their reach in such times?
Increasing Social Media Ads
With more and more people working from home, they have the same routine every day. The monotonous routine makes life mundane and uninteresting. They end up spending more time on social media platforms.
This regimen of theirs is a wonderful opportunity for you as a restaurateur to reach your audience. Use high-quality images for your posts and create promo codes that can help you drive the demand for your food. Tracking the conversions from the digital space or collecting their feedback can help you better design your restaurant marketing plan.
It often happens that the restaurant has a chef-owner who runs the place or a single owner who gets overwhelmed by the volume of work. If you are in any such situation, you can check the work of any London marketing agency of repute.
Online Cooking Classes
People learn the best when they watch something in action. There are ways that restaurants can engage with their clients. Hosting online cookery classes can help you give them a taste of the food that you make and give them a chance to experience new cuisine.
There are MasterClass videos that teach how to make exquisite dishes. But being able to mimic such dishes at home often becomes difficult. You can conduct classes online to teach easier tricks to handle such foods.
Contests involving your clients can help you increase interaction and engagement with the restaurant. Although it is not a quick revenue stream encouraging process, it can help increase the top-of-mind recall for your restaurant.
Combo Kits
Buying a meal from a restaurant or takeaway joint often delights us. Getting to try the experience is an addition that is hard to replace. Recent trends show some restaurants have come out with DIY kits of restaurant-quality meals and drinks. The good thing about these is they can give them a taste of the restaurant food but do not replicate the experience completely.
It also allows the family a fun activity where they can bond better. A fun date night or a cooking challenge can be good creative alternatives to all-day TV bingeing.
It is beneficial not only for the consumers but for the restaurant owners too. Restaurant economics broadly involves the crucial elements – food costs, labor, and rent. As the demand for the restaurants dropped, the relieving staff took place but what about the food? The food rotted with no takers.
As the labor is by the customers in such initiatives, restaurants can focus on the plan for their phase-wise opening. The fewer resources available can help sanitize the areas and prepare for the opening.
Though there may not be many takers for such initiatives, it is worth offering under such circumstances. People go out to dine for comfort, if the same can be available at their friend’s or family’s place, then what’s the harm in it?
Donated Meals
Though restaurants are one of the most affected sectors, they have undertaken massive meal donation drives during the pandemic. The medical staff has been working tirelessly throughout the pandemic. Giving a warm meal free of charge can be the best way to say thank you.
Restaurants are going overboard to help the medical staff. Many of them give special shoutouts to the hospitals through social media platforms. Highlight the support that you are giving through a dedicated segment.
The clients knowing about such initiatives by their favorite brands boost their confidence. It secures a loyalty that the brand can harness for perpetuity.
So you can opt for the above practices to try and reach your customers in such desperate times. It is also worth mentioning that these initiatives are not exhaustive, and you may follow other processes that you feel are apt for your restaurant. Looking after the community and focussing to connect with the customers can never go wrong for any business.
