Since the last month or so, Corona Virus has managed to penetrate across our Pakistani borders, and naturally, the number of people who have been affected by it is rising day by day. To get a hold of the situation, a lot of measures have been taken by the Pakistani government, including asking restaurants to stop the dine-in option for customers. 

The decision is right, and restaurants should take measures to ensure their customer’s and employees’ health is not affected by their working conditions. The takeaway and delivery option by restaurants and third party delivery services are available so customers can enjoy meal from their favourite restaurants from the safety of their homes easily. The trend to order food online in Islamabad and other measure cities of Pakistan is already very popular so, restaurants should take advantage of this, improve their marketing efforts and find ways to reduce their losses during these tough times. Some of the tips that they can use to reach this goal are as follows: 

Receive Orders Online: 

Even if you were allowed to offer dine-in services at your restaurant, most customers would be sceptical at dining in, but that doesn’t mean you need to send your employees home! Your loyal customers want your food, you just need to find a means to provide them with the food without endangering their health in any way. The fact of the matter is, the better your online ordering and delivery services, the more your business will prosper during these times. So, if you don’t have your delivery mechanism, partner with a third party delivery service, like foodnerd and instead of losing customers, gain new ones. 

Sanitization and Better Hygiene at Restaurants:

As COVID-19 can spread through surfaces, it is necessary to maintain top-notch hygiene standards at your restaurant. You should sanitize your restaurant after every 15 minutes or so, keep your tables, signboards, etc. clean. You should also ensure that your employees wash their hands a lot and use sanitizers too. Moreover, any person who visits your restaurant should be asked to use the sanitizer first and foremost. It is best to provide your chefs and staff members gloves and face masks to ensure better safety of themselves and others. 

Keep Menu Cards Clean: 

Restaurant menu cards are said to be dirtier than bathrooms because 100s of people per day touch them. You need to clean your menu cards every day to ensure that it is germ-free and print new ones after a specified period. Another good measure could be to provide your customers with digital menu cards that they can access through mobile phones or tablet, ensuring that no physical contact is involved at all. 

Feature Healthy Dishes on Your Social Pages: 

It is best to feature the most healthy dishes from your menu on your social pages these days. If you serve salads, especially! It is also a good idea to point out the nutritional value of each food item you post to make your customers feel good about what they are ordering! These small but easy to apply marketing strategies can significantly improve your sale statistics! 

Regular Posts about the Measures Taken By Your Restaurant: 

Your customers aren’t present at your restaurant 24/7, observing your every activity. It is wise to post on your social platforms and even the official website about the measures you have taken against COVID-19. The more popular you are on social media, the better your online presence will be, and the more online orders you will receive. 

These are tough times for everyone, but that doesn’t mean we should give up on our businesses. We should try to find ways to make things work for our customers and our employees. We can fight this if we get our minds together and start thinking of ways our business can function, keeping the current circumstances in mind. Foodnerd, for example, has done everything in its power to ensure that the riders are taking all the necessary steps to provide the customers' deliveries to them safely and securely.