Filipinos are known for their love of good food. They are always thrilled whenever a new café or restaurant opens in their area. As such, you are practically set for success if you are in the foodservice business unless you fail to set up your business correctly and provide a pleasant customer experience.
Although cooking and serving meals to people may seem quite simple, in reality, operating a restaurant tends to be a complicated endeavor. The task requires more than merely offering good food in the right location. If you want to stay ahead of the competition and build a solid reputation in the industry, you need to improve your overall operations. In this article, we’ll talk about several ways to do so.
Create an Official Website
From selecting a place to dine in to purchasing various products, many Filipinos do a quick online search before deciding what and where to spend their hard-earned money. So, if your food business does not have an official website, you are alienating a large number of your potential customer base.
Having a website improves your establishment’s image as a business and allows you to showcase your menu offerings and other products and services for next to nothing. Ensure that you post appetizing photos and descriptions of every food item you are providing. Do not forget to synergize your website-based efforts and your social media marketing to entice more followers.
Moreover, it would be best to upgrade your website’s functionality by introducing different solutions that improve your service quality, such as online reservation and ordering systems. You can also integrate an efficient online payment solution, like the Maya Checkout Plug-in, so your website can directly accept credit card,debit card, e-wallet, and other types of payment as soon as your customer places an order. It doesn’t matter if your website runs on the Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, there’s a Maya Checkout Plug-in that’s suited to your restaurant’s needs.
Incorporate Delivery Services in Your Business
If there’s one thing to learn about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that businesses should always be ready to adopt new methods to reach their customers. Delivery services have been the primary tool for many food and beverage (F&B) establishments to survive during the pandemic, and it will most likely become an integral part of any restaurant operation from now on.
Be sure that your business will not fall behind others by also offering food delivery. If you already have one, continue improving your services by adopting new technology to make the process more convenient for your customers. For instance, you can expand your payment methods by using the Maya ONE Lite device.
Through this portable payment solution, your patrons have the option to pay using their credit, debit, or prepaid cards and e-wallets, essentially supporting what is known as “cashless on delivery” method. They can also scan and pay using Maya QR for truly contactless transactions as there is no need to exchange cards. When you adopt such technologies, you provide a better customer experience and improve your restaurant’s efficiency at the same time.
Entice New Customers While Focusing on Your Regulars
Marketing is a significant part of your operations. Review your strategies to ensure that you are not solely focusing on attracting new customers. Take note that any successful food service venture relies on repeat customers, which is why it is essential to make building customer loyalty and preventing customer churn vital parts of your business.
Try using the latest technologies that will allow you to manage multiple campaigns and platforms automatically to ease your burden. You can also create a loyalty program for your regulars so that they’ll keep coming back. Your incentives can include giving them discounts during their birthdays or gifting them with a free meal once they dine at least ten times.
You can also reward customers who bring their friends along or offer similar perks for frequent diners. After all, Filipinos value belongingness and family. Make them feel welcome and at home, and you will have a network of people who will promote your business for free.
Communicate with Your Staff and Provide the Necessary Tools
Whether you realize it or not, your staff is the extension of your establishment. Their actions and demeanor impact your restaurant’s image. Ensure that everyone is aligned with your mission and vision for the business by communicating with them regularly even after completing the training period.
Get their ideas about improving operational efficiency since they are the ones who are in the best position to identify pain points. Encourage them to be on the lookout for tools and technologies that could help boost their productivity.
It could be about acquiring a POS payment gateway, like the Maya ONE device, which can speed up the customer payment process, or it could be an online ordering system that would help your restaurant in terms of having a better delivery service. It could even be a suggestion for something as simple as acquiring more supplies for the restaurant. Whatever it is, make sure that you maintain an open line of communication.
Maintain Cleanliness and Health Standards
As the country continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining cleanliness and observing health and safety standards should be a top priority for all food establishments. Whether you are limiting your dining customers or focusing solely on take-outs and deliveries, implementing cleanliness and sanitation protocols should be the norm in your operation.
Make it a habit to clean and sanitize your kitchen and other areas before, during, and after every use. Do not skimp on alcohol and sanitizers by placing these items in different places to ensure that every staff member can keep their hands clean at every move. Cover your utensils, sanitize commonly touched surfaces frequently, provide masks, check your staff’s temperature at the start of the day, and observe utmost care during food preparation and storage.
The items above are just a few ways you can improve the operations of your café or restaurant so that your customers will always have a pleasant experience. Start with these suggestions, but make sure to learn and adopt more of these best practices going forward. After all, boosting your efficiency and improving the quality of your operations will likely lead to profitability long-lasting success.
