St. Louis, MO (StLouisRestaurantReview) The entire country is behind the unfortunate chain of events that have plagued the restaurant industry.
Some communities have begun to allow restaurants to reopen on a limited capacity. 25% of normal capacity is the normal guideline in many communities now.
While some have made this event political as a restaurant owner you have to do what is best in order to survive. Some thoughts to keep in mind.
You have no guarantee that more lock-downs won’t be mandated. Additionally, we, as a society, have no guarantees that the war on COVID-19 is over because of the vaccine. Now there are three more strains of the virus. There is still a lot of unknown factors that have not been discovered.
Preserve cash, eliminate all unnecessary expenses. Maintain a low payroll and negotiate with vendors to help make it through this pandemic. Having said that, to be realistic, we know that many restaurants have failed, and more will fail.
Exercise extreme caution in making related financial decisions. Seek the advice of a professional because there are times that a business owner can be too close to the situation to view it from all perspectives.
Maintain control of expenses, use good accounting practices, increase sales through online ordering and delivery, and do as much work yourself as you can do.
As for marketing, social media is affordable and highly effective. Avoid print ads and leverage the powers of the web and always use your own online ordering system to increase margin.
There is no secret to survival. Nobody knows what the future holds, but prudent decisions will help survive this pandemic.
Wikipedia page – Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the food industry
