Taking Care of Business
From all of us at VersiTech, we want to say that we’re heartbroken knowing how much everyone in the hospitality and food service industry is struggling right now. We know you’re under a lot of pressure and doing your best to manage. The reality is, it’s going to take large-scale financial relief to sustain small businesses. But in the meantime, we wanted to offer some steps your business can take to connect with customers and generate as much business as possible.
Ensure your address, phone number, and hours of operation are correct. Start with the basics. Make sure patrons know where you’re located and have a convenient way to contact you. If you've switched to take out or delivery, or if you've had to close your doors, make sure your hours are correct so that those who are trying to support you can do so.
Add VersiEats to your website. For the foreseeable future, we’re waiving fees for our customers to use VersiEats. If you’ve never used this tool before, it’s a simple online ordering platform that allows customers to easily view your up-to-date menu and place to-go orders. Call (800) 655-7349 or email support@versitech.com to get help setting up VersiEats for your business.
Help your customers help your staff. We created VersiTips, an online tip jar where any of your employees can apply to receive tips from people as they drink at home, or who simply want to support the local hospitality community. You can promote this, or use other virtual fundraisers like GoFundMe to support your business or your staff during these times. And don’t feel awkward about promoting this. These are unprecedented times and you can feel good about doing everything you can to help your employees.
Give customers the option to buy gift cards. Many people might not feel comfortable venturing out even to pick up food from your restaurant. Or, you may have closed your business temporarily. Gift cards give people a way to still support you through these tough times. We’d be happy to print gift cards for you, or help you add them to your VersiEats menu.
Stay top of mind with customers. Consider making a Facebook post with new hours, new offerings, safety measures, etc. and pin this post to the top of your Facebook page. This way, when someone comes to your page, they can easily find the important information about your business.
Find creative ways to generate business. Fast casual restaurants may have been slightly more prepared to adapt to these times. Their food is usually more portable and there’s a good chance they already had online and/or call-in takeout service in place. But that doesn’t mean fine dining restaurants have to hang up the aprons and wait for dine-in business to reopen. Seattle’s Canlis, an award-winning fine-dining restaurant, decided to temporarily shutter its restaurant Monday and open three new concepts in its place: A “bagel shed” for breakfast, a drive-thru burger spot for lunch, and a family-meal delivery service for dinner. Try repackaging your food and shifting your operations to serve customers in new ways.
Hopefully, someday soon things will be safe enough to put down your tables again, flip your closed sign to open, and welcome your guests with open arms. Until then, stay strong and stay connected with your local hospitality network. Reach out to other business owners, check in on each other, and share resources like these. Sticking together is our best bet for getting through this. And of course, we’ll always be here to help in any way we can.