Why Might Restaurants Change The Dine-In Experience For Ever
Many restaurants around the world are focusing on the to-go business, and rightfully so. Humans are social animals; we love to learn and talk to people. One way we socialize is though dining in at a restaurant. Lately, however, dining in at restaurants has been affected. No one knows for sure, How long would the pandemic last? And if not covid19 would there be something else? Dine-in restaurants around the world have been hit the hardest, so restaurants are looking to innovate, the way they welcome everyone back could change how we dine-in for the coming years.
The world’s largest wealth manager that provides financial advice and solutions to private institutes and corporate clients worldwide, UBS, predicted that one in every five restaurants may close due to pandemic. Many restaurants in North America were unable to operate after a month of no walk-ins. There is no douth that Independent restaurants have suffered the most. However popular restaurant chains have also had their troubles, and it seems like more trouble are ahead, even if social distancing efforts ease, casual dining chains may find themselves with fewer customers due to, the economic downturn. And if they were to see customers walk-in, and an employee happens to test positive, in many countries that would mean closing down the restaurant for 14 days. Casual dining has always been about the experience and putting restrictions on dining rooms is a major shock to the system. So what is it that some popular restaurants are doing differently?
A popular coffee chain Starbucks lost $3 billion in revenue due to the pandemic, they announced on June 10, 2020, that they would close up to 400 company-owned stores in the US, and up to 200 in Canada. By closing these stores their focus is on building digital customer experience. They are looking to increase their service using a curbside pickup method. Where an employee brings the order to the car. Starbucks said in a statement. “Over the coming months, Starbucks will increase the number of stores that offer Curbside pickup as well as pilot a select number of locations to exclusively offer this format.” Starbucks is somewhat lucky because they also have drive-thru which helps. They have also announced to speed up the expansion of stores with only a pickup option using the Starbucks app. Starbucks do plan to open new stores; however, the design of these upcoming stores may change from the conventional Starbucks we are all used to.
Another popular chain that we all know of, Macdonald, some of their location like the one in Calgary Canada have had an employee test positive, twice, they had to shut down the location for 14 days, twice, that's about a month of no customer walk-ins. Although McDonald’s says that they cannot estimate the impact of coronavirus on the business, reports predict that their global same-store sales have dropped by 22%. As a result, they are reducing the number of new restaurant openings around the world. They have transformed the process to serve their customer in 1,300 locations by offering curbside pick-up through mobile order and pay. In a statement, they said that Restaurants will re-open for take-out service in addition to McDelivery and drive-thru. Contact-free service will extend to in-restaurant take-out. As of today, approximately 75% of Macdonald’s restaurants around the world are operational, with the majority of them focusing on Drive-thru, Delivery, and Take-away.
In a statement, Subways said that we’ve reached an important crossroad where the decisions we make today will shape how we rebound tomorrow. They are encouraging their guests to order online, and by doing so customers who order two footlongs will get one FREE footlong. They have also decided to serve their customer with the curbside pick-up option. Subway is in a tough spot because everything made in Subway is made to order, every sandwich is unique, so the drive-thru options are either limited or very slow. For that reason they do plan to open their dine-in areas, with restrictions laid down by the bylaws, however, they will no longer serve with the dine-in basket.
Restaurants such as TGI FRIDAYS are among the ones that have been affected the most, if a major change is to come in the dine-in experience it would be from one of these restaurants. They lost 80% revenue overnight, globally. The CEO, Ray Blanchette said that up to 20 percent of the restaurant chains, 386 stores could permanently close because their entire business model is based on customer’s dine-in experience. They have started to put tents up in the parking lots to maintain physical distance and the idea to put screens between tables has also been suggested and is being looked at. And just like everyone else, they have also introduced curbside service.
Dunkin Donuts said in a statement that their restaurants will have reduced hours and will be limited to the drive-thru or carry-out-service only. All seating and tables will be removed from the dining and patio areas. A statement from the CEO, Dave Hoffmann: we are focused on making customer’s experience as frictionless as possible, whether through their 5,300+ drive-thrus, On-the-Go ordering, or curbside pickup.
There is no question that the dine-in experience has changed, and with no certainty in the future, these changes may last for some time or maybe forever. Things such as contactless delivery, low-contact service, cleaning and sanitation supplies on every table, curbside pick-up will be the new norm for the restaurant industry. One thing is for sure, that we may see a lot more people in the parking lots of restaurants than the inside.
