As restaurants around the United States are closing to stop the spread of the Coronavirus, they’re also trying to keep their businesses alive by focusing on different service models.

Restaurant Owners with pandemic
Restaurant Owners with pandemic 2

As restaurant professionals face hard decisions about their business models moving forward, many guests are still looking for ways to support their favorite local businesses. As the situation develops, it’s essential to reach out to your customers directly (online/digitally) — via your restaurant website, social media, Google My Business, email, and more — to communicate any changes you may be making, share your sanitization procedures, and encourage support and empathy with unity in this turbulent time. 

Below are six items that need the implementation to sustain the wave in these turbulent times: 

1. Start creating order delivery systems and curbside pick-up. 

All external delivery systems is a must and will be an increasingly demanding option to continue to drive business growth, not only now, but in the future. One must adopt this new platform into your POS.

Alt Curbside pick-up is becoming an increasingly popular option to drive business growth. Thus, reducing food handling points of contact. 

2. Optimize Your Site to Appear in Local Restaurant Searches

Did you know that about 80% of smartphone shoppers search locally? Localized searches comprise nearly one-third of all the searches on Google, and they’re making restaurant searches to find the best places to eat near them. 

3. Claim Free Online Profiles and Paid 3rd party Too

Speaking of online listings, claiming and actively managing your restaurant’s pages is essential to capitalizing on restaurant searches. Effective restaurant marketing requires an extensive online footprint, and claiming listings on the top review sites, online reservation sites, or delivery platforms will help you capitalize on search traffic. 

4. Use Positive Customer Reviews As Marketing Material

Brand advocates are worth their weight in gold, in part due to the lifetime value of their patronage, but mainly because they also act as a lead generation channel for your business. There’s no better restaurant marketing tactic than generating good reviews. An astounding 89% of people trust online reviews as much as they make recommendations from friends and family, and 92% of people believe (trust) recommendations more than they do advertising.

5. Create a Menu Page

An OpenTable survey showed that 93% of consumers would look at a restaurant’s menu before they decide where to eat. It may seem obvious to have your list accessible online, but this stat clearly shows that restaurant searches that turn up appealing, updated menus can turn a browser into a buyer. Plus, as stated before, keeping your menu up to date with concise menu item names related to popular searches – can help you in Google’s search rankings.

6. Develop a Concrete SEO Strategy with content

(This is the most undervalued, but the most critical part a business owners success)

Restaurant SEO – is a digital term about converting restaurant searches into new business. To gain exposure to SERPs (search engine result pages), you need to identify keywords, phrases, and schema markups that best describe your restaurant. This arena is continually changing daily, and it is best to hire experts to monitor.

Summary: The field has changed once again, and one must adopt and adapt to new platforms to survive. How can Tridence help you ride this wave to sustain a better future? Schedule a call or learn more at www.tridence.com