Restaurants at Risk: Survival Strategies for Food & Bev Businesses

8.31.2020 — LISC StoriesEconomic Opportunity

On our recent webinar for Survival Strategies for the Food and Beverage sector, Jen Faigel led the discussion by describing the tremendous losses food entrepreneurs are experiencing and the responses her team at CommonWealth Kitchen and its partners are testing, including funding food businesses to provide 90,000 meals to food insecure members of their own communities. Master moderator Melissa Castro, also of CommonWealth Kitchen, drew out Faigel’s extensive knowledge of food businesses, Maria Pullin’s insights and examples from the Beyond Six Feet Accelerator (BSFA) and James Kwon’s practical and powerful digital marketing advice. But the highlight was the three BSFA entrepreneurs who shared their COVID pivots - Teresa Maynard of Sweet Teez Bakery, Cecilia Lizotte of Suya Joint Restaurant and Shon Rainford of the Worcester Regional Food Hub. There was even a little trash talk between Teresa and Cecilia about who has the better BSFA business consulting team!

Takeaway #1: Lean into Your Story & Strength.

Customer demand has changed, but your story and strengths have not. Double down on your story, your confidence, and your most popular or most defining cuisine or menu items. Remind people that you are a small business, how you are contributing to your community, and that you are a minority-owned business. This will attract loyal, values-aligned customers who may be willing to skip ordering from expensive delivery app fees, and instead order from you directly.

Takeaway #2: Test Lots of Ways to Meet Changed Demand.

Find out how customers’ needs have changed, and try lots of quick pilots of new ways to meet them. They can’t go out – bring your food or drinks to them through takeout, delivery, meal kits. Bundle products for volume sales. Edit your menu for higher margins and better delivery quality. Give video classes on cooking your most popular dish and sell ingredient kits. Give volume discounts, partner with others on a pop-up space, package your product in corporate gifts or event packages.

Takeaway #3: Make Digital Tools Work for You.

Digital tools may be daunting to you, but they can be cheap and powerful, and can be made to work for you, 24-7, with a little effort. Websites and social media are no longer optional. Communicate constantly with your customers. Engage and listen to them. Then go the extra mile to prioritize their needs, and show you care more than the competition.

Highlights

Pick up your takeout.

We learned that food delivery apps like GrubHub, UberEats, DoorDash, and Postmates charge high fees that make it difficult for restaurants to make a profit on your order. Restaurants still want and need your orders, but wherever possible, order directly from the restaurant and pick up your order yourself.

The following are some of the resources that panelists mentioned, that are relatively user-friendly:

Shared Resources:

Web Development: Wix, Squarespace, Weebly
Content Creation: Flocksy, Canva, Animoto, Bitable - (on google)
Payment Collection: Venmo, Square, Paypal
Consumer Tracking: Hotjar
Social Media Scheduling & Marketing: Hootsuite, Buffer, Later

Panelists:

Jenn Faigel: Executive Director, CommonWealth Kitchen
Maria Pullin: Business Consultant & BSFA Food & Bev Industry Consultant, IXL Center
James Kwon: CEO & Executive Strategy Chief, Figmints
Moderator: Melissa Castro, Business Development Director, CommonWealth Kitchen