Research done my 1Q and QSR Magazine in the restaurant and fast food industry in the USA, shows how important it is to make customers feel safe. Customers want to know that all preventative measures are being taken and it is being clearly communicated at restaurants and through all other media. Do this and you will create come back business and loyalty into the future.
Fast food brands must keep their employees safe but also their customers. The taking of staff temperatures daily, continuously sanitizing of produce and staff at premises, regular mandated washing of hands and the wearing of masks is a must. This must be effectively communicated to customers and exhibited by all staff. Brands need to clearly indicate procedures they follow daily and when serving customers to ensure that they minimize the risk of infection. For example, if there is a sick staff member or customer, what actions will immediately be take.
Social distancing (60%) and use of hand sanitizers by customers using Drive Through or to pick up takeaways must be standard practice before taking delivery of a meal and after the payment has been made by cash or card. Ideally, restaurants should use pre-payment methods to minimize contact. Customers want to see that the restaurants are in control with restaurants making it mandatory for people to keep social distancing and sanitizing their hands. Eighty three percent of customers want staff at restaurants to enforce social distancing and sanitizing of hands.
Restaurants that implement innovative digital methods of ordering and making payment will win at the end of the Covid19 day. Digital ordering should also allow notices to be sent to people when their order is ready so as to overcome another issue raised by customers and that is long waiting times. Long waiting times in Drive Through or takeaway queues place people in a perceived risk situation and that will force people to think twice about buying fast food and rather cooking at home, which is one of the threats to the fast food industry.
Brands implementing digital ordering and payment methods must collect data on where their customers live and basic demographic information (eg age, gender, population group, marital status, dependents by age, income group). This information will become critical in seeing how their markets are changing. The advantage of this technology will also enable further analysis of customer purchasing behavior of products as well as frequency and size of spend.
Loyalty cards are going to be an important way of encouraging repeat business and offering rewards to drive particular channels of the business. During Covid19, 68% of people surveyed used Drive Through and 66% picked up takeaway food. Delivery has more than halved to 15%, which is most probably because customers are not sure of the preventative methods that delivery drivers have followed and customers not being in control of their circumstances.
Just over half of customers are looking forward to getting out of lockdown and buying their favourite fast food. The experience that people have will be quickly communicated via word of mouth, so it is that much more important that the preventative measures are in place right from the start and effectively communicated. Safety precautions (63%) taken by restaurants is now the second most important thing that customers will be looking at when buying fast food. This is followed by quality service (61%) and value for money (55%)
Any way that restaurants can show that they are sympathetic to their customers as they negotiate life under Covid19 will generate long term loyalty to the brand.
