Navigating COVID-19: Restaurant delivery and takeout during Coronavirus

The lives of people in Canada, and around the world, are changing drastically day by day in the wake of COVID-19. As restaurants are mandated to close dine-in service, or as they close service doing their part to help flatten the curve, a focus on delivery and takeout has become increasingly important.

There is no denying how serious of a situation we all find ourselves in, particularly the restaurant industry. It’s a challenging time and digital ordering and delivery have become critical for many restaurants, allowing them to protect their customers and ensure the safety of their staff by limiting contact.

Delivery, takeout, and order ahead are crucial for your business

As all levels of government continue to share their COVID-19 policies and procedures, both delivery and order ahead may be the only options for some restaurants to remain open. It’s critical for restaurants to have a digital order-ahead and delivery system in place to mitigate customer and staff interaction, as well as to keep their business operational at this time.

Smooth Commerce and several third-party delivery providers have implemented “contactless delivery” by enabling a “drop off” feature in their apps that allows users to specify where they would like their order to be delivered, limiting person-to-person interaction. For example, a customer could ask the driver to leave their order on their porch. “Contactless delivery” helps keep both drivers and customers safe.

Some companies are taking additional measures to protect drivers and customers, such as implementing “tamper-proof” packaging, requiring drivers to wear gloves and masks, and requesting additional sanitation of their vehicles and food bags.

Order ahead alleviates the use of cash and shared payment terminals, as all payments are done through the app. Several restaurants have also eliminated the use of reusable mugs, containers, trays and more. Many have also suspended their “self-serve” stations for milk, condiments, etc.

Delivery can help

In light of the new circumstances, some restaurants who previously did not offer delivery are looking to add this solution to their business. Whether through a branded mobile or web ordering solution or a third-party app, delivery is here to help restaurants serve their customers.

Restaurants should evaluate what type of solution is best for their bottom line so that they can try to counteract any loss they may experience from their suspension of dine-in service and decreased foot traffic.

It’s not “business as usual”

For restaurants that have the urgent need to introduce a new delivery solution, a package that allows clients to get their white-label web ordering into the market as fast as possible is essential. Partnered with Restaurants Canada, Smooth Commerce is cutting upfront costs to ensure that restaurants don’t have any additional financial burden at this difficult time.

Smooth Commerce has ramped up our support to ensure we can assist our clients as the need for mobile ordering solutions increases. We are keeping our solution adaptable to the changes that come to light every day so we can support our clients with their needs.

As we move through the COVID-19 pandemic, we understand that businesses are required to keep agile as the landscape shifts drastically. Being able to diversify your business and respond swiftly and easily is key.

*This article is written based on the information we have available to us today. News about COVID-19 is being updated quickly so information in this article may change based on new developments.