Research Can Be Key for Restaurants Reeling from COVID-19

The restaurant industry is difficult in the best of times, let alone when a worldwide pandemic forces closures, customers are forced to stay in their homes, told to social distance for months, and state government regulation telling owners and managers when you reopen shops or when they can be at half capacity.

Sadly, many restaurant owners have no GPS to lead them out of the pandemic wilderness. Key decisions are too often made by past experience or worse, going with the gut. But the past is of little help when the industry has never experienced anything like COVID-19 and making gut decisions is haphazard at best.

To find clarity, restaurants should consider turning to data and research to answer big questions on when customers will return, how to customize menus to capture every sales opportunity, as well as minimize supply chain disruptions resulting from the pandemic.

Restaurants should consider turning to data and research to answer big questions on when customers will return, how to customize menus to capture every sales opportunity, as well as minimize supply chain disruptions resulting from the pandemic.

For example, we recently did some research for a client to find out when people would consider returning to restaurants? We found that 53 percent of Americans won’t be comfortable going to a sit-down restaurant for at least three months in the absence of a vaccine or treatment for COVID-19 after social distancing ends. In addition, a staggering 24 percent of Americans won't even dine out until a vaccine or treatment is available.

It's this kind of data that restaurateurs need to not only show the difficult road ahead, but how owners and managers might overcome the many hurdles in the months to come. 

The odds are humbling. In March and April, sales in the restaurant industry were $52 billion short of what would normally be expected.  For restaurant employees, these financial losses have taken a heavy toll on their incomes as roughly two-thirds of restaurant workers have either been working reduced hours, been furloughed, or laid-off as discovered in our survey of 3,500 American business-decision makers and individuals.

Not even the biggest names in the industry have gone unscathed as McDonalds reported a 22-percent plunge in sales for the month of March and Wendy’s is still overcoming a beef shortage that caused 1,000 of its restaurants to pull hamburgers off its menu. 

Now, with warmer weather enticing people outdoors and restrictions rolling back, restaurants that have managed to stay afloat must decide how and when to safely reopen and how to return to their full-service offering. 

Historically, restaurants could look to previous downturns for lessons on recovery. But in this case, there is no historical comparison for sudden closure, customer demand, and coping with fluid regulations and health related restrictions. 

While some restaurants will succeed by relying on instincts to make these decisions, many more will suffer further financial losses and eventual closure if not informed appropriately.  

By turning to research and data, restaurant owners and managers can turn to analytics for answers.

By turning to research and data, restaurant owners and managers can turn to analytics for answers.

Primary research allows restaurant owners to tap into key data at scale and adapt to the stunted and shocked customer base that will come out of the pandemic.

Data can provide clarity for restaurant owners and managers considering when and how to reopen, how to safely provide service so that workers and customer are safe and to understand best in class operations and to quickly learn from others.

Let’s take, for example, how data garnered from customers through primary research in the form of a survey can assist restaurant owners struggling to decide when to re-open. 

Restaurant owners must account for if and when customers will ever return upon reopening. Traditionally this question has proven easy to answer, but with the multitude of complexities the ‘invisible enemy’ COVID-19 has introduced, this calculation has become more complex. This cannot be answered by gut feel alone, let alone easily ascertained from big data.

However, our survey found that 53% of Americans won’t be comfortable going to a sit-down restaurant for at least three months in the absence of a vaccine or treatment for COVID-19 after social distancing ends.

Data can provide clarity for restaurant owners and managers considering when and how to reopen, how to safely provide service so that workers and customer are safe and to understand best in class operations and to quickly learn from others.

Measuring and testing what is most important to diners and customers allows restaurants to tweak and cater their offering to meet the most important needs and expectations – rather than trialing and implementing a raft of deep and costly changes that may not be important and necessary. 

In our survey, we concluded that families with children are more likely to return to restaurants, versus customers without kids, in the absence of a vaccine or treatment for COVID-19.  Findings like this enable restaurant owners to fine tune and customize their offering to maximize their opportunity.

Additionally, owners can also look to avoid any supply chain disruptions resulting from the pandemic too.

Critically important, research is also fast and relatively easy to complete, which, for restaurants, can be their saving grace as financial losses continue to pile up as time passes

These are insights that are impossible to ascertain through gut instinct. However, through research and data, restaurant owners and managers will have an affordable, customizable and quicker means at gleaning insights on recovery.     

With the right data and information, restaurants might not only survive, but thrive.