Food industry COVID-19 response

Following the introduction of delivery, pick-up via drive-thru, and ‘bring the experience home’, restaurants were able to survive and ensure continuity throughout the pandemic, retaining customers, making profits, and growing their businesses. The new portal that transformed the restaurants’ business and operating models was achieved in one month. In total, many thousands of orders could be processed through the solution at any given time, with multiple transactions completed through the grocery application.

With the automated enforcement of safety and sanitary measures and subsequent compliance at all times, restaurants successfully mitigated health risks to the best of their ability. Because proposed safety measures were integrated into restaurant operations platforms, workflows became governed through a centralized point, with the necessary adjustments and improvements made swiftly and concisely. For example, the Employee Health Survey required management approvals for staff to perform their roles and responsibilities; surfaces and touchpoints cleaning checklist offered a centralized control on sanitization compliance.

Restaurants benefitted from outstanding improvements to their grocery and supply chain management operations. Supported by the existing infrastructure, the new grocery application was an enormous success, with seamless integration and fast response times becoming apparent as operations were streamlined within weeks. As an effective e-commerce solution, customers could either collect their materials and recipes directly from the restaurant in question or have them delivered to their homes – creating a new avenue that was unavailable to them before the pandemic. Furthermore, the notification system was influential, alerting staff to prepare orders in good time and providing them with ease and simplicity. The system also ensured customers were satisfied as they were notified when their items would be ready and avoided queue times.

Because the restaurants demonstrated care, introduced customers to new innovative concepts, and effectively brought their brand and offerings to households, their businesses benefitted from increased engagement. Customers new and old appreciated their efforts throughout an unprecedented period of difficulty, which drove better relationships and boosted both perceptions and the reputation of brands. From the employee’s perspective, these steps contributed to greater job security for over 100,000 staff members across 40,000 stores, with business continuity and success safeguarding their positions.