12 Ideas to Help Your Restaurant Survive the Economic Crisis

1. Begin using your customer email list , starting now, ( and I mean now ) to let them know 1) You’re still open, 2) what you’re offering, and 3) how to place an order
2. Create a “Family Meal Subscription.”   Many parents and guardians are not only working from home, they’re helping their children with schoolwork and/or keeping them occupied.  Offering family meals (pick up or delivered) on a subscription basis at least twice a week would be seen as a welcome relief — and keep your staff employed — and your restaurant top of mind
3. Make a push to start building an email list — Invite people into your restaurant and share the story of your business.  Tell your customers you miss them.  Now more than every people feel disconnected.  Give them a way to stay engaged that’s fun and inviting
4. Start a loyalty program. Every 10th order gets redeemed for free delivery or appetizer.  First order counts for double.  Restaurant POS systems like Total Touch POS are affordable and integrate with gift card and loyalty platform Factor4.
5. Build community.  Not only is your restaurant trying to survive, so are may others. Get together with a few other restaurants that compliment your own and create a weekly meal package with a few meals from each restaurants' most popular meals, family style (so it’s standardized).
6. Deliver meals to hospitals, healthcare workers, first responders within your means.  Share your good deeds on social media to let people know how you're helping and caring.
7. Seek out and reply to every — every — review to every individual who took the time to leave a review for your restaurant on Google, Yelp, and Facebook (at a minimum).  Let them know you appreciate them and what's available now.
8. Sell gift cards and coupons online .  Offer $5 free for every $25 purchased (or whatever works for you). 
9. Creative incentives and promotions. Now is the time to create incentives for people to buy from you now and come back in the future. (Apply now to add an online store with a Websites Made Simple subscription)
10. Partner with a local farm or grocery store to sell the specific ingredients for people to enhance their favorite dish.  Sell them the ingredients and instructions to make it a family meal, with a dine-in coupon that can be redeemed in the future
11. Create and sell a discount loyalty card for $99 that gives future dine-in or takeout customers 10% of orders for 12 months.  Couple it with a 10% give-back donation to your local food bank.  You'll get the benefit of cash-up-front, and appreciation from customers who learn you care about the community.  It’s a great way to reward loyalty!
12. Communicate frequently. Create frequent posts about how you’re 1) caring for your employees, 2) keeping them safe, 3) and keeping your restaurant clean.  Be transparent, vulnerable, and authentic

Bonus Ideas

1. Create a drive-through to minimize contact between customers and staff.   What can you sell that's essentially grab-and-go?
2. Get an online ordering system up and running .  You need it for the future.  The time is right to get one set up and running is now.  If you don’t know where to begin, here are three options for free restaurant online ordering systems that can work with your existing website or integrate with a custom Websites Made Simple site.
3. Partner with a local supermarket to package meals for pickup and sale: “Under a pilot program, H-E-B is carrying ready-made meals from five restaurants at 29 supermarkets in San Antonio, Houston and Austin. All proceeds from the sales of the chef-prepared meals will go directly to the restaurants”