How Your Restaurant Can Benefit from Office Reopenings

As social-distancing guidelines and office closures across the country begin to ease, employees are seeing their stay-at-home mandates being slowly lifted. Many of the restaurants that have seen a downturn in business are those that relied on their revenue coming from local office workers and the out-of-state employees making frequent trips to their company headquarters. How can your restaurant make the most out of companies opening their doors to employees again? Let’s take a look at three ways how your restaurant can benefit from office reopenings.

To-Go Options

In its guidelines for office buildings to reopen, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that employees be kept “physically separated” in break rooms and other communal areas, and that shared equipment like coffee makers and water coolers be replaced with single-use alternatives. There are a lot of people in today’s buildings who rely on their free caffeine fix coming in the form of office-sponsored grounds, so consider a kind of “frequent buyer” coffee club, perhaps including punch cards that add up to a free beverage. You could also jump on the “Happy Hour Specials” that many coffee shops implement during those sluggish afternoon hours post-lunch, when workers are exhausted but it’s not quite 5 PM.

Refrigerators could also be a thing of the past when offices open back up, making it difficult to pack a lunch during the week. That’s when takeout lunchtime specials and combos are key. And again, a punch-card “frequent buyer” solution to encourage repeat customers is a great technique for driving sales.

Catering Menu Revisions

Since the CDC is also recommending the use of pre-packaged goods instead of communal food options, it’s worth it to look over your catering menu. Typically, offices order sandwich and dessert trays, big bowls of salads and soups, and more for client events or large presentations. Consider how you’ll have to increase the protection of your food by offering individual wrapping for sandwiches and cookies. Deliver single-serve containers of salads or soups. And opt for beverages in cans or bottles rather than communal pitchers. It might also be a nice bonus to include bottles of hand sanitizers with catering orders. With everyone on high alert, there is no such thing as being too cautious.

Local Business Discounts

Consumers love to save money, and they also love when businesses in their community recognize the work they do for the area. Consider offering a discount to workers of major employers around your restaurant as a thank you for providing steady business. It’s as simple as showing a company ID, and the discount doesn’t have to be staggering—10 percent off a purchase, or $1 off a coffee every weekday morning. That small show of gratitude can certainly help drives sales, and the water cooler buzz it’ll generate is worth its weight in gold.

We’re all looking forward to the return of a sense of normalcy. Some parts of our 9-5 routines are destined to look a little different when the country begins to open, and having a cup of coffee and a friendly smile before walking through the doors might just be the perfect pick-me-up. It is therefore more important than ever to continue to explore how your restaurant can benefit from office reopenings. We wish all the small restaurants around the world a safe, prosperous opening—whenever that happens to be.