Restaurant's contactless delivery to curb CoronaVirus

Due to the CoronaVirus pandemic, it is not possible for restaurants to carry on their normal operations. Due to the lockdown declared by Governments around the world, social distancing is the need of the hour and online food delivery is the only option left for restaurant owners to serve their customers. Even while carrying out the online food delivery it is quite important to take care of the fact that the delivery should be carried out in a contactless manner.

Let us take a look at the different aspects of contactless delivery

Even with online delivery, customers are in doubt or skeptical about the transmission of the virus. This is due to the fact that there is a chance of contact between restaurant executives who come to deliver the food and customers. Even the food delivery boys could be carriers of the virus, you never know and therefore contactless delivery methods are adopted nowadays to eliminate completely the chances of transmission. In contactless delivery, the delivery executive and customer never comes face to face at any point in time.

The order and payment is made online and the customer specifies a particular place outside their house where the food is to be kept and after that, the delivery boy takes a photo of the parcel and sends it to the customer. Therefore, there is no contact between customer and delivery boy and this is very important considering the well being of customers as well as employees.

How to safely deliver food?

The below image shows the importance of proper training to be imparted to your staff which includes not touching contaminated surfaces, washing hands regularly, disinfecting surfaces of the restaurant which is in constant contact with people like doorknobs, tables and desks, avoid touching face and covering your coughs and sneeze, providing them with hand sanitizers, first aid kits and gloves.

Giving your customers the option of contact less delivery and also encouraging online payments which avoids hand to hand contact and thus the spreading of virus that may be present in paper bills is also very important.

Best packaging with Tamper-proof label

When you are ready to pack the food to be delivered to your customer, make sure that it is sealed properly, this is a good measure as there is very little chance of infection in tightly sealed food items and thus adds to the health quotient of your customers.

Contactless delivery option in your ordering platform

Add the option of Contactless delivery in your online food delivery platform with an option for customers to specify the place where the food has to be dropped. Make sure that this section is clearly visible to the customers otherwise they might miss out on it.

Give more stress on sanitization process

Sanitize your restaurant premises frequently. The areas such as doorknobs, POS systems, keyboard, tabletops which are in contact with multiple people should be disinfected every half hour. Mainly electrical safety measures is prime important for kitchen equipment.

You should also take care of the fact that employees are wearing gloves while preparing food. All delivery personals should be designated a place to wash their hands as soon as they enter the restaurant. You should also provide your delivery boys with good quality masks and gloves whenever they are out for delivery.

Take proper care of your employees

While you are making an effort to give your customers the best possible service, make sure to concentrate on your employees too. Make them aware of the changes in the functioning of your restaurant. Put up notices and wallpapers on the importance of hygiene throughout your restaurant. Don't run out of napkins, paper towels, disinfectants, and cleaning solutions. Also if any employee shows any signs of COVID-19 allow him to take leave and resume work only once he gets well.

Mention about the heating time required for the dish delivered

As most of the food items are delivered nowadays, by mentioning the heating time of the particular dish delivered you can help your customers enjoy their dish in a better way.

Encourage the significance of online payments

There is a high chance of transmission of germs when the transactions are done through cash and coins as they might be used by many people. Therefore providing your customers with maximum channels of online payment is the best way out to minimize infections and increase sales.

Pass your message through Social Media

At a testing time like this, most of the customers will be skeptical about ordering food from restaurants. This is because the food is prepared and delivered by complete strangers. It is very important thus to build trust with your customers. You can communicate with them through the various social media handles informing them about the changes that you have made to operations and how well you are adhering to the cleanliness policies laid down by the World Health Organization. You can also give your customers a virtual tour of your restaurant so that they get convinced about your standards.

Contactless delivery in India

Swiggy, Zomato, Behrouz Biriyani, Faasos, and Biriyani Blues offer contactless delivery option. Big restaurant chains like Mc Donald's, KFC and Dominos are communicating effectively with their customers on how they are maintaining the cleanliness standards.

Even though this pandemic has hit the restaurant business hard, it is still possible to break even once the pandemic gets over by resorting to methods that are ideal to curb the spread of the virus. There is no doubt that contactless delivery and maintaining strict measures of cleanliness can definitely help restaurant owners to run their business in a safe and hygienic way during the pandemic.

Kiruthika

Kiruthika is a Content writer and blogger at Qono Technologies. Other than her interest in writing, she can be seen listening to songs, reading or traveling.