10 tips to make your restaurant reopening a success.
Last updated: Aug 29, 2023
Top tips for reopening your business smoothly and efficiently.
It is time to get ready to welcome your customers back… Which means a lot to do! We are here to help with this list of 10 tips to make your restaurant reopening a success:
1) Check your emails the day before your return (at least)
This will allow you to identify what is important and prioritise the actions on your first day of reopening. Divide them into 3 labels, for example: “to do within 24-48 hours”, “to do in the week”, and “not urgent”.
2) Plan a lunch with your team
Eating a sandwich in front of your screen the day you return is the wrong idea. Instead, organise a lunch with your team to get together, learn about what happened during your absence (if your restaurant stayed open while you were off) and simply have a good time together.
3) Put this reopening day into perspective
All good things come to an end, and it is for this precise reason that we appreciate them. After being well-rested, this reopening day is also an opportunity to come back to the attack, re-energised, and ready to challenge oneself on new projects with your head full of fresh ideas.
4) Redesign your organisation
Changing the way you work can be beneficial and boost your motivation in your job by giving you a feeling of newness. Do not hesitate to test new processes without completely revolutionising what you had set up and which was working before you left on vacation.
5) Make your restaurant a safe place for everyone
Welcoming your guests and team in a pleasant and safe environment will make everyone more confident to return to your restaurant again and again.
6) Create a robust online reservation presence
A great way to support your team and make their jobs easier is to implement a superior omnichannel reservation service like Mozrest. With it, you can integrate your bookings from multiple booking channels into your existing guest management system and streamline the process, saving you time and money.
7) Keep all your online profiles updated and consistent
Address, phone number, website, opening hours… Ensure your online profiles have the exact information so as not to confuse your customers. This is a time-consuming task, especially when managing multiple profiles. To help you, Mozrest allows you to edit all your business information in one place and distribute them automatically over the main relevant directories. A simple way to get your profiles complete, accurate, and consistent in one click!
8) Answer all customer reviews
Answering online reviews will give you a positive brand image and boost your visibility in local searches. It is important not to see this as a time-consuming chore but as a way to engage with your customers and attract new ones (check out our article 5 mistakes to avoid when responding to bad reviews).
To help you, Mozrest created nine templates you can personalise to reply quickly and efficiently to customer reviews. Moreover, using Mozrest, you can answer all customer reviews from one place, even if those reviews come from different platforms, like Google and Facebook.
9) Give a warm welcome to your customers with a big smile
Greeting your customers within 30 seconds of entering your restaurant or store is a key factor in leading to a successful customer experience. A friendly team will allow your customers to feel comfortable and cared for. Well-received and satisfied, your customers will come back regularly and advise those around them to visit you. They can even post a 5-star review about your business online, which you definitely will not forget to reply to!
10) Make your customers feel recognised, even privileged
Using a tool like Mozrest will facilitate your staff operations. Your team will feel comfortable greeting customers by their names, knowing which channel they used to make their bookings and remembering their specific needs or requests. This will create a relationship of trust and confidence between your client and staff within a few seconds. Discover if your reservation software works with Mozrest.
