While the pandemic has and is still affecting many businesses, hospitality is undoubtedly still one of the worst hit sectors. However, despite the challenges of the past year, hospitality has most definitely proved its agility: from pop-up outdoor restaurants to embracing click and collect, we’ve done it all.
Amidst a phased reopening, hospitality is an increasingly competitive landscape and businesses are now seeking out ways to rebuild, differentiate, return to profitability, and become more efficient.
As 17 May draws closer, we must not forget the risks hospitality faces when it comes to keeping customers and employees safe. Those businesses that put safety at the forefront of their rebuild strategies will give themselves that sought after ‘safety edge’ that will get footfall back in our venues.
SafetyCulture explores some of the top tips for hospitality in leveraging tech and creating efficiency during a period of recovery.
Refresh and Retrain
Businesses who aren’t accounting for employee upskilling and retraining before, during and beyond reopening are missing the mark.
With most staff working in hospitality furloughed at least once since March 2020, knowledge and training need to be refreshed. In addition, many employees haven’t worked under such strict cleanliness and hygiene regimes prior to the pandemic.
To make that return to work easier, we need to be proactive in providing training that is not only accessible, but digestible. Avoid information overload and deploy training resources that are mobile-first and easily accessible for teams on the front line.
Lead the way
As we look forward to the reopening of indoor venues, competition is fierce. While demand is most definitely there, customers are coming back expecting more than ever.
And it’s not just about your food, the venue and customer service: it’s also about your cleanliness and COVID-19 measures, too. Customers are not only expecting compliance, they’re looking for you to showcase your safety measures and help them feel safe about enjoying your spaces, whether that’s through freely available hand sanitiser to regular cleaning inspections.
Most importantly, this is no longer a short-term adjustment we can hack together to ride out an initial lockdown. With the future threat of breakouts or lockdowns, customers will now expect this for the foreseeable future.
You can help exceed expectations by going digital: collecting data through digital cleaning inspections and using real-time signage to update customers, identifying consistent failures or risks, and empowering both employees and customers to take action when things aren’t right. Make exemplary safety service as part of your value proposition that sets you apart from the competition.
SafetyCulture recommends using technology to manage workflows
Combat complacency
The pandemic almost feels over, but it’s not - the biggest challenge facing hospitality is the rise of complacency. This comes from staff who are burnt out from increased inspections and cleaning requirements, to customers who are resistant to increased expectations such as mask wearing.
In hospitality, these changes are here to stay. Staff must be empowered to enforce guidelines and make safety everyone’s responsibility. Mobile-first tools and digital inspections are one way to do this, providing real-time visibility to hospitality managers, ensuring no detail is missed, improving both the employee and customer experience as well as driving a culture of accountability.
This puts you in a great position to uphold COVID-19 requirements and ingrain high-level safety standards in your business culture forever.
Manage workflows with transformative tech
With fewer staff on the ground, we need to do more with less. The increased requirements and safety protocols can be hard to keep track of with old paper-based processes. It’s time for a refresh and more of us are going digital than ever.
It’s out with the old and in with the new: whether that’s contact tracing QR codes, hygiene or service check panels, all the way to washroom or fridge sensors to keep track of conditions in real-time whilst freeing up your workforce to provide exemplary customer service.
In combination with digital checklists, these tools provide instant visibility and a digital paper trail. Technology was already a feature in hospitality, but the pandemic forced innovation and adoption through at a rapid pace as we strived to go contactless or manage from afar. Self check-in, mobile ordering and automated assistance are increasingly demanded by the customer - so it’s time to push transformative technology to the top of the wishlist.
Best of all, technology can help us standardise processes, maintain high-quality service and ingrain a best practice throughout every business.
Are you ready to build back better? Download your free ‘Safely Back To Sharing eBook now’ for top tips, free checklists, and great resources to get your business and staff prepared for 17 May and beyond.