Solving for restaurant re-entry: On-Premise Dining.

COVID-19 is changing everything – especially how we eat. How consumers dine-in, dine-out, and even think about their meals is evolving rapidly as concerns rise about cleanliness, protection, and how we experience physical spaces.

In this installment of our 4-part restaurant series, we’re using insights from our recent consumer research to solve for the pain points of on-premise dining. Our research identified 7 shifts in consumer behavior that will have lasting impact.

Focused on addressing the behavioral shifts that will most impact on-premise dining – Contact Avoidance, Protecting Personal Space, and Staying Virtual – the team explored a variety of solutions that could be used in the re-entry period. We invented a fictitious brand, Better Burger, to illustrate cost-effective solutions for re-entry into a new normal and reimagining what’s next.

Better Burger addressed changing consumer needs with the following considerations:

Distanced flow.
The solutions here include a one-way path from entry to exit that minimizes cross-traffic, automatic doors that eliminate the need for touch, integrated outdoor seating, and operable windows that open the dining room to fresh, clean air.

Touchless journey.
Mobile strategies include full location technology to push messages, voice-activated mobile app ordering, and contact-free payment to put control in the customer’s hands and mitigate an increased aversion to touching surfaces.

Flexible capacity.
The space is planned in response to distancing regulations and consumer concern for safety. Adaptable and moveable furniture can be rearranged as guidelines and sentiment evolve.

Protective seating.
Basics like cleaning and sterilization protocols will need to be revisited, along with improving air quality with high-power filtration/purification systems. New seating options will replace community tables and banquettes. Optional privacy partitions between two-tops provide protection between parties. Privacy pods legitimize solo dining while adding a sense of distance and protective shielding.

As you work through the immediacy of response, how will you plan for re-entry?
Contact us to help you reimagine what comes next.