Operators are keeping customers and employees safer than ever with ramped-up food safety and sanitation practices.
Even as dining rooms fill again, overtly communicating safety practices offers a level of assurance that can keep guests coming back to your establishment and retain the employees who serve them.
When choosing a restaurant, cleanliness is top of mind for 58% of consumers*. In addition, 80% of those surveyed said that knowing about a restaurant’s cleanliness and food or guest safety would entice them to eat out more often.
“ Cleanliness of facilities will be more important than ever.”Jim Hargrove, Shamrock Foods Restaurant Consultant
Here’s how to demonstrate your commitment to safety:
Integrate and communicate.
“Continue to be transparent about safety protocols,” says Mary McVoy, Shamrock Foods Business Review Specialist, CA. “Offer clear and consistent messaging about food safety and sanitation practices as part your brand culture.”
Draft a “Sanitation Mission Statement.
Outline your vision, commitment and practices. Post this statement prominently in your restaurant: in customer-facing areas; the back of the house and employee break rooms; on table tents, menus and your social media pages.
Give sanitation visibility.
“Find the ways to show and tell guests that the space and the food are safe, using sanitation as hospitality, as a warm blanket and not a hammer,” advises Hargrove.
Make sure someone is cleaning within sight of customers.
Post checklists that show routine cleaning has taken place. Those activities send a message that is a form of communication in itself. Write about your efforts in your newsletter, email marketing, social media and website.
Communicate the connection between safety and hospitality.
Get the word out that keeping everyone safe is more than just cleaning, it’s about looking out for everyone. Include information about your culture of safety in your recruiting materials. Safety messages attract prospects.
be engaging.
Use fun, relatable content in the language of your brand that shows your commitment to safety.
Win back customers.
Include your sanitation mission statement in marketing materials to reach those diners who are still timid about coming back.
Operators will continue to put thought and preparation into the execution and optics of sanitation, people will spend money where they feel safe. There’s nothing more important than getting staffed, staying staffed, and showing your employees that you care about their health and safety.
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