COVID-19 Is an Opportunity to Differentiate Your Restaurant Brand

4 Min Read By Tom Riccio

Focusing on customer experience may seem like a luxury for restaurateurs struggling to keep their doors open, but it may prove to be the difference between those that survive and those that get added to the list of tragic COVID-19 business casualties.

I have seen firsthand how this is playing out. As COVID-19 cases were waning and businesses began to reopen, I took a short beach vacation with my family. One evening, we went to an oceanfront restaurant for dinner. The wait was 45 minutes. Next door, however, a similar restaurant with the same view had no line at all.

While waiting for our table (which was on an outside patio setting fully following social distance rules), I noticed there was a distinct difference in how the two establishments were managing COVID-19. The one with the long wait was clearly taking the health of its patrons seriously through abundant signage and a clear process that respected social distancing measures. The other did not seem to be advertising a plan at…