How to Incorporate Curbside Service in Your Restaurant

Are you looking for creative ways to grow your business without also growing your expenses? Are you interested in strategies that can start making a difference today, not just a year from now?

However, with curbside service, you can increase your business without a negative impact to your seating or overhead. It can be the perfect answer for your commercial kitchen.

Here’s what you need to do to succeed!

Find a Good Spot for Customers to Park

Curbside service is great because customers don’t have to get out of the car. However, they need to be close enough that your staff can serve them easily. Also, your employees need to be able to see when someone arrives!

If you can’t reserve spaces close to the door for pickup, consider a side location that you can observe using a security camera.

Make sure it’s a well-lit area where your customers feel special, rather than a spot that makes them feel like you want them out of the way.

Give Appropriate Time Estimates for Your Commercial Kitchen

Curbside pickup gives you flexibility because you can tell customers exactly when to arrive to pick up their food. Of course, you don’t want to make wait times too long, but you can balance the needs of your commercial kitchen.

If you know that your curbside pickup will be especially popular during specific times, you may want to beef up the staff in your commercial kitchen during those times. Of course, you’ll probably also need extra help during traditional in-house rush times as well.

Having food ready to go and hot when customers arrive is essential if you want your curbside service to succeed!

Determine Payment Methods

Generally, folks who do curbside pickup will expect to pay when they arrive. This means that your runners will need to be able to make change, and will need a portable credit card terminal or app as well.

You can offer credit card customers the chance to pay over the phone during the order, and only take cash at the curb, if you prefer. You’ll have to test and see what works with your particular customer base.

Get the Staffing You Need

In both your commercial kitchen and in the serving employees, you need to make sure you have the trained personnel needed to make curbside pickup work.

You’ll want excellent communication between the people who take orders, watch for customer arrival, and run the food to the car. The kitchen will need to be clear on how long each order will take, and the process should be as seamless as possible from the customer’s perspective.

Add Curbside Service For Restaurant Growth

If you already have a popular restaurant, adding curbside service could be just the boost you need to get more business without adding tables or raising prices.

If you find that you need some new equipment for your commercial kitchen during this process, let us know. We’ve been serving restaurants in the Little Rock area for many years, and we’d love to help you with the supplies you need. Contact us today!