Restaurants across the country have witnessed a sharp decline in business following the outbreak of Covid-19. The diners hesitate to visit restaurants and they prefer to order food online. To tide over these tough times, restaurants in Bangalore have come up with a novel concept of virtual kitchens. The New Indian Express reports that many leading restaurant chains in Bangalore such as FreshMenu, Faaso’s and Behrouz Biryani launched their virtual kitchens or delivery-only restaurants.
How Virtual Kitchens works?
Unlike the brick-and-mortar restaurants, there is no physical dining space under this concept. Customers place orders for food using call centres, online avenues or social media platforms and the virtual kitchen enterprises will deliver it at their doorsteps. As per Livemint, rapid digitisation and growth in both online buyer base and spending will help India’s online food industry to become a $8 billion market by 2022.
Tips to manage your virtual kitchen in Bangalore
Make use of technology – It’s a tedious task to manage orders from multiple sources using legacy manual systems. With digital restaurant management platforms such as inresto POS, managing orders centrally is a breeze. Now you can seamlessly process orders from multiple platforms such as third party aggregators, websites, apps and many more.
Optimise your food delivery operations – Build robust processes and reporting workflows so that your output is maximised. The time taken to fulfil every order should be optimum. Come up with Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and ensure that all the employees are following the guidelines. Have your own website with the feature to order food online. Also get listed on third party aggregator platforms such as Swiggy and Zomato.
Follow efficient staffing practices – Have a robust staffing plan in place to meet the surge in orders during peak timings. Cross train employees on multiple tasks so that they can pitch in during the absence of other staff members. For example, if a delivery staff goes on leave, you can utilise the kitchen staff for that task. Conduct proper training sessions for employees and collect feedback for further improvement.
Parting Words
The concept of virtual kitchens is here to stay for long. In an era where restaurants are battling with the challenges caused by Covid-19, online delivery has helped them to a great extent. The 3 tips discussed above will prove quite helpful for managing your virtual kitchen operations in Bangalore.