Recovering from the effects of the coronavirus is not going to be easy. Restaurants will be feeling its effects long after the issue of the virus itself has been resolved. (Which will hopefully be sooner than later.)

The opening weeks of recovery will be crucial toward leading your restaurant on the road back to success. Your restaurant needs to ensure it’s prepared for every challenge it’s going to potentially face.

Without additional government relief packages, restaurants will fail. This bodes even worse for independent restaurants. Per the New York Times, restaurant analysts and operators believe 75% of independent restaurants currently closed will not survive.

In order to make sure your restaurant survives, you need to start today. Below you’ll find a list of Coronavirus Resources we’ve prepared for your assistance. Since the start of this pandemic, we’ve been doing our best to help restaurants everywhere survive. We’re here to make sure you stay afloat and stay informed.

Because stakes are higher than ever, we believe that customer loyalty will be of paramount importance moving ahead.

As the marketplace shifts towards a new normal, restaurants everywhere will need to win customers early or risk losing them to competitors, many of whom will be doing whatever it takes to survive, regardless of whether or not it’s financially sustainable. There’s simply no other option.

Customer loyalty is so critical because your restaurant needs to compete on more than price. Loyalty is a commodity. According to research from Yotpo, 61.08% of customers are loyal to just 1-5 brands. 26.19% are loyal to 6-10 brands while only 5.68% are loyal to 11-20 brands. There’s only a finite number of brands that the average customer is going to consider themselves loyal to at a time.

Establishing a loyal base of customers is how your restaurant can create consistent, reliable income for itself. Not only do loyal, repeat customers spend more than new ones (300% more according to RJ Metrics), they’re more engaged with your restaurant brand and far likelier to respond to new promotions. They’re constantly interested in new specials and events. When your doors inevitably open up again, they’ll be the first ones in line to stop in.

Capture Loyalty With CoGoBuzz

Building customer loyalty during a crisis is a difficult task to do alone. There’s no shortage of problems to be dealt with, from supply chain issues to staffing. Your restaurant is going to need all the help it can get. Not only to survive the duration of this crisis, but to prosper on a long-term basis.

That’s where we come in.

With CoGoBuzz, we want to help. Our state-of-the-art digital marketing service can help your restaurant build and maintain a strong base of loyal customers, which will ultimately help your restaurant keep its doors open.

Our service directly promotes your services to customer mobile devices. Leveraging advanced WiFi, SMS, and Email solutions, CoGoBuzz promotes your restaurant both in-store and out. It comes packed with a fully digital, text-based loyalty program, allowing you to let your customers know what services you’re offering – all with just a simple text. Click here to learn more about CoGoBuzz.

Whether you’re one of our current customers, or you’re interested in joining the CoGoBuzz family, we’re committed to helping businesses affected by COVID-19.

For current customers, we’re providing free text message service, allowing you to send a link to order online, purchase gift cards, and/or notify customers of new hours.

For new customers, we’re offering our hardware at cost, donating our services, time, and covering shipping costs. Prepare for the future with CoGoWiFi Free to collect your customers’ phone numbers. There are no contracts or monthly fees, and we offer unlimited customer data storage.

Message from our CEO

“From pricing to packaging, our mission has always been to provide customers with unbeatable value. That’s why, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, we are seeking to provide the most aggressive offers to help suffering restaurants survive. We believe that half of small restaurants will fail in the year after operations return to normal. The restaurants that survive and thrive will be the ones that win loyalty and focus on bringing customers back over the following year.”

– Steve Gould, CEO

Click here for more details on how we’re handling the crisis.

Is your restaurant focused on capturing customer loyalty? Let us know in the comments.