It might feel a long way off at the moment but Access Hospitality has created a handy free guide for operators looking to prepare their businesses for re-opening as soon as the government allows it
With the British Beer & Pub Association warning that hospitality venues will need four weeks’ notice in order to get their businesses up and running again operators will need to plan ahead if they want to generate cash as soon as possible post lockdown.
‘On a practical level, determination coupled with turning the lights back on won’t be enough to drive much-needed cashflow,’ said Henry Seddon, MD of Access Hospitality.
‘And that’s where the Access Hospitality guide will help operators plan for reopening their doors and making sure they are as well placed as possible to provide the service that the public wants. It provides a realistic and pragmatic view, helping to organise and motivate in order that they can start to rebuild their business on a firm footing.’
The guide includes practical help and advice on everything from staff to property management, stock procurement to reservation systems, and marketing initiatives to analysis of business performance.
It also offers simple practical tips such as turning electrical items on gradually to prevent a power surge; reviewing your menu, and simplifying to keep stock at a manageable level; reassuring customers that you have an appropriate booking process in place to ensure social distancing and health measures are maintained and ensuring that basic procedures, such as allergen management, are not overlooked.
More substantial issues for consideration are covered as well, including offering on demand pay for staff to manage their cash flow by drawing down wages when shifts are complete, reviewing merchant and POS systems to get payments into your bank account as quickly as possible, and having appropriate systems in place to monitor costs, waste and profit margins.
There is also consideration of how the hospitality landscape might have changed once doors are open again, in order to stimulate further preparation for a new-look world in which social distancing may be the norm.
‘Each business will be different, but our aim is to provide a template that helps operators put their plans together, to highlight some of the issues that they can start to think about at different stages of their planning process and to stimulate some discussion around what their business will look like, and how it will operate, in the future,’ said Seddon.
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