In these uncertain times, restaurants have been able to quickly adapt to and work around new challenges brought on by COVID-19. This requires implementing new policies and communicating them to customers at the drop of a hat.
Stickers are a simple solution that restaurants can use to patch over a number of operational challenges brought on by COVID-19, especially when it comes to takeout. With DIY design services, restaurants can create and print customized sticker and food labels to brand their packaging, label takeout orders, communicate safety policies, mark off social distancing spots and much more. Stickers are a small product, but they come with some huge benefits.
Here are a dozen ways stickers can help your restaurant survive COVID-19:
Brand your takeout:
Customizing stickers with your logo makes branding your takeout cheap and easy. Rather than order all-new packaging, you can simply stick your logo onto the bag before sending it out the door. Stickers can turn every takeout order into an opportunity to better establish your brand in your customers’ eyes.
Label your grab-n-go
Stickers make it easy to identify takeout items and highlight their specific features.
Communicate safety policies
Direct customers to proper entrances and exits, remind patrons to wear a mask, and more with safety message stickers. Stick your safety stickers on your doors, windows, menus, bathroom mirrors – anywhere customers will see them and get the message.
Mark off social distancing spots
If your restaurant or business tends to have a line, whether it’s for a table, the checkout, or a bathroom, you can let customers know where to stand and safely social distance with stickers. Customize the sticker with your own social distancing language, measure out six feet between each spot, and stick them on the ground for an easy visual cue for your customers.
Attach order numbers and names
Tag each takeout order with the customer’s name and name of the dish or drink. This makes it easy to keep all your outgoing orders organized so they get to the correct customer.
“We had a lot of success when we started offering to-go cocktails. We’d put on a sticker on them to designate the cocktail type and name on the order,” says Eric Peterson, owner of the North County Restaurant Group which oversees five restaurants across Northern California.
Provide date labels
Mark your takeout orders with dates for Use By, Best By, and Made On. If you stick a label onto the order, then you can easily write down the date information with a pen or sharpie when you prepare or ship the order.
Takeout serving instructions
Not all takeout travels or reheats the same. Include a label with instructions on how to best serve and enjoy your food to give your customers the best experience with your restaurant and food.
Special delivery instructions
Make note of any specific requests, write them down on the sticker label, and attach them to the order. This lets your driver know how to best deliver the food, and ensures that your customers receives the order in the manner they wanted.
Display QR codes
More and more restaurants are turning to QR codes as way to promote touchless ordering in the dining room. With custom stickers, you can post your QR codes up around your restaurant for easy scanning and touchless ordering. Add them to takeout materials, posters, flyers, table tents, business cards and more!
Seal up your packaging
A custom sticker seal secures your takeout and lets customers know that their order hasn’t been tampered with or opened. In these times of heightened focus on food safety, it’s important to go the extra mile to establish that trust with your customers.
Mark items up (or down)
Quickly change the price on items to mark them up or down with price tag stickers. This makes it easy to pivot if certain items are selling better or worse than you expected. And with restaurant capacity so limited, maximizing your margins has never been more important.
Designate deals
Easily label certain products as “On Sale” or “Specials” to highlight popular items or try and move inventory that’s not selling well.
Mark Plumlee is the senior editor for MustHaveMenuss. He writes about restaurant marketing and design.
