​Prepare yourself to flex

As Covid-weary diners flock to dining rooms and short-staffed restaurants struggle to meet the demand, some operators are shutting off less profitable streams of service (like delivery) during periods when they couldn’t otherwise manage all of them at once. The Wall Street Journal reported recently that Applebee’s, Olive Garden and IHOP were among the restaurants choosing to shut off online orders at specific times. This capability, if you don’t have it already, is one to consider implementing this year as part of your tech toolbox. Going forward, there may well be times when you need to scale up and scale down order streams at the flip of a switch. Being able to handle those transitions smoothly – and also marrying those actions with corresponding offers designed to attract guests to your other service areas – can help ensure a steadier flow of business.

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