In the past, takeout business was often a nice-to-have option for restaurants – not necessarily the centerpiece of service. But that is changing – and restaurants are finding ways to translate the success of a brand with a solid on-premise history into one that doesn’t offer much of an on-premise experience. One example: Inspire Brands’s Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant. As CNBC reported recently, the sports-bar chicken wing brand launched a quick-service, delivery-and-takeout-only offshoot called BWW Go four years ago – and they have opened 100 locations since then, with another 50 planned for the remainder of the year. Takeout and delivery sales for Buffalo Wild Wings are now around 33 percent of all sales, up from 15 percent pre-pandemic, according to the business. The restaurant’s off-premise play seems to have worked because their customer base enjoys staying home to watch the big game, their product is not only popular and easy to customize but also travels well, and many customers know and trust the brand from their on-premise experience there. If, like many restaurants, you’re experiencing a surge in off-premise sales in recent years, how comfortable are you with how your brand translates outside of your dining room? Could you offer menu items that travel better? Are you finding ways to bring the personality of your brand into people’s homes with every takeout order? Are your delivery partners preserving your commitment to service – or could you incentivize customers to collect their food from you so you can strengthen face-to-face engagement? Or is your brand ripe for a Buffalo Wild Wings-style reinvention, with an off-premise offshoot that reliably provides the experience customers expect from the parent brand?

While life has slowly opened back up in recent months as more people have received the Covid-19 vaccine, concern has lingered for families with children who are too young to receive the vaccine and others who have health conditions that prevent them from receiving it. As a result, this winter we can expect to see more families reforming the bubbles they created for support in the early months of the pandemic. It’s something to consider when planning your menu and marketing promotions. For families, meal bundles will likely continue to be in demand for not only the holidays but for weekend meals throughout the winter. Think about offering soups and comfort foods that can be taken home to fill the freezer, promotions that offer discounted kids’ meals with the purchase of adult meals, or to-go packages of appetizers, entrées, cocktails and desserts for small groups. At the same time, this winter could also present an opportunity for you to make your onsite promotions extra special for guests who don’t fit those categories and are looking for a good excuse to go out. Consider offering prix-fixe meals for two, date-night cocktail specials or dessert samplers, bringing in musicians, or hosting private events with your chef or sommelier