How do I pivot my restaurant business?

How do I pivot my restaurant business during a global pandemic? It’s not easy to rethink how you do things at the best of times (let alone when the sand is shifting round you and changing daily…) Our friends at Honeycomb & Co were faced with this very issue during the COVID crisis, having to close their modern eatery in Bruntsfield. They reopened when it was safe to do so as a takeaway cafe and added into the mix Honeycomb to Go – their incredible ranges of food that could be taken away and enjoyed at home. How do you change direction that a business has gone in for years (even decades) in a matter of days? It’s hard. It takes guts, fight and determination. Yet sometimes, just sometimes, that extra pressure to make a call forces you to make instinctive decisions that you would probably inevitably make (but may ordinarily agonise over…) Key to this change is communicating your new offering with your customers and client base. Use your newsletter, instagram and facebook. Take beautiful pictures. Share the story and turn your pivot into a great news story. Always see it from your customers point of view. How does this change in business direction make a positive impact on their life? Pivoting can be hard. Pivoting can also be scary. But sometimes not going full circle is even more scary. If you’re going through a moment of change in your business, we’ve got your photography back. Who knows where your shift could take you… #BigBlueSkyLove Niels

Questions to ask

Working with a number of Edinburgh businesses throughout Covid-19 we’ve seen a few key questions they’ve considered which may be helpful when thinking about your business:

Is there anything you sell physically that you can start to sell online?
Can you use your existing newsletter or customer database to sell vouchers or experiences?
Is there something that you are known for doing that could translate into an at home kit? (for example Salt Cafe’s at home brunch box)
Could you collaborate with any other supplier to jointly increase each other’s social media profile?
Are there any other ways that you could disrupt the market?
Could you link with an existing delivery company (like Deliveroo)?
Is there a project you’ve been wanting to work on for a while that you’ve just not had the opportunity?
Is now the time to change something fundamentally about your business?
Do you need that bit of extra support or help from other businesses or even the Business Gateway (we can highly recommend as the team are just superb)
Can we help with professional food photography in any way? Remember visuals are everything, especially when customers are buying online.

Whatever you decide to do undoubtedly marketing will need to be at the heart of whatever you decide to do. And we know that image counts for a lot. Please get in touch if we can help in any way and become part of your promotional team. Ultimately we always say as commercial photographers we want to cost you nothing. Whatever you invest in photography withy us you should earn back and then some. That makes us happy knowing we’ve done our job well.

We’re always happy to help with ideas you have. Whether you’ve a clear idea for your photography brief or need some help pulling it together we can help. There’s also lots of lovely people we could help connect you with if you’re looking to learn from other restaurant’s experiences.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you and helping you develop your ideas for pivoting, however hard and scary they may feel. Who knows where it could take you and your business?