Restaurant owners in Vinh City seek 'lifesavers' during Covid-19 season

Temporarily stopping on-site sales, restaurants in Vinh City have switched to online sales, hanging signs for take-out and home delivery. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Previously, the breakfast restaurant on Le Viet Thuat Street (Vinh City) specialized in serving banh muot ram (rolled pork roll) only for dine-in with a stable number of 60-80 customers/day and never delivered or took orders by phone.

From June 8th to now, when the province and city have orderstemporarily suspend business, only allowed to sell take-out, the couple still opened the door, waiting for regular customers to come and buy take-out. However, the number of customers decreased by 70% compared to customers who ate directly. Anxious because of the sharp decrease in income, the couple decided to find a way to sell the restaurant's food via Zalo and Facebook.

The rice paper rolls are packed in styrofoam boxes and delivered to customers. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Ms. Nguyen Thi Quang, owner of the Banh Muot Ram shop, said: “The two of us have been selling Banh Muot Ram with a steady flow of customers. We have never delivered to customers because we don’t have time. Besides, we are not proficient in Facebook and Zalo. We only use them to connect with friends and relatives, but we have never advertised our food on them. Now we are not allowed to sell on the spot. If we just wait for regular customers to come and buy take-out, we will have few customers, so we have to find a way to sell online.

"Thanks to my son's support, after 2 days, I learned how to post dishes on Zalo, Facebook, receive orders online and by phone, and have a relatively large number of customers. For orders shipped nearby, I deliver them, for orders shipped further away, I hire an outside shipper," said Ms. Quang.

Instead of serving customers at the shop, employees of the tea shop on Ha Huy Tap Street (Vinh City) pack and deliver the goods to customers. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Not only Mrs. Quang's shop, but other breakfast shops such as sticky rice, banh muot, bun, pho... have switched from selling directly and serving on-site tosell online, home delivery.

“In fact, selling food online is inconvenient because it is quite cumbersome, noodles, pho, water, spices, raw vegetables...; second, customers often stop by to eat on the way to work; third, there is not enough time and staff to deliver because customers often come in for breakfast during peak hours from 6:30 to 8:00 a.m.

However, when we were no longer allowed to sell on-site, we had to change our business method to online sales, taking orders and shipping by phone. Previously, we only served breakfast, but now we ship all day, morning, noon and afternoon; at the same time, we spend money on advertising on social networks to reach more customers," said Mr. Hoang Linh, owner of a mixed noodle shop on Nguyen Kiem Street.

Switching to online sales, shipping services are therefore also more popular. Photo: Thanh Phuc

According to Mr. Linh, he currently receives about 150 - 170 orders every day. If there are 2 or more orders, shipping is free within a 5km radius. Outside 5km, customers will support shipping by 5,000 VND/order. Compared to direct sales, revenue has decreased by about 20%, but as Mr. Linh shared, "Having a way to maintain business is fun."

Having opened a shop specializing in sweet soup on Ha Huy Tap Street (Ha Huy Tap Ward, Vinh City) for 5 years, owner Ho Thi My Dung has maintained two sales methods: direct and online. Dung's sweet soup shop has a Fanpage, updating the cooking process, the dishes available, prices... to serve customers who order take-out through the Now and Foody applications. However, this is only a secondary business channel, and the main business is still selling directly at the shop.

To order online, restaurants must arrange for someone to close the order, answer and advise customers via computer or phone. Photo: Thanh Phuc

During the outbreak, restaurants were only allowed to sell take-out, but the online business channel became the main sales channel of the restaurant. In addition to the regular customers who came to buy take-out, the restaurant now has a large number of customers ordering via Facebook, Zalo and other food ordering applications. The restaurant arranged 1 employee to check orders and respond to customers; 1 bartender; 1 box-packing employee, 3 delivery staff. Therefore, although having to temporarily stop operating on-site, the restaurant is still maintained, employees still have jobs and stable income thanks to the online consumption channel.

Strictly complying with the order to temporarily suspend business to prevent the epidemic, but to maintain business, stabilize income and have money to cover expenses such as: rent, bank interest, tax, employee salary... one of the flexible ways to overcome difficulties at this time for business people is to apply the form of online sales, home delivery (shipment) and in-store sales for customers to take away.

At this time, online business is considered a "lifesaver" for restaurants to achieve the "dual" goal of both doing business and complying with regulations on preventing the Covid-19 epidemic. Photo: Thanh Phuc

For those who are knowledgeable about the Internet and proficient in using social networks, they post pictures of food with information about home delivery or take-away service on Facebook, Zalo... As for some older shop owners who are not knowledgeable about information technology, they choose to post advertising signs with the content "Take-away sales" or "Home delivery on request" along with a contact phone number right at the door to notify customers.

Although not a new form of business, at the time of the Covid-19 epidemic like today, online business is considered“lifebuoy” for restaurantsto achieve the "dual" goal of both doing business and complying with regulations on preventing the Covid-19 epidemic.