Access Hospitality publishes guide for hospitality operatorsmaking their businesses ready for reopening
Leading technology provider, Access Hospitality, has curated a guide to assist hospitality operators manage the current lockdown and prepare their business for reopening when it is safe to do so.
The guide provides a planning checklist, steering operators through work that can be carried out whilst the venue is closed, factors to consider in the three-four weeks prior to reopening and how they might shape their business in the first week of operation. The guide goes on to consider how the hospitality landscape might have changed once they do reopen to stimulate further discussion and preparation for a new-look world in which social distancing may become more normal.
Launching the guide, Henry Seddon, MD of Access Hospitality commented “We have seen the UK hospitality sector showing resilience, fortitude, care and compassion over a few demanding weeks, especially when there has been so little certainty. By its nature, it is proving to be determined and resolute in survival, drawing on its innovation, agility and the great people involved.
“When hospitality is open for business again, the prime focus will immediately be on generating cash flow, working out how to reduce costs and drive sales without detracting from quality and service in the longer term. Access Hospitality has produced a comprehensive guide to help operators with the planning process for reopening and into the next few months, which is designed to provide practical suggestions of points to consider implementing into their schedule. Each business will be different, but our aim is to provide a template that helps operators put their plans together, to highlight some of the issues that they can start to think about at different stages of their planning process and to stimulate some discussion around what their business will look like, and how it will operate, in the future.”
With all hospitality venues instructed to close on Friday 20th March, they have now entered their second month of closure, with no immediate end in sight. Many have already adjusted their trading model with pubs, restaurants, cafes and breweries offering takeaway or delivery options, hotels opening to accommodate essential workers displaced from home and many leading the schemes to provide food and drink for local NHS, care workers and the vulnerable in their community. The positive stories of hospitality operators adapting and evolving to think differently and provide services that meet customer needs is likely to continue in the world that emerges after lockdown, with the Access Hospitality guide providing a blueprint of factors to consider within the reopening timeline.
“On a practical level, determination coupled with turning the lights back on won’t be enough to drive much-needed cashflow” added Henry Seddon “and that’s where the Access Hospitality guide will help operators plan for reopening their doors and making sure they are as well placed as possible to provide the service that the public wants. It provides a realistic and pragmatic view, helping to organise and motivate in order that they can start to rebuild their business on a firm footing.
“The Access Hospitality guide includes practical help and advice on everything from staff to property management, stock procurement to reservation systems and marketing initiatives to analysis of business performance. It encompasses relatively simple practical tips such as turning electrical items on gradually to prevent a power surge, reviewing your menu and simplifying to keep stock levels at a manageable level, reassuring customers that you have an appropriate booking process in place to ensure social distancing and health measures are maintained and ensuring that basic procedures, such as allergen management, are not overlooked. The guide also includes more substantial issues for consideration, including offering on demand pay for staff to manage their cash flow by drawing down wages when shifts are complete, reviewing merchant and POS systems to get payments into your bank account as quickly as possible and having appropriate systems in place to monitor stock levels, costs, waste and profit margins.”
The Access Hospitality guide - A timeline to getting operational after lockdown – is available for free download at https://pages.theaccessgroup.
