COVID-19 had been the beast that tore through thousands of businesses in 2020. Restaurant jobs went sacred. The volatile menace demolished many local favorites, spreading melancholy everywhere.
The James Beard Foundation, a culinary award group for recognizing brilliant chefs, claims that over 449,000 restaurants are at risk.
Yelp, the biggest platform for restauranteurs and reviewers, have published data revealing that over 16,000 restaurants have been permanently closed.
Yelp Restaurants and Retail Continue to Struggle
In a hurricane of chaos, there are always trees that stand tall. Many restaurants have adjusted their businesses to focus on safe curbside pickup, contact-less pickup, and limited dine-in. Although many were able to hang on to the cliff, they still need someone to pull them up.
The government attempted to help by issuing a $350 billion stimulus package for small businesses. But there is not enough force to pull every struggling restaurant up. Many restaurants operate on a paper-thin margin, and having only enough funds to pay monthly bills is far from enough.
Good restaurant staff is like family. At a fast-paced kitchen, cooks, waiters, and managers work together to make the customers' experience magical. They are cogs in machinery; they are one.
When the machine lacks fuel, it cannot run. When a machine stays inactive too long, it will rust.
Think about your favorite local restaurants. They need you to pull them up. Continue ordering from your favorite restaurants, but did you know that there are other things you can do to ensure their survival?
Ordering from them might be enough, but this is not an article telling you to order more. This article is for people who have fallen in love with a particular local restaurant. We're reaching out to those who salivated at the thought of a particular dish from this particular restaurant. We're reaching out to those who have had unforgettable memories while dining in. Maybe its the waitress that always smiled at you or the noisy kitchen that always had so much energy. As ridiculous as this sounds, but you're married to their flavors and their environment.
So, what can you do?
1. Tipping Generously
Tipping is a common courtesy. Most dine-in restaurants pay their servers just barely above minimum wage and it's becoming especially difficult with the ongoing pandemic. If you can spare a few extra dollars, please consider doing so to help out your favorite restaurants.
Fun history fact about tipping. Tipping has deep roots in the American dining experience, originating in the 1800s. Wealthier folks would gift servers and bartenders a little extra to ensure promptness. Slowly, the controversial idea of tipping evolved into a uniquely American experience to encourage stellar services.
Consider tipping a few percentages more than pre-COVID times as many servers are struggling with the instability of the economy.
2. Leaving Generous Reviews
Local restaurants thrive off of positive reviews on Yelp, Google, and etc. Over 86% of customers read local reviews about their restaurants before dining in, and a 4+ star reviewed restaurant is 68% more attractive compared to any restaurant rated beneath.
With a few clicks, you can dramatically impact the success of your favorite restaurants. If you're a frequent diner at a local restaurant, please consider leaving a positive review if you haven't done so.
3. Order Using BYPPO
With the eruption of COVID-19, restaurants restricted dine-in, promoted delivery, curbside, and in-person pickup. There were not many food ordering platforms for struggling restaurants to select from. Ubereats, Grubhub, Doordash, and Postmates, all charged ridiculous commissions per order and profited from the pain of local restaurants.
BYPPO was created with one purpose in mind: to help out struggling restaurants by providing a completely free substitute for the major players of the food ordering industry.
The BYPPO Web App
Six months later, BYPPO has processed over $300,000 sales volume, saving Gainesville restaurants thousands and thousands of commission fees that would otherwise go into the pockets of the big corporations.
Today, BYPPO have grown into a food ordering company that prioritizes local restaurants. We no longer provide free services, but we charge only a fraction of what other food ordering companies charge.
Order from your favorite local restaurants on BYPPO today and save them 15% order commission. Why give your money to big food ordering companies when you can give it to your local restaurants?