Many states are unwinding their Covid-19 shutdown mandates, but the restaurant industry will still face extremely challenging conditions. So far, the restaurant openings come with restrictions, including limited capacity and outdoor seating only, which are not sustainable business models. Restaurant meal delivery has seen increased demand from stay-at-home consumers during the pandemic, and DoorDash plans to roll out more services aimed to assist restaurant operators as they re-open. One is DoorDash Storefront which will provide a website ordering platform. Independent restaurants will have the most difficulty in the recovery phase—and many will never re-open. How quickly diners will return to eateries also remains an unanswered question. Right now, online ordering and delivery remains a possible lifeline. The reality is that it will take a while for restaurants to return to the days of customers lining up waiting to be seated for a table.
The following Chain Store Age article reports more on this topic which is excerpted below:
A leading on-demand delivery platform is launching new services to help restaurants operate online as the country reopens.
DoorDash is rolling out “Main Street Strong,” a platform to help restaurants navigate the recovery phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. This suite of products, programs, and policies is designed to help restaurants develop their own digital ordering solutions and build online brands.
Main Street Strong includes DoorDash Storefront, a service enabling restaurants to create their own online stores. DoorDash Storefront provides a turnkey solution to offer their customers on-demand access to their restaurant without investing in in-house logistics. With this tool, customers can order takeout or delivery directly from the restaurant’s website or app, which plugs into DoorDash’s fulfillment network to complete the delivery.
DoorDash Storefront will be widely available in July and DoorDash will waive set-up, software, and merchant delivery fees for local restaurants incurred in 2020.
Overview provided by Raymond Pucci, Director, Merchant Services at Mercator Advisory Group.
