Vol. 1: COVID-19 Restaurant Data Trends From the Past Week – And Two Steps You Should Take Today

Fishbowl is here for you as we navigate the unprecedented and tectonic shifts in how guests engage with restaurants due to COVID 19. It is critical to understand how your guests are interacting with your brand and track the changing dynamics. Restaurants are currently working to downsize/adjust their menus to best fit the off-premise service style and it will be important to recalibrate messaging and promotions to maximize this channel.
To help you make sense of the ever-changing landscape, we analyzed data over the past two weeks to see what trends we could spot to help you maximize your marketing efforts. We will continue to send you reports with new and updated data, as well as tips and advice to best serve your customers.
As restaurants are closing dining rooms, it is no surprise dine-in promotions declined ~70% YoY last week, while online order promotions tripled. While not enough to offset the steep declines, there is clear indication of demand; albeit at a reduced level, this is a new base to work from.
Based on our data analysis, there are a couple of steps we at Fishbowl recommend taking this week.

2. Email redemptions are staying steady – so keep sending those emails! People want to order in and support their favorite restaurants. Email is the channel to do it. Remember, there is no limit to how many emails you can send from the Fishbowl platform so keep those offers coming.
3. We see more “FREE” or BOGO offers in the first half of the week, while the second half of the week shifted to “20% Off.” Continue to promote your strongest offers early in the week as redemptions are proving to be lowest on Mondays. Your Fishbowl team can help you strategize on what offer makes sense and get your email and offers set up quickly.

We’re here to help. We will continue monitoring behavior and provide you with more updates on what data trends we are seeing and how that will impact your marketing and operations strategy.