COVID-19: WE CAN DO THIS TOGETHER

March 20, 2020 Jeremy Kuo

Menufy remains fully operational and committed to providing the technology and support that connects customers with restaurants beyond the dining room.

We aim to make thoughtful decisions based on the most current COVID-19 information available through public health officials. The situation is in flux and conditions may change quickly. Accordingly, we continue to closely monitor health advisories in order to take the actions necessary to keep our partner restaurants, online ordering customers, and Menufy team members safe.

FOR OUR PARTNER RESTAURANTS AND ONLINE ORDERING CUSTOMERS

In line with recommended mitigation strategies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we've implemented two new features to facilitate social distancing practices when customers order food online:

1. Curbside Pickup

For carryout orders, restaurants can now enable an option for customers to request pickup service at the storefront or from their parked car.
Curbside pickup can be set as a requirement for customers.
Restaurateurs can configure curbside workflow from the Carryout Settings page of the Manager interface. It takes less than two minutes to complete. View setup instructions.

Curbside pickup options and custom message fields

2. No-Contact Delivery

For Menufy delivery orders fulfilled by our partners DoorDash or Postmates, customers can now select a No-Contact Delivery option (a.k.a. contactless). It enables customers to provide instructions on where to leave the order, e.g. at the doorstep or behind a potted plant. This feature is active by default for third-party delivery fulfillment. View setup instructions.
For restaurants that operate an in-house delivery service, the no-contact delivery option can be enabled by restaurateurs through the Delivery Settings page of the Manager interface.

The No-Contact Delivery feature is active by default for third-party delivery services and is available for in-house delivery services.

A HEALTHY TEAM

Here are the precautionary measures that we've taken to help protect Menufy team members:

We've advised our associates to follow safety guidelines and recommendations from public health authorities.
We've encouraged working from home to minimize contact at our office, and we're using conferencing technology to hold all business meetings. The majority of our staff are currently working remotely.
We've re-emphasized that employees who exhibit flu-like symptoms should self-quarantine, rest, and consult with a medical professional.

WE'RE IN THIS TOGETHER

We've read heartwarming stories about restaurants donating perishables and excess food to food banks, feeding hospital staff, and providing meals for out-of-school kids and at-risk seniors. Non-profit organization and crowdsourced relief funds have also sprouted nationwide to assist Food & Beverage workers who have lost their jobs. Such generosity inspires us, and we're comforted that our humanity prevails.

The Menufy team is immensely grateful to medical and emergency service personnel working tirelessly on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response. Among the many dedicated workers, we also thank caretakers, teachers, farmers, warehouse workers, truck drivers, and grocery store shelf stockers and cashiers who are doing their best to maintain a sense of normalcy with a hardy smile during these not-normal times. Lastly, we recognize the challenging work conditions for restaurant delivery drivers.

If you're a customer who orders food during a pandemic, please be considerate and tip appropriately. How much should you tip? Refer to the When to tip extra section of our blog post on restaurant tipping customs.

OTHER RESOURCES FOR RESTAURANTS

Our hearts go out to the many lives impacted by this novel coronavirus. The rapid adoption of pandemic countermeasures over the past few weeks has also dramatically strained the livelihood of restaurants, an industry already pressured by thin profit margins. We hope that our client restaurateurs will find these additional resources helpful.

SBA Disaster Assistance

The Small Business Administration is offering low-interest federal disaster loans in designated states and territories to help alleviate economic damage caused by COVID-19. SBA's Economic Injury Disaster Loans offer up to $2 million in assistance, which may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other bills that can't be paid because of the disaster's impact.

Restaurant operators in need of working capital can learn more at
https://www.sba.gov/disaster-assistance/coronavirus-covid-19 and can search for declarations by locality at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/Declarations.

Facebook Small Business Grants Program

To aid business recovery, Facebook is offering $100M in cash grants and ad credits for up to 30,000 eligible small businesses in over 30 countries. Learn more and sign up for updates at https://www.facebook.com/business/boost/grants.

Delivery Service Integration for Carryout-Only Restaurants

Door-to-door delivery service is a growing consumer expectation in the on-demand space. With shelter-in-place mandates possibly expanding, restaurant delivery services (RDS) will likely play a vital role in the supply chain.

For restaurants that offer carryout only, we suggest adding a delivery option through one of our logistics partners. We have secured a discounted rate of 12.5% for restaurants that activate DoorDash or Postmates RDS through Menufy.

Delivery integration can be activated in the Menufy Store.

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