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How Restaurants Can Use Behavioural Science To Beat The Corona Crisis
With lockdown lifting across the U.K., restaurants, and pubs are desperate to get all their customers back through the doors.
But as I write this, Pizza Hut has just announced the closure of 70 stores coupled with over a thousand job losses!
To prevent the death of the industry, the government has even launched a scheme to pay for half of everyone’s bill when they go to a restaurant!
But what if there was a simpler, more behavioural tactic, that could help one of Britain’s most under pressure industries?
Rory Sutherland once spoke about how Cafes can increase trade with passing motorists if they place expensive furniture, they type you have to put inside at night to prevent theft, outside their establishment. He argued that the passing motorist has no time to stop and guess if you are open, they need confirmation. An open sign can be easily missed, but what shop would put expensive furniture out on the street to be stolen if they were not actually open?
So if a restaurant wants to increase trade it needs to show passing people that they won’t be disappointed by a locked door if they approach your eatery.
