In this very specific context, restaurants get organized. To compensate for being closed, take-away services have grown and have shown to be an alternative way of generating sales.

Standing Out

To make a success of your take-away sales business, it is essential to promote it and give it visibility. Share and present your offering on social media. Customers are keen to find new services and ideas. Social media is one of the leading information sources for food content – in fact, nearly 40% of Facebook users and 38% of Instagram users look at food-related content. Publish photos of your dishes, post up the week’s menu, and above all, make people’s mouth water!

You should also remember to promote your business physically. Don’t forget the potential customers who pass by your restaurant when they are out and about. Thanks to this physical information, regular customers who don’t follow you on social media will also find out that you offer a take-away service as they go past. So promoting your offer is essential, but making it easy for customers to order is also key. Are orders taken by email or by phone? Make sure you keep your information up to date. Do you have a website? If so, offer customers the possibility to order online, with a click and collect system.

Increasing Average Spend

A take-away service is an effective way to boost sales, while complying with the current sanitary obligations, and thus ensuring the survival of your business. To make the most of this new sales channel, up-selling must not be neglected. When a customer calls with an order or comes to collect it, offer him additional products, such as beverages in particular. One of the first questions that you ask a restaurant customer is what he or she would like to drink. Do the same when customers order to take away! Offer wine to go with the dish of the day, and use food and wine pairings to make recommendations. Your customers come to you to treat themselves, so let them enjoy a true tasting experience.

By-the-Glass Wine as a Means of Up-selling

Offering wine to take away could prove complicated. Other than selling the whole bottle, selling wine by the glass might seem difficult to envisage. How can you avoid the risk of wastage when you open a bottle for a customer? When will the next customer arrive and will they accept a glass from a bottle that has already been open for some time? What risks are there of contamination via the bottle neck? The flacon format offered by 10-Vins solves all of the problems mentioned here. Containing a single serving, the D-Vine’s recyclable flacons allow your customers to enjoy quality, by-the-glass wines in their own home. The screw cap provides customers with the guarantee that nothing has come into contact with the wine before it is served. This format also requires less manipulation and therefore limits the risk of exposure to the virus. Although some bars and restaurants already offer wine as a means of up-selling, you see some establishments lowering their margins on the sale of bottles to sell volume, generate cash flow and clear their stock. With flacons, you generate instant net income, provide quality without reducing margins and keep dormant stock to a minimum.

What to charge for take-away products

According to top French sommelier and holder of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France title Laurent Derhé, it is better to lower your mark-up slightly while still preserving a decent margin. The idea is to answer the needs and worries of consumers who may be a little less willing to spend. When you operate a take-away business, you need to take account of the fact that there is less service involved. Products can therefore not be sold at the same price you would have charged if they had been served to the table by staff.

Generating Customer Loyalty

Last but not least, you need to make your customers want to come back. Whether you do this with attractive packaging or by adding a few goodies to their order, the important thing is to build loyalty. For example, when customers visit your restaurant, give them a discount voucher that is valid to use on their next order. Or encourage them to follow you on social media. Your posts will have a greater impact than advertising and you will be able to keep them updated with your news. So, what are you waiting for?

Key Points to Remember:

• Promote your service
• Make life easy for customers
• Up-sell
• Build customer loyalty

To learn more

Propose a food and wine pairing with your dish of the day to increase your average ticket. Discover our selection of 30 references of wine by the glass, available for take-away offer. Learn more