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Survey: Employee safety = more profitable pizza brands

Pizza brands that want a spot at the profit table during this pandemic must not only practice topnotch employee safety practices, but tell the world they're doing it.

Employee health and safety, including temperature checks, were important factors in driving restaurant traffic in a survey by Publicis Sapient. (Image: iStock)

August 14, 2020 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

Is your brand doing employee health and safety checks? And further still, are you talking about it … a lot, on social media?

New research from digital consultancy, Publicis Sapient, underscores why restaurant brands must do both if operators really want to attract customers in the time of COVID-19. The company's first Digital Life Index around current consumer behavior toward restaurants and travel shines light on not only how people are adapting to eating out or ordering in during the pandemic, but also which trends are taking hold and which ones are falling out of favor with customers.

The results of the 3,000-person survey in the U.S. and four other nations, indicate the changes afoot are not only dramatic and industry-changing, but could make the difference between making it or not, especially for limited-service concepts.

Diners' digital 'I do'

Most restaurateurs are well aware that digital technology has swept the industry up in its arms and carried it over the threshold, but knowing how to navigate that potentially tricky crossing into a new digital life may be a bit less clear. The Publicis Sapient survey results provide some focus, beginning with findings that today a hefty 44% of U.S. poll respondants said they now use social platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok to research restaurants they do or maybe more importantly, do not eat at.

So while those platforms obvious mandate a pizza brand's strong presence now, the survey indicates restaurant consumers are still in the infancy stages when it comes to voice searches for restaurants. Notably, only a mere 9% of U.S. respondents said they now use voice as a tool to learn about new restaurants. And that response level was the highest of any other region globally.

Sooho Choi, Publicis Sapient executive vice president and global head of travel and hospitality, said that tells restaurant brand leaders, this area of both finding, and finding out about brands, is just beginning to have relevance for restaurateurs.

"We believe the delay in the prevalent use of voice follows the overall adoption trend of digital channels over the years," Choi said in an interview with Pizza Marketplace. "Similar to how the web is being overtaken by mobile, we anticipate further adoption of voice as a means to interact in the future.

"This, of course, applies to home-based device skills and voice-enabling transactions via mobile phones. The capability can be expanded with modern technologies into operations, too — for example, (for) voice recognition to support more accurate drive-through order capture."

On the subject of ordering via mobile devices, the survey found that 31% globally said that the presence of a brand's mobile menus and/or apps made it much more more likely that they would place an order from that brand. And, on a related topic, the survey found that, if contactless payment options were offered by a restaurant, 26% of U.S. respondents would pay that way "almost every time."

"While in the past a significant portion of social media content was opinions on the quality about the food itself, we've seen a shift to more practical and immediate topics."

-Sooho Choi, Publicis Sapient

Safety: Brands must 'walk the walk'

In fact, health and safety in all things restaurant-related was a big running theme in the responses to the poll, with 43% of global survey respondents reporting that they are more likely to eat at a restaurant that performs health and safety checks with its employees. That response rates indicates that this is the top concern for restaurant customers in the current pandemic environment.

Further, operationally diners have demands as well around safe daily restaurant practices, with most (37%) respondents saying they prefer low-density seating inside the restaurant, while 29% said it was important in outside dining areas of a brand. For pizza brands that offer some sort of kiosk ordering and payment option, the survey found that one-fifth of those polled said they prefer to use these self-service options when ordering or paying.

Finally, the poll makes it clear Americans place a high priority on grab-and-go types of service. Publicis Sapient said U.S. respondents to the poll were more likely than those in any other part of the world to say a brand's provision of either drive-thru service or curbside pickup was a decisive factor in whether they ate there or not. Fully 43% of those polled in the U.S. said these service channels would make or break whether they would eat at a brand.

But, as previously mentioned, the most important thing for pizza brands to do to attract customers during the pandemic revolves around how much emphasis the restaurant puts on employee health. In total, 43% of those polled said the presence of those employee health and safety checks made them more likely to dine in a restaurant. That's more than any other single feature, including food delivery capability and mobile payment access, as shown in this graph.

Graph: Publicis Sapient

But Choi said it's equally important that brands tell the world they're taking these health and safety steps through any means possible, though digital channels were the best means of doing so.

"Digital channels are some of the most effective means of reaching a large targeted audience," he said. "Therefore, being clear through these channels about what steps are being taken to ensure team member safety is just as important as establishing procedures that the customer must follow. … While in the past a significant portion of social media content was opinions on the quality about the food itself, we've seen a shift to more practical and immediate topics."

Beyond that, Choi said the things that many brands or brand locations neglect — updated operational information via digital channels — is an absolute must in a COVID-19-impacted world. In fact, leaving customers in the dark about hours and adjustments to those hours, pick-up or dine-in practices or other basic information is, Choi said, a good way to push restaurant traffic levels into the red.

"Customers are also looking for deeper insights into safety such as transparency and consistency in procedures, availability of self service, and extent of contactless capabilities. This has led to an expansion of focus from food and service, to an end-to-end experience view," he said.

And one additional finding in the survey is one that may also surprise restaurateurs a bit, given the many pitfalls of pandemic operations. The poll indicates that a solid 34% of U.S. respondents said they tried new restaurants recently, adding a ray of hope to the very cloudy picture of the restaurant business lately.

"What's especially powerful about this statistic is that respondents are trying new restaurants in their own cities and neighborhoods. …" Choi said. "While the analogous statistic pre-COVID is not readily available, we do believe that the unexpectedly high number represents a desire to safely go from a 'stay at home' to 'leave my home' mindset. Reopening of restaurants paired with safety and social distancing measures support this desire."

About S.A. Whitehead

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Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.