A Lifeline for Independent Restaurants
As a result of the sudden outbreak of COVID-19, independent restaurants have had to become creative. Restaurant owners are rallying regulars and neighbors to order take-out to maintain staff and pay rent. Restaurants are using dining rooms as grocery stores, and host stands as pick-up areas. Although innovative, such creativity has resulted in crowded spaces where guests touch surfaces, product, and break social distancing guidance while waiting for take-out orders to be prepared.
With Drive-Thru on Demand, take-out food as well as grocery items can be sold from restaurants without requiring guests or delivery drivers to enter and come into contact with the product.
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti only announced over a week following the ‘Safer at Home’ order, that licensing restrictions would be lifted, and restaurants would be allowed to sell inventory as grocery for take-out and delivery. Prior to that, the ‘tug-of-war’ between independent L.A. restaurants and public health officials about whether independent restaurants should be allowed to sell groceries had been going on for over a week. Although restaurants are allowed to sell groceries, health inspectors are keeping a close eye on how this is being done.
To add to the regulatory hurdles, the business model of a typical restaurant is not optimized for take-out, delivery, or drive-through. Restaurants are cash-strapped, and quickly running out of options. Fortunately, the developers of the Drive-Thru on Demand app have decided to offer this service at zero transaction fees to independent restaurants all over the country through the end of 2020. With the Drive-Thru on Demand app, either grocery items or prepared meals can be sold from restaurants without requiring guests to come into the premises or expose the meals to a third-party delivery driver. Drive-Thru on Demand aims to keep businesses open and communities healthy and safe.
Drive-Thru on Demand is a solution to many of the problems independent restaurants continue to face: staff layoffs, a shut-down of their dine-in business, a constant fight to keep their pick-up areas sanitized, and a lack of clear guidelines by public health officials.
Restaurants can sign-up here and will be featured on the app within 72 hours.
If you’re a customer, and worried about an infected delivery driver bringing the virus into your home, download the Drive-Thru on Demand app for Android and iOS, and pick up your food safely on-site. The staff at the restaurant will personally bring the products to your car. The app can be downloaded for free below:
Drive-Thru on Demand, originally launched in Oklahoma, allows customers to stay in their car when picking up prepared meals, and have them brought directly to the car by restaurant staff.
Due to the fact that the food is never touched by a third-party such as a delivery driver, the food service is “COVID-19 compliant”. Guests also do not have to fear potentially exposing themselves to the virus inside a restaurant while picking up their food.
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This article is sponsored by Drive-Thru On Demand