How QSR Brands Are Adjusting to A Post-Pandemic World

Restaurant franchises, particularly those in the QSR segment, were forced to rely on a myriad of creative solutions to survive the COVID-19 pandemic, and those solutions may stick around long after most customers have been vaccinated. Consumer attitudes have changed in the past year and a half, and many changes that operators thought were temporary stopgaps may prove to be permanent standards.

QSR Magazine recently looked at several issues in the modern restaurant landscape that stand in the way of post-pandemic excellence, including a labor shortage, insurance issues and supply chain disruption. 

“Certain coverages are seeing large exclusions. Rates are universally rising. Necessary limits for certain risks like excess liability insurance are a challenge to get covered,” the article says. That may sound ominous for the restaurant industry at large, but according to QSR, the pandemic “forced trends that were already underway to gain strength.”

In other words, innovation was already coming, it just landed a little quicker than some may have imagined.

When consumers have immediate access to their phones, an ordering process can be enabled at their fingertips. Even just a touch screen to order at a restaurant can decrease ordering errors and expedite a process that otherwise requires standing in line for less-efficient verbal communication. That isn’t to say all consumers will be on board with tapping a screen instead of talking with a cashier, but a commitment to innovative strategy could soon enhance a consumer and employee experience across the board. If there is one thing a pandemic taught us, it could easily be the value of ease and simplicity when so many standards were suddenly tabbed as novelties.

Some restaurant franchises are testing the limits of new solutions. Domino’s Pizza, for instance, has begun testing a self-driving delivery service. Even the most basic services are subject to a new era of radical enhancement.

It isn’t just a consumer that can benefit from such changes; when restaurant employees have been quitting in droves, some newfound innovation may prompt in-demand worker accommodations and improved salaries.

Insufficient wages have been the cause for a staggering number of restaurant worker resignations in the past several months. A solution like Domino’s may decrease employee turnover, which could prompt companies to pay their staff at a more attractive rate. This could promote worker retention and general well-being throughout an organizational landscape and would diminish the need for creativity when it comes to luring prospective employees.

QSR describes the restaurant franchising sector as “well-positioned to effectively manage the risks and opportunities ahead.” A familiarity to one's audience is always an asset, but a modernized approach to meet consumers on their level has become more urgent than ever before, and it could be the factor that separates the sustainable from the obsolete.