Adaptability isn’t unique to startups. While it’s true that FanFood thrives on challenges that require flexibility and resourcefulness, we’re also very lucky to have like-minded partners on this journey with us. As much as we take pride in supporting their successes, oftentimes their brilliant ideas also inspire us.
Within the community of FanFood partners — which is nearly 100 strong now — we’re all about sharing best practices and helping each other out. In this week’s blog, we want to highlight some examples of incredible adaptability demonstrated by our partners, who truly lived that saying:
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
(To make the “lemonade” sweeter, we are offering a 60-day free trial on FanFood with no commission or setup fee. Businesses get to keep 100% of the revenue and tips, and only pay $99/mo afterwards.)
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Use mobile ordering for contactless pickup and delivery
COVID-19 hit sports and live entertainment venues hard. But for those that were still allowed to operate, we’ve witnessed swift adaptation among our existing and new partners. For example, many drive-in theaters signed up for FanFood as soon as possible so their customers didn’t need to leave the car to get food. Instead, they can now order from the phone on FanFood, and receive their food and drinks via express pickup or delivery to the car.
Especially for drive-in theaters, concession sales make up the bulk of their nightly revenue. with safe contactless services really helped the theaters stay afloat for as long as they could. In fact, Blue Fox Drive-in was able to reel in a five-digit revenue within one week of using FanFood even during the outbreak.
In addition, customers loved it. One FanFood user posted on Facebook, saying: “Thank you so much for staying open & implementing this for ordering! Definitely made it easier to keep the social distance.”
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Events cancelled? Keep the concession stands running!
As Coronavirus develops, the vast majority of venues and businesses have been required to shut down. However, this doesn’t mean business has to stop — not if you are offering express pickup, curbside pickup and no-contact delivery with a mobile ordering app like FanFood. Even for concession stands at theaters and drive-ins, they are still determined to operate despite not being able to put on any films.
Blue Fox Drive-in in Oak Harbor, WA, for example, will keep their concession stands open for curbside pickup orders, and may even explore delivery to home. We have also set up a COVID-19 Response Fund where businesses that sign up with FanFood’s 60-day free trial now will get up to $5,000 allocated towards customer acquisition. That means their customers can receive up to $20 off on their first FanFood order, covered in full by us.
Increase order value with new service offerings
With the banning of social gatherings, inevitably traffic and order volume would decrease for restaurants and businesses. However, that doesn’t stop some from innovating and capitalizing on the fact that people are reducing the frequency of leaving the house. OBar Cafe in Edwardsville, IL, one of FanFood’s most recent restaurant partners, started offering meal prep services so that customers can order enough meals for the whole week, and receive them through express pickup. Not only is this convenient and safe for customers, but also results in higher order value per customer.
Explore other use cases for mobile ordering
Some FanFood partners started offering curbside pickup before it became a common practice during the Coronavirus outbreak. Walker High School in Louisiana, for example, initially started using FanFood at concession stands during sports events. After the sports season was over, the school continued using the platform in a different setting: PJ’s coffee shop.
The shop opened with the goal to help students with special needs land their first job, and learn about all aspects of business operations. In this case, FanFood is used for customers to place their orders and pay ahead of time, then receive their food via curbside pickup. This is especially convenient for the parents, who can grab something on the go as they drop off or pick up their children at the school.
Mobile ordering is a tool that you can use creatively to your advantage. Our team at FanFood is strong advocates for recommending best practices based on your unique challenges and goals. That’s why we maintain a high-touch, consultative approach during onboarding and check-ins, just so that each partner finds their best way of using mobile ordering to solve their problems and drive up revenue.
Interested to learn more? Our team is ready to learn more about your goals and needs: www.fanfoodapp.com/request-demo