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Email broadcasts from the CEO and top management on a weekly basis, coupled with daily appreciation on the WhatsApp group with all the stores, including video messages, have made sure we retain the strong link with team members and keep supporting them, especially during this period. We also carry out all our office meetings on video conferencing platforms with the Head Office team to ensure all departments are working collectively to ensure business continuity. What’s been your biggest surprise for the company in a positive way?
Ashwine Dhanuka
Chief Operating Officer How is your Business planning for re-opening? When we started thinking and planning on how we re-open the business, we knew it would never be straightforward. Apart from government regulations and strict social distancing measures, there was a fear in customers to step into any institution which looked crowded. As market leaders, we knew that we had to prove to earn the privilege to remain open; not only to preserve jobs for all our employees, but to also give back to the community and the front line essential workers. We worked closely with the government to retain our carryout and delivery channels. In order to keep these two channels ongoing, we implemented new SOPs that were focused on hand washing, the use of gloves, the use of face masks, recording every employee and customers temperature upon entry into our premises, promoting cashless payments, floor markers, restricting the number of people on our premises, as well as sanitizing the store every 2 hours. As the lock down measures ease in the next few weeks, we continue to work closely with the government by retaining all the previous measures taken, which we feel will become part of the new normal. In addition to these measures, we will be making changes to our seating layouts to comply with social distancing protocols which will reduce the seating capacity in stores and deny entry to any customers who are not wearing a face mask. This will also flow into our head office where the support department and core members of the Leadership Team are based. From a 2-month 100% Work from Home, we will start opening the office with an alternate day schedule to ensure we maintain social distancing and implement additional measures such as daily deep cleaning of the office.
Operating in a country which has a lower internet penetration compared to global standards, as well as low smartphone penetration, our business has been strong in the dine in/carryout sector with the majority of delivery orders coming in through phones. This is despite having a robust e-commerce solution with a better customer journey and being a simpler option than ringing up the store. The high adaptation from customers to place delivery orders, USING our e-commerce platforms during this period has been phenomenal and we have seen these volume's triple from the previous norms! This has helped enforce and remind customers of our delivery strength in the market and building higher trust levels as we see a spike in conversions when customers use our website, which is much simpler than going to the store or ringing up the store. How will social distancing effect your business? We believe that social distancing will modify the pillars of our business. From being a heavy dine-in business, we will see a shift in business structure with carryout and delivery taking lead. Technology always played an important role but will re-define the business as we move to the new normal where meetings that once involved 25 people sitting in a room will now be held through video conferencing applications. This in turn will reduce the need for travel, which means companies will start allocating bigger budgets and attention to technology. What trends are you seeing to come out this time?
I believe technology will play a bigger role in the coming days with companies reducing travel spends with a stronger focus on remote work. Depending on the company’s nature of business, we are also likely to witness more employees working from home which has been proven during the pandemic. This in turn would influence the need for bigger offices which would have a direct impact in the real estate sector. Within the QSR sector, drive-thrus and home delivery channels will see a significant demand which will influence the size of store builds, that would also have a direct impact on the real estate sector. These two outcomes are likely to create nervousness in the real estate sector thereby reducing market rate How are you keeping engaged with staff at this time? inflation, giving renters a bigger advantage in lease negotiations. Visiting team members in the field is vital for our team knowing that Malls and shopping centres are likely to suffer in the short term, as they have complete support. Not being able to conduct these visits they are congregators of people, before they normalize in the new world with the help of technology. during this pandemic period has been challenging, but we have maintained our engagement with them using technology.
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