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Social Media Marketing student helps Caffé Gelato avoid layoffs By Adam S. Kamras
Lessons implemented during COVID-19 crisis When Caffé Gelato owner Ryan German enrolled employee Kiran Wiker in the Advanced Social Media Marketing for Business Certificate program offered by the University of Delaware’s Division of Professional and Continuing Studies (UD PCS), he was hoping his investment would enable Wiker to utilize the training to serve as an online voice for his restaurant on Newark’s Main Street and bring more customers in the door. As the 15-week, online class commenced in the second week of February, neither German nor Wiker could have envisioned how the escalating COVID-19 crisis would propel Wiker’s voice to the forefront of Caffé Gelato’s business. Rather than using her newly acquired skills to help the business grow, Wiker was charged with doing all she could to enable her coworkers to continue to be paid, without having any patrons come through the door. According to German, Delaware was the third hardest-hit state for restaurant layoffs during the pandemic—as of late June—with 60% of all staff members being let go at some point. He felt a duty not to lay off any of his staff and opted to stay open during the quarantine period. This required Caffé Gelato to rapidly pivot from being a fine dining restaurant and catering business to one that was now operating solely as a full-service takeout establishment. To get the word out, Wiker turned to social media and was guided by her instructor, Nancy Dibert, the founder and CEO of EPIC Marketing Consultants.
visuals of dinner specials, frequently led to numerous orders being placed for the respective selections shortly thereafter. While it may seem obvious to post pictures of tasty dishes, which she has done plenty of, she realized that probably was not enough to convince people their meals were being safely prepared. Wiker continued to take followers behind the scenes and showed them her masked coworkers utilizing hand sanitizer and handwashing stations along with scanners that check the cleanliness of their hands. Although people could not dine in the restaurant, they were still shown what was happening on the other side of the door.
“Every lesson, lecture and piece of reading material was crucial to getting us through quarantine because I had to apply it that second."
“I did not realize how much more engagement we would get by simply being present consistently and posting from the inside,” said German. “If we were not doing social media, we would — KIRAN WIKER not have sold so many home meals. Through March, April and the early part of May, many Delaware restaurants were at 15 to 20 percent of “Every lesson, lecture and piece of reading material was crucial their sales compared to a year ago. We were able to sustain to getting us through quarantine because I had to apply it that quite a bit more and have not laid anyone off.” second,” said Wiker. “I couldn’t learn fast enough and was astounded by how much of the material I was able to put Social media is more than posting pictures into practice.” In addition to images and videos depicting what is happening
Bringing followers behind the scenes Drawing on a curriculum that includes crisis communications, decision trees and the importance of listening—along with numerous other topics—Wiker embarked on a multi-pronged approach, which included kitchen footage of the chefs making everything from scratch to let people know they can still get good, healthy food. Strategic postings, such as late afternoon
in the restaurant, Wiker has kept busy engaging with social media followers and responding to requests. Many people have used the extra time at home to do more of their own cooking, and the Caffé Gelato marketplace has provided numerous ingredients, including yeast for the suddenly popular activity of baking bread, as well as eggs, artisan cheeses, Kalamata olives and numerous other items.
