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17 vendors offering freebies to help restaurants live another day
As restaurants struggle to keep their businesses open amid COVID-19, vendors are proving that they are ready to help.
April 1, 2020 by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com
Over the past three weeks, we've been inundated with news about the devastating losses that COVID-19 has caused to restaurants and their employees, but the one bright spot is seeing how people in this industry take care of one another. Vendors all over the country are not only offering their help and advice but are also putting their money where their mouths are by providing free services to help restaurants keep open their doors.
Below is a list of free services.
Mobile ordering and delivery
Bringg launches last-mile delivery management
Bringg, a delivery orchestration platform, has released BringgNow, a last-mile delivery solution to allow restaurants to immediately launch and scale delivery operations, according to a company press release.
Using BringgNow business owners can quickly load incoming orders, dispatch deliveries to their own drivers or crowdsourced fleets, and deliver items to customers with a fully branded, real-time Uber-like experience.
While the solution was scheduled to be released later this year, Bringg made the decision to release it early to aid businesses facing increased demand for delivery services as consumers look to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Bringg is offering business owners this out of the box solution for last-mile delivery management for free.
Grubhub
With dine-in down as much as 75%, Grubhub is deferring commission fees for impacted independent restaurants.
"Delaying our revenue will increase the restaurant's cash flow, allowing them to pay their employees and weather this difficult situation," a spokesperson told FastCasual. "We are also matching all promotions run by independent restaurants with our Smart Promotions feature, to help make their investments in growth twice as effective."
To provide additional financial relief for drivers and restaurants, the company also created the Grubhub Community Relief Fund. With this fund, all Donate the Change contributions will go to charitable organizations that support drivers and restaurants impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.
Lightspeed POS issuing free delivery, e-commerce and loyalty services
Lightspeed POS Inc., a cloud-based commerce platform, has created several initiatives to support its restaurant customers who have been affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Effective immediately, and for the next three months, Lightspeed will offer the following services free:
- Lightspeed Delivery for restaurant customers.
- Lightspeed eCommerce for retail customers.
- Lightspeed Loyalty for omnichannel customers.
In addition, Lightspeed has also rolled out a #lightspeedlocal initiative that engages its company employees to shop locally and support small businesses in our network. The program reimburses employees in its 14 global offices up to $500 in local currency on purchases employees make from any Lightspeed retail or restaurant customer, whether through eCommerce shopping, meal takeout or delivery.
"I'm inspired by the spirit and innovation from some of our customers leveraging omni and creative home delivery options to make the best of an incredibly difficult time. Helping others do the same is at the heart of these incentives that we are putting in place," Dax Dasilva, founder and CEO of Lightspeed said in a company press release.
To further help SMBs protect their businesses, Lightspeed launched an online COVID-19 Retail and Restaurant Resource Guide. The guide includes tips for operational tasks, as well as tools for new revenue streams to help businesses navigate changes in consumer behavior.
Menuu allowing restaurants free access to online ordering solution
For hospitality businesses affected by mandatory closings, Menuu.com, a digital ordering solutions company based in Dublin, Ireland, is helping businesses put their menus online. The company, which promises to have restaurants live in three to five days, is waiving setup fees and implementation fees.
The Smart Online Ordering Solution, supported by a 24-hour support and monitoring team, comes free for 90 days and then costs $30 per. Menuu will also provide a mobile responsive web page, according to the release.
MenuDrive provides free online ordering, delivery capabilities
MenuDrive, a white-label online ordering platform, is giving free online ordering and CRM software to restaurants. Most local restaurants do not have existing courier networks, so MenuDrive allows restaurants to add their own delivery services, or utilize Lavu's national partner for fixed-price, commission-free deliveries.
"We've been working on various strategies to help restaurant customers during this time and we believe MenuDrive to be a game-changer, making the difference between shutting down or surviving for some," Lavu CEO Saleem S. Khatri said in the release. "We knew restaurants needed access to something more than telephone carryout orders so we decided to offer MenuDrive for free. Enhancing our customer offering while supporting small businesses is what we strive to do."
Free online ordering is a further addition to Lavu's Coronavirus Relief Plan, announced earlier this month offering free software hosting to Lavu customers around the globe who are forced to shut down due to the crisis.
PaymentSense launches free tool to help restaurants go mobile
UK-based Paymentsense said it was creating free websites for customers needing to transform their food and beverage businesses to a carry-out model. The scheme also allows restaurant owners to order bespoke menu flyers, as well as access tools and guidance on how to promote their carry-out services online.
Existing customers can visit the Paymentsense website where they will receive step-by-step guidance on how they can create a branded online order page, order custom flyers, download guides to promote their online services and order food packaging.
The Paymentsense team is also taking care of packaging logistics by partnering with a sustainable firm. Customers will benefit from 15% off their orders and free delivery.
Paytronix giving Toast POS customers no-fee version of platform
Paytronix Systems, a digital guest experience platform, is offering its self-service online ordering solution to customers of the Toast POS system with no monthly fee for six months.
This full-featured Toast integration makes it quick and easy for restaurants to onboard digital ordering, according to a company press release, which also said that the offer is good through April 30.
"We're in an extraordinary time in the restaurant industry in which having an efficient way for guests to order online for takeout or delivery is a matter of survival," Tim Ridgely, head of Order & Delivery for Paytronix, said in the release. "We want to make sure that restaurants can stay in business for the long haul, so together we can come out of this crisis stronger and ready for the future."
The offering requires payment of a reduced setup fee and does not include Paytronix's loyalty, gift, comp or messaging solutions. It is applicable only to new merchants running the Toast POS.
Toast eliminates fees
Toast has eliminated all software fees for its customer community over the next month and is providing complimentary access to its digital ordering, marketing and gift card programs for three months, according to a company press release.
It is helping restaurants set up digital channels, including online ordering, a mobile ordering app, contactless delivery, and e-gift cards. Restaurants can get started with three months free and no hardware or POS purchase required.
Operations management and training
Food Handler Solutions giving access to free online training
Food Handler Solutions, a food-safety training company, is providing its nationally accredited, online food safety training program free to anyone who wishes to learn more about proper personal hygiene, controlling the spread of virus and bacteria along with proper cleaning and sanitizing in a kitchen and other key food safety topics.
"Our mission in this fight against COVID-19 is to provide aid where can to provide tools to prevent additional hardships that can be caused by foodborne illness," Food Handler Solutions Chairman Bart Christian said in a company press release.
Naranga freezes fees for 90 days
Naranga, a provider of franchise management software, is offering its services for free for the next 90 days to franchise companies — both current clients and non-clients.
Effective immediately, clients suffering from financial hardship as a result of the crisis can request to have their fees delayed for 90 days. In addition, non-clients will have access at no charge to Naranga's services including those that enhance remote business capabilities such as:
- ncompass, a centralized operations management platform that includes built-in safe chat to keep you updated in real-time about your business numbers.
- nsight, a field auditing, self-review solution that can be submitted by the franchisee or store employee remotely.
- emaximation, a lead generation and management solution.
- nspire, video training for franchisees and employees.
- nteract, a local marketing management solution.
At the end of the 90-day period, Naranga will determine if there is a need to extend the support program, Naranga Founder and CEO Tariq Farid said in a company press release.
RizePoint giving access to COVID-19-related reports, auditing tools
To help ensure employees and customers stay healthy, RizePoint is offering its free COVID-19 Response Solution. It includes:
- Access to mobile auditor for COVID-19 response, with no limit to the number of audits or locations.
- Forms and virus feedback reports unique to coronavirus.
- Information on cleaning, sanitization, safety and training protocols, as they relate to this pandemic.
- RizePoint COVID-19 Resource Center, where information is regularly updated.
RizePoint, headquartered in Salt Lake City, offers a quality management software solution that helps companies keep brand promises through their quality, safety and compliance efforts, according to a company press release.
ServSafe Food Handler training program now free
ServSafe has released two training videos, "ServSafe Takeout: COVID-19 Precautions" and "ServSafe Delivery: COVID-19 Precautions," to reinforce safe food handling during the coronavirus outbreak. In addition, to support restaurant workers on the front line, It has made its ServSafe Food Handler training program available without charge through April for workers to attain their certificates or refresh their knowledge.
"As restaurants are forced to change how they do business, we want to ensure safe customer experiences by extending best practices for safe food handling to takeout and delivery," Sherman Brown, executive vice president of Training and Certification for the National Restaurant Association. "These new modules were developed to provide guidance for restaurant staff preparing the food, as well as delivery people who will deliver the packages from the restaurant to the customer."
Tango issues free portfolio assessments
Tango, a provider of in-store lifecycle management and integrated workplace management system, is providing results from its comprehensive AI and machine learning predictive location models free of charge to retail and restaurant companies for a limited time.
Real estate represents a top three expense for the industry, Pranav Tyagi, CEO of Tango, said in a company press release, and companies should make time-sensitive decisions to lower occupancy costs and sustain business viability in the challenging COVID-19 environment.
Over the next 60 days, restaurants can register to leverage Tango's AI and machine learning predictive models to:
- Evaluate actual unit performance against trade area sales forecasts.
- Analyze units and reset location level strategies including candidates for closure or renegotiation.
- Understand the portfolio in this new business climate and make more informed decisions in a post-COVID world.
Zenput offers free COVID-19 safety checklists
Zenput has created a program to help restaurants and other foodservice operators implement procedures to keep their customers and employees safe in response to the coronavirus outbreak. During this critical period, the company is providing multi-unit operators — at no charge or obligation — the ability to use Zenput to build out, communicate and ensure compliance with their COVID-19 processes.
"We're seeing the brands that we support work quickly to enact new COVID-19 procedures for employees in every store, in the field, and at the home office," Vladik Rikhter, CEO of Zenput, said in a press release. "Operators are having to rethink how their day-to-day operation functions altogether and quickly mobilizing against all of this is a daunting effort. Zenput wants to help wherever we can."
The free program, which is available through June 30, 2020, gives operators access to customizable COVID-19 checklists regarding sanitation, employee screening and general information about COVID-19. They can also assign tasks and track compliance.
Other freebies
JustMy lending an advertising hand
JustMy founder and CEO Jerome Robinson said it was time to find creative ways to help businesses work through this crisis, which is why his digital company is providing free content, video, advertising and social media support to restaurants hit by COVID-19.
Restaurant owners and managers may register for a free account on the company website to create a free business profile to get online exposure now and free advertising when dining rooms reopen, he said in a press release. They can also get help with social media support and receive content-sharing tips and ideas.
Kickfin offering streamlined tip-out solution
The executives at Kickfin, a closed-loop cash management solution for restaurants, noticed an immediate need for a reduction in cash handling to promote health safety for customers and employees, which is why the company is offering a streamlined tip-out solution.
"Under these unprecedented times, restaurants and restaurant employees face, our team strives to support the brands and workers in any way we can. We noticed a need for cashless and immediate tip-outs," Kickfin Representative Scott Tindle said in a company press release. "We're offering this service to brands at no cost so they can facilitate a means for safe, immediate additional income for their frontline employees."
Road Runner Media offering free media placements
To help brands share messaging around their changes in hours and service options, Road Runner Media is offering free media placements, which are digitally displayed on vehicle fleets throughout select markets.
Restaurant operators in Dallas, Atlanta and Los Angeles are able to implement a media-rich, OOH campaign at no charge through the stent of the pandemic, Road Runner Media's Chris Riley told FastCasual. Intelligent geo-targeted delivery of the advertisements allows brands to surpass the reach of on-premise messaging while reaching consumers who are in reasonable proximity of a restaurant location.
"In such a trying time, we see how quickly restaurant operators are responding to mandates that support social distancing," Riley said. "With digital displays already installed on vehicle fleets displaying COVID-19 CDC messaging, our team is offering a means for restaurant brands to share news of the health safety efforts and service options to consumers."
About Cherryh Cansler
