As Covid restrictions are slowly lifted, consumer expectations are shifting to an increased demand for safe and efficient solutions. In order to safely welcome fans back to your venue, one of your top priorities needs to be the management of your stadium food and beverage operations.

What are the top Covid-safe stadium food and beverage solutions?

A shift in mindset to meet customers' new expectations is not only advantageous to a  post-Covid world but will become an integral part of your long-term food and beverage revenue management. Adopting new ways to promote, sell and distribute your food and beverage offerings will provide several business benefits, the three most important being:

1. Personalise offers: The ability to send the right offer to the right customer can better qualify customer reach and maximise overall revenue.
2. Increase spend: The easier you make it for your customer to complete a purchase, the more likely they are to spend money consistently.
3. Reduce crowd congestion: Not only is this crucial for Covid-safety, reducing crowd congestion provides a more positive customer experience, leaving your fans coming back for more.

Ordering

Mobile ordering has become not only a feature but a staple of the food and beverage industry, both inside and outside of sporting and entertainment venues. Providing fans with a flexible mobile ordering solution will help meet customer demands while giving you the opportunity to minimise queues and keep track of consumer data. With an effective stadium food and beverage app, you can offer your fans a contactless and convenient method for placing orders. 

Convenience

With the right mobile ordering solution, you can provide a customised experience while controlling the flow of traffic throughout your venue. Based on customer location or ticket information, you can display the closest available stadium food and beverage options and allow purchase directly through the app. Display your local concession menus in the app to make purchasing decisions more convenient for your customers and to streamline the process of updating your menus.

Once the order is placed, push notifications and live on-screen updates alert customers of the status of their order. Providing customers with a smooth and convenient ordering process will increase spend-per-head and ultimately boost your food and beverage revenue. 

Putting a heavy reliance on data also makes order fulfillment easier for your venue. Integrating your data into a one-stop order dashboard allows your employees to manage orders with the greatest ease. 

Payment

Going cashless is an essential way to increase safety in your mobile ordering process by shortening overall transaction time. By taking payment within your mobile ordering app, your customers will feel a sense of security as they leave their wallet in their pocket.

This process allows your venue to capture valuable customer data that can be used to enhance the personalised experience. Eliminating in-person payment allows your employees to spend less time on the transaction and more time on fulfilling orders. Shortening the payment time also reduces crowd congestion, making your venue an even safer environment. As all payments go through the app, paper receipts can transition to digital receipts, saving you money in the long run.

Collection

Now that your customer has placed and paid for their order, getting them to their food is a crucial piece of your Covid-safe operations. In order to control foot traffic and ensure that your orders are being prepared properly and at the right time, clear expectations on food readiness need to be in place. Options should include:

• In real-time: ASAP ordering allows customers to receive their food when they want, how they want.
• Choose a time-slot: Give customers the flexibility to choose when their order will be ready.
• Check in on arrival: Using a contactless barcode system, customers can arrive and pick up their freshly made food and beverages.

Delivery

Offering multiple collection options adds value to your customer experience. One of the ways to step up your food and beverage operations is to offer seat and table delivery. This gives your venue direct control over the entire transaction process, from ordering on the app through to delivery. To increase delivery efficiency, managers can utilise the order dashboard to better oversee employee movement and avoid congestion in any given area.