Restaurant · Guide Updated August 2026

4 Best Practices Restaurants Must Follow in the New Normal

If your restaurant is still running, congratulations. That is not a small thing. The operators who are still open have already survived the hardest stretch. Now the goal shifts from surviving to building habits that hold up long-term.

Here are the four best practices you need to act on right now.

Why Does Signage Matter More Than Ever?

After interviewing tens of restaurant owners, one pain point came up over and over: customers simply do not know which restaurants are open.

Think about it from your customer’s perspective. They want to revisit a favorite spot. The first question they ask a friend is, “Are they even open? What are the new hours?” If you cannot answer that question before they get in the car, you lose the visit.

Your job right now is to use every square foot of dead space you have. Windows, doors, exterior walls. Put up signage that tells people you are open, when you are open, and how they can order. Aesthetics can take a back seat. Clarity wins.

How Do You Keep Your Online Information Consistent?

Signage on your physical location covers the people who walk or drive by. Your online presence covers everyone else, and that group is larger.

Update every platform you are on:

Google My Business has a dedicated field for temporary pandemic hours. Use it. Set your actual operating hours there so Google does not show stale information.

Yelp, your website, and all social media profiles need to match exactly. If Google shows you open at 3:00 pm, your website says 5:00 pm, and your Instagram says 4:30 pm, customers get confused. Confusion kills the visit. A confused customer does not take a chance on a wasted trip.

The rule is simple: every platform shows the same hours, updated the same day you change anything.

What Does It Mean to Diversify Your Revenue?

The uncertainty around when full dine-in service returns is the reason you cannot afford to have one revenue stream. Sitting still is not a strategy.

Look at what the large chains did. Starbucks and Chick-fil-A aggressively added drive-through locations. Curbside pickup became a standard offering across the industry. Those are infrastructure-heavy moves. You can move faster with lower overhead.

Some concrete options available to almost any food operator:

Meal kits. Package your signature dishes as take-home kits. Customers get a restaurant experience at home, and you get a higher ticket average.

House-made sauces and pantry items. If you have a sauce, a spice blend, or a staple that customers love, bottle it. Sell it as a grocery item. Customers skip a grocery run, you add revenue and brand recognition at the same time.

Courses and experiences. One operator I featured created an online bar experience and generated an extra fifty thousand dollars through online courses alone. Think about what knowledge or experience lives inside your concept that someone would pay to learn from home.

The point is not to do all of these at once. The point is to stop depending on a single format when that format is restricted.

How Should You Redesign Your Menu Right Now?

Your pre-pandemic menu was built for dine-in. It needs a rebuild for delivery.

First, audit for delivery viability. Fries in a closed container for thirty minutes turn soggy. That soggy order earns you a one-star review, and the reviewer is not wrong. If an item does not survive the time between leaving your kitchen and arriving at a door, pull it from the delivery menu or replace it with something that holds.

Second, lean into hearty and comforting food. That is what people are craving right now. Not fine dining, not trend-driven small plates. Food that feels like care. Comfort food has low barriers, broad appeal, and high emotional value.

Third, cut the low-margin, high-cost items. Right now the mission is to stay alive to fight another day. Any item that carries a high cost of goods and low volume does not belong on your menu. Keep only what generates strong margin and real demand.

Fourth, build around recycled ingredients. McDonald’s cut a significant portion of their menu for exactly this reason: fewer SKUs means less spoilage, more predictable ordering, and tighter cost of goods sold. If an ingredient only shows up in one dish, that ingredient is costing you money every time demand shifts. Design your menu so proteins, sauces, and produce move across multiple items.

How Do You Stay Connected With Your Customers?

When the pressure is high, the natural instinct is to put your head down and just get through the day. The problem is that your customers are looking for you right now, and they want to support you.

People genuinely want to support local businesses through hard times. But they need a reason to stay attached. That reason is your story.

Share what you are going through on social media. Share the hard days and the small wins. When you hit a milestone, celebrate it publicly with the people who follow you. That kind of transparency builds loyalty that no discount or promotion can manufacture. Loyal customers are built through shared struggle, not through coupons.

You do not need a polished content strategy. You need honesty and consistency. Show up, be real, and let your customers go on the journey with you.

The Bottom Line

Open clearly, diversify deliberately, simplify your menu around margin and delivery, and talk to your customers like they are on your team. Because right now, they are. The operators who come out of this stronger will be the ones who treated every constraint as a reason to build a better business, not a reason to hide. Stay visible, stay honest, and stay in the fight.

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