The Covid-19 outbreak will affect everyone's livelihood as it spreads across the globe.

If you own or run a coffee shop, cafe or other hospitality business anywhere in the world, you will either be:

1. Worried about what's coming and taking action like increased cleaning and distancing
2. Moving to a takeaway only non-contact service style
3. Closed 
4. Getting ready to reopen.

Moving to takeaway or delivery is a challenge for a business that mostly sells hot liquid in a cardboard cup. The logistics of processing orders and payments then organizing swift delivery deter many from giving it a go. If you are at stage 1, then get yourself an app that takes orders and payments, and set it up now.

If you have a broader food menu and sell pizza or other higher-margin food, the delivery option becomes more viable. You can build a higher spend by bundling up items and even adding daily essentials like bread and milk to your menu. This assumes that you are still able to get supplies, and you and your team are comfortable with it.

Deciding to close and see things out at home is a tough call, and will cause distress and uncertainty to both you and your teams. Being told to shut by the Government may not be your call. However, you will still need to deal with the fallout, and your focus will be on navigating the various compensation schemes available to you and your teams.

At the end of this, some businesses will inevitably fail, there are casualties already. Some will resume as they closed, like a time capsule, preserved from a different age. Then a few will reopen, strengthened, energized and revitalized ready to grow.

Your customers will have changed their view of the world after 12 weeks of isolation. They may have missed the social interaction of their typical working day but become used to the flexibility of remote working. They may have become more health-conscious and considerate of others. They may have a big overdraft, have lost their old jobs or alternatively they might have a load of cash because they haven't been out for three months to spend it. In any scenario, things will have changed, and your business needs to as well.

Amid everything, there is one upside to this crisis, you now have an opportunity to work ON your business, not IN it.

A chance to inspect, analyze, tweak, reinvent and relaunch every aspect of your current business. An opportunity that won't come by again in our lifetimes and should not be missed.

Your mind will be full of many emotions as the crisis affects you, we had trouble sleeping and palpatations,  but when you are more settled, then that's when you should start your revitalization plan.

Start by reflecting on what you enjoy about your business and what are the things that frustrate you. Build some clarity, revisit your big vison before you opened the doors for the first time and build a new vision for the future.

Begin by dusting down your accounts from previous years, updating your trading reports and looking for trends or red flags that need your attention. Drill down into your dayparts, your margins, your menu, your staff costs and your marketing. Put together an action plan and get as much of it done as you can in isolation.

Have a video team meeting to involve and engage everyone with the changes, so when you reopen, you will hit the ground running.

If you want to join a few select business owners working on their businesses with us, then join our Profit Boost Accelerator Program. We have turbocharged the program to deliver it over a week, rather than the usual 10 weeks.

You will have 7 live interactive Zoom sessions covering the critical aspects of your revitalization plan. Followed by a week's unlimited phone or zoom calls to us to really get the nitty-gritty completed with 11 live monthly follow up sessions.

The first sessions start next week to join click here.

Andrew & Claire 

P.S. When writing this email and talking to our clients we understand that your health and that of your family, friends and employees will always be your priority, but when you are ready, there will be many positives that come out of the negatives.