How the Pandemic Reshaped Restaurants’ ECommerce Business

The pandemic has turned many industries upside down, including
the restaurant sector. While farsighted restaurants had digital
plans on their future roadmaps before COVID-19 struck, lockdown
was a gamechanger. Square, which builds business tools to help
sellers of all sizes start, grow, and run their operations, has
been instrumental in helping restaurants make the necessary pivot
to eCommerce solutions.


Barbara Castiglia, Host of The Main Course, was joined by David
Rusenko, Head of eCommerce for Square, to talk about the
increasing importance of eCommerce in the restaurant world, in no
small part due to the coronavirus. “In many ways, the pandemic
brought us further into the future, faster,” said Rusenko. When
San Francisco issued its first shelter in place mandate, Square
was quick to help businesses pivot and rewrite their roadmaps.
Rusenko said that within 48 hours, restaurants were able to offer
curbside delivery, and within a week, delivery functionality.


Square instituted a full online platform that allows restaurants
to have a direct channel to accept orders and transactions
online, without paying commissions on the third-party
marketplace. It also created a self-serve QR-ordering system that
allows customers to split tabs, order their meals, and perhaps
another cocktail, all from their phones. In short, these
platforms ramped up restaurants’ overall efficiency while
attracting customers, creating new experiences, and growing
businesses. “The steady drumbeat of the restaurant industry was
that they needed to adapt,” he said. “The industry was faced with
a dire situation. We wanted to be there and support them as
quickly as possible."