These Projects Support Restaurants and Shops During the Corona Crisis

It is not easy for any company during the corona crisis; the catering and retail sectors have been particularly affected. As a result of the legally mandated closures of restaurants and shops, owners often have few opportunities to generate revenue and thus keep their head above water. However, some measures can still be carried out. For example, contactless delivery or offering of food. This option is gaining in popularity — also thanks to the new hashtag #supportyourlocals. But not all restaurants and shops can resort to such simple options. But more and more projects are being created to support small businesses. Here are a few examples for you:

projects

Single Hero

Single Hero helps businesses suffering from the corona crisis by helping them set up a delivery service. Traders can use the webpage offer their goods without having to set up their own online shop first. For example, a flower shop offers red roses for 30 euros or a flower bouquet for 25 euros. Customers can pay online and the shop then delivers the goods. Since the registered stores deliver themselves, ordering is only possible if customers live in the immediate vicinity of the respective stores. Since contactless delivery is extremely important during the corona crisis, goods such as food, flowers or fashion are being dropped right on the doorstep. Stuttgart-based software start-ups Iteneo and Entrecode are behind this project. They say they would have stopped the usual work processes for their project for a few days: “Everyone in the team was impressed from the start and in short decided to turn it into a four-day hackathon,” says co-organizer Janina Behn.

Wirvonhier

This project, which is not yet completely finished, is the result of the Federal Government's Corona hackathons. Using the app of the same name, users can browse through the range of local retailers. If you now want to buy a product, you can contact the shop and agree individually how to get the goods. At least that's how the team of 24 developers, designers and marketing people on LinkedIn describes it. Registration for retailers should be simple, they advertise: “Every retailer should have the opportunity to be visible on Wirvonhier even without IT knowledge.” It is not yet known when this app will be published.

Pay now, eat later

“Pay now, eat later” is a project by four Hamburg-based Malte Steiert (founder of Foodguide), Patrick Kosmala (founder of Taste Tours), Niclas Störmer (founder of Urban Guru) and programmer David Bernhard. The platform, published on March 22, works by purchasing vouchers for registered catering establishments. Sums of ten to 200 euros are possible. The money raised helps these cafés and restaurants get through the crisis. On the webpage A total of vouchers worth 285,000 euros have already been recorded. Companies from over 20 German cities as well as Zurich and South Tyrol can register. But you should keep in mind that a single voucher purchase will unfortunately not help any company through this crisis. How you, with the help of Socialwave, inform a large part of your customers about such promotions, you will find out here.

Help.berlin

The platform Help.berlin started in mid-March with the idea: pay today, consume after the crisis. Similar to “Pay now, eat later”, affected companies, such as restaurants, jewelry stores, hairdressers or even clubs, can register on the platform and receive their own profile through which supporters can buy vouchers worth ten to €100 euros. This money increases the liquidity of businesses during the crisis and the vouchers are only redeemed when restaurants and the like can resume their day-to-day business. “Anyone who spends 50 euros in a particular restaurant once a week anyway can now make this budget available to the restaurant ahead of time so that it survives the crisis,” the makers of the platform explain their concept.The platform Help.berlin is run on a voluntary basis, including Karsten Kosatz from the Start-Up Outside Society and Alexander Wolf from the Berlin business network Extraordinary. So far, you have 950 registered locations and vouchers worth €85,000€

Please don't close

This newly launched platform supports retailers and restaurateurs in cities around the world, such as Berlin, London, Milan and New York. However, this project keeps an open mind about how companies can be helped. These companies can register on the platform and indicate themselves how they would like to be supported. An example of the Berlin café “Annelies”, which has linked an online shop with which customers can help the café with “virtual tips” of ten to 25 euros. Some yoga studios are in turn linking their online courses and fashion stores to their online shops. To date, 70 Berlin companies have been registered. Employees from BCG Digital Ventures, the start-up vehicle of consulting firm BCG, are behind this project. Please don't close is primarily intended to help retailers and restaurateurs draw attention to themselves without depending on their often smaller followers.You can inform your customers about specific promotions or offers with Socialwave's email campaigns. Here simple, free and non-binding enquiries.

Lokalkauf

Auch Lokalkauf is a result of the federal government's corona hackathon. The project team behind it has thought of adding a third party to the application: Not only are retailers coordinated with customers via an app, but also suppliers are also involved. The app is currently still under development, but when it is completed soon, retailers, such as bakers and fruit retailers, will be able to put their goods online so that customers can order them. Logistics service providers and taxi drivers should take over the collection and delivery, as their order situation is also suffering from the corona crisis. According to the developers, Lokalkauf should be released in the next few days.

Anticipation. Buy

There is also a digital solution for restaurateurs in Austria: About the platform Anticipation. Buy Customers can purchase vouchers, but the portal does not offer a checkout process. Customers determine their voucher value and the platform forwards it to the appropriate location. Customers then receive payment information from the local and the voucher in the form of an email. This project was founded by communication strategist Nina Mohimi and designer Sebastian Hofer from the Virtue agency.

ebay

eBay also offers its help for retailers. The online marketplace giant launched a few days ago”Emergency aid program to support small businesses and local retailers in Germany.” People with a stationary store who are suffering from the negative consequences of the corona crisis can sell their products on eBay. They get a free premium shop (which normally costs 300 euros a month) for half a month and do not have to pay a sales commission for three months. Other eBay sellers should not receive worse ratings by the end of June if they are unable to deliver their goods on time due to the corona crisis. In addition, you can defer payment of delivery fees for 30 days.

SNOOOP

SNOOOP is an Austrian platform that constantly informs customers of retailers, grocery stores, hotels, delivery services and restaurants with the latest news and offers from businesses and thus increases visibility on the Internet. Companies only have to register on the webpage Register for free and can then set up your profile. SNOOOP allows customers to inform them about opening times, events, lunch menus and general postings. Users can also mark their business with a “we are open despite Covid-19 regulation” and “We offer a delivery service” flag. In addition, the platform also offers a premium service with which you can expand your profile with additional newsletters, picture galleries and much more.

Munich brings it

Munich-based companies have become inventive during the corona crisis. Many sell from windows, others provide sewing kits for their customers. In order to support these companies, the online project”Munich brings it“from the Süddeutsche Zeitung created so that businesses can connect with their guests - from restaurants to clothing stores to bicycle workshops. They should all be found on a map on the Internet. Any company that has adapted its service to the difficult circumstances can register on the card in question. So far, there are almost 1500 offers on it. In this way, everyone can contribute to saving the laboriously built up livelihoods instead of inspiring the already profiting large corporations.

Lunch Affair

Lunch Affair is a platform that has been rebuilt at short notice, where Munich restaurants can draw attention to themselves. This works because restaurants use a contact form on the side register. They are then listed on an inactive Munich card. Lunch Affair, which has done marketing for catering businesses to date, aims to draw attention to restaurants that are still open or offer a to-go service/delivery service. In doing so, they want to support these companies in the best possible way and free of charge.

SMEs vs. corona

“SMEs vs. Corona” is a group of seven hackathon participants, primarily computer science and economics students, who have launched this open-source project. This group collects on their webpage Ideas, tools, sources of financing and other clues to help small and medium-sized companies out of the corona crisis. On the page, you can find out how the individual sectors can be helped and you have the opportunity to submit new ideas yourself in order to expand on the already many solutions. In addition, each solution has a detailed view, which includes more detailed information, tips and instructions.

HelpBar

Auf Hilfelokal.de can stores offer their vouchers for sale online. Signing up only takes a few minutes and is free of charge. A full-fledged voucher system for processing is provided, including for businesses that have not yet worked with online vouchers. Customers can support their favorite stores in their immediate vicinity by purchasing and paying for vouchers now and redeeming them after the crisis. This means that you can already look forward to something together or let the voucher expire in solidarity and thus support the business even more directly. By selling vouchers, customers provide short-term liquidity and turnover to businesses in need of help. In this way, the existence of these stores can be ensured.

conclusion

This crisis affects us all. However, you can see that many people are making enormous efforts to make the best of this difficult time. The people who start these initiatives often neglect their actual jobs just to offer people in need a possible way out. These platforms are often free of charge and a good way for small businesses or restaurants to stay afloat. But these measures often only work if you act quickly enough and actively. Our advice: Don't just rely on government funding (you can find out more about this in our blog post about State aid and funding for companies in the Corona crisis) and take action yourself with the wonderful opportunities that are offered to you. Very often people want to help, you just have to tell them how.

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