May 29, 2020 - Bluer skies and climbing temperatures are usually enough to stoke travel plans, hotel reservations and frenzied consumption. That was until COVID-19 struck. How HORECA is responding.

This summer is like no other and it seems a lot more that flipping the “We’re Open” sign on the door will be needed to goad masses into holiday spending mode.

With more than 30 of its client hotels suspending business due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, leading hotel in-room dining solution provider RoomOrders has expanded its services beyond hotels, introducing the low-touch economy to the entire hospitality sector.

“We’ve turned to tech solutions to allay concerns of our guests,” said Natasa Poljak, owner of the Juicebox franchise. “Government regulations are strict in terms of social distancing, and particularly in touching things like menus, cutlery, salad dressing and salt and pepper shakers.”

The virus has changed the way we operate and we need to communicate that we are changing to meet new behaviours and habits of our customers – whether it be out of fear or the dawn of digitalisation.”

One of Juicebox’s four restaurants in the business district of Radnicka typically makes 1,200 meals per day - just for lunch. RoomOrders has significantly streamlined processes, but perhaps its key importance in this crisis is its reduction of contact with everything from menus to payment methods. 

“Instead of printing a new menu every day, we just update our daily menu as easily as our Facebook or Instagram posts and our guests now just scan a QR code sticker on our tables to make orders and payments,” said Natasa.

A Croatian company, RoomOrders has also introduced pick-up and delivery options.

“The delivery option is great because we have a fleet of electric cars, allowing us to promote our fresh, organic and healthy reputation,” Natasa said.

As well as a presence in leading hotels across Croatia, including Hilton, Sheraton and Westin, RoomOrders is breaking into leading HORECA outlets, including restaurant chain Batak and the café chain Leggiero.

Croatia is a tourism powerhouse and many hospitality providers are anxious about the drop in tourist receipts this season. Tourism accounts for some 20% of the national budget.

RoomOrders CEO Eugene Brcic Jones said that his company's pivot to the restaurant, cafe and bar sector was inspired by the desire to help the badly hit hospitality sector in Croatia. 

We primarily wanted to help food and beverage providers who are struggling to deal with the coronavirus, especially delivery, which is very expensive in an industry that only makes an average of 3-8% profit margin. Many restaurants are paying as high as 36% fees for popular delivery services.

"Our service is as low as 1% per transaction," said Brcic Jones. "It think it's more than generous, and will help many stay afloat." 

Internationally awarded hostel Swanky Mint  Hostel and Swanky Monkey Garden café bar are launching RoomOrders’ cloud-based ordering and payment next week.

“We’re excited about how our guests will react,” said owner Andrija Pirnat. “There will be some education through our waiters and marketing to spread awareness, but they are mostly young early adopters, so we anticipate that pick-up of digital habits will be seamless.”

“We expect our hostel sector to have a shy start, so our early focus will be on our popular bar.”

Josip Maric, owner of Tagliata restaurants and a scattering of boutique hotels in the Adriatic seaside resort town of Trogir, said he wanted his patrons to feel that his businesses are looking after health and safety of customers.

“The sun is out and the air is warm, and it looks like it’s back to normal,” he said. “But people have been locked up for over two months, naturally they are afraid and it will take some time to get rid of their fears.”

HoReCa is the abbreviation used in Europe for the food service industry. The term is a syllabic abbreviation of the words Hotel, Restaurant, and Café. 

All HORECA conference participants agreed that 2016 marked a very successful tourist season, with Croats drinking a record amount of coffee, beer and wine. The second HORECA conference was held in Opatija this weekend.