Automatic Merchandiser - 10
OCS UPDATE
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Five Ways To Survive
Mike Ferguson's top tips on how to keep your
OCS business alive during the pandemic
By Mike Ferguson, Contributing Editor
AS WE ALL KNOW IN THIS INDUS-
try, office coffee service (OCS) and
pantry services have been hit the hardest by COVID-19. With office workers
not going into the actual office, many
operators saw their sales slump as low
as 85-90% down from pre-pandemic
numbers. So, how can you survive
until (hopefully) the tendency to
work from home starts to go away
and employees return to the office?
Nobody knows when things will be
back to normal, but many agree that it
may not return 100% like it was before
COVID-19 hit.
To survive, you must think way
outside the box. During these times,
surviving is the goal. Even if you
wanted to sell your business, there
may not be much left to sell. So, how
do you hang on?
10
Automatic Merchandiser * September 2020
First, you must change your way
of thinking. Many of you have been
in business 20, 30 and even 40 years,
only to see the shutdown ruin your
business. You must change your
mindset; it is not what you want to
do anymore, it is what you have to
do in order to survive. If you retrain
your mind to do things differently, it
could help.
Here are some ideas to consider:
Cut your overhead: Can you
rent out a portion of your
warehouse space to an outside tenant?
Even office spaces can be rented out
to independent small business owners
who do not want to work out of their
houses. Or, do you have any friendly
competitors in your city that you
could possibly merge with, thus cutting out massive overhead expenses?
1.
2.
Cut costs on labor: You might
cringe at the idea of running a
route again. However, depending on
the size of your operation and your
age and health, if you only have one
or two routes, you might consider this
for a short-term solution to save on
labor costs. No owner wants to run
routes again, but to survive, would it
be worth it?
It would also get you in front of
your customers again and could help
sell more products than a driver,
who is hourly or often in a hurry to
finish the route and go home. I have
talked to several operators, and just
about every one of them mentioned
that they did not want to lose certain
employees - managers, route drivers,
etc. - but this is one of those hard
decisions that you may have to make
to survive.
Use your fleet: You already
have a fleet of trucks. Could
you get into courier services with
your fleet? Many courier companies
contract their drivers and typically
3.
Automatic Merchandiser
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automatic Merchandiser
Editor's Note: Looking Back to Look Forward
Industry News
OCS Update: Five Ways to Survive
Stirring It Up
Snack Attack
2019: A New High for OCS
Social Hubs
Dependable Vending: More Than Just a Name
Classifieds
Automatic Merchandiser - 1
Automatic Merchandiser - 2
Automatic Merchandiser - 3
Automatic Merchandiser - 4
Automatic Merchandiser - 5
Automatic Merchandiser - Editor's Note: Looking Back to Look Forward
Automatic Merchandiser - 7
Automatic Merchandiser - Industry News
Automatic Merchandiser - 9
Automatic Merchandiser - OCS Update: Five Ways to Survive
Automatic Merchandiser - 11
Automatic Merchandiser - Stirring It Up
Automatic Merchandiser - 13
Automatic Merchandiser - 14
Automatic Merchandiser - 15
Automatic Merchandiser - Snack Attack
Automatic Merchandiser - 17
Automatic Merchandiser - 18
Automatic Merchandiser - 19
Automatic Merchandiser - 2019: A New High for OCS
Automatic Merchandiser - 21
Automatic Merchandiser - 22
Automatic Merchandiser - 23
Automatic Merchandiser - 24
Automatic Merchandiser - 25
Automatic Merchandiser - 26
Automatic Merchandiser - Social Hubs
Automatic Merchandiser - Dependable Vending: More Than Just a Name
Automatic Merchandiser - 29
Automatic Merchandiser - 30
Automatic Merchandiser - 31
Automatic Merchandiser - 32
Automatic Merchandiser - 33
Automatic Merchandiser - 34
Automatic Merchandiser - 35
Automatic Merchandiser - 36
Automatic Merchandiser - Classifieds
Automatic Merchandiser - 38
Automatic Merchandiser - 39
Automatic Merchandiser - 40
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