3 Technical Proposals for Restaurants for 2019

Last year, the adoption of the technology in the industry was widespread in almost all sectors and markets.

With the signing of delivery partnerships by major players, real-world changes to better adapt to the impact of technology, the full escalation of delivery wars, and larger brands eventually jumping on the show bandwagon. of loyalty.

Here are our three proposals for restaurateurs thinking of taking advantage of technology in their restaurants during 2019.

Proposal 1: Own the relationship with the client + focus on data

Thanks to the growth of digital ordering, customers have seemingly endless options. Brands must abide by them on their terms, and try to attract, delight and retain whenever possible.

The best way to navigate this dynamic is to own the customer relationship and the data behind it. It means understanding exactly who your customers are at the deepest levels, and leveraging that information to inform everything from menu planning to store design to content marketing.

It sounds intimidating, but it is very likely that you already have some of this information in your current systems. The six key variables to understanding a restaurant’s customer base are:

• Loyalty (how long have they been spending)
• Frequency (how often are they spending)
• Channel (how are they spending)
• Order history (what are they spending it on)
• Location (where are they spending)
• Part of the day (when are they spending)

Together, these data points paint a picture of your different customers and how they affect your business. The ownership of the customer relationship – and a data-oriented approach – are the basis for unlocking these insights.

Proposal 2: Understand the role – and the nuances – of delivery by third parties

Online ordering and delivery are here to stay, with the expectation that the market will quadruple. Brands like McDonald’s y Wendy’s they plan to increase their profits from larger order sizes and an overall increase in business (that is, new customers who would not have entered the store before).

This increase in revenue is welcome, especially as the industry faces mounting labor pressures (via the minimum wage) in 2019. The cost is twofold, however, as restaurants lose both margin and ownership of the customer relationship.

As the analysts observe, the data of these orders belongs strictly to the third parties; They use them to better understand and attract customers, keeping them loyal to their service through the restaurant’s brand (the exception): Yum! Brands, which has a $ 200 million investment in Grubhub, bought access to the data from them.)

Of course, you cannot ignore the delivery directly. You need to be where your customers are, and give them every opportunity to engage with your brand. Instead, counter third-party dependency and launch your own platform.

Thought in a traditional marketing context, third-party platforms are the ideal tool for “top of funnel”. They give you a digital presence on a platform with a great reach, while paying a cost for traffic sent your way. It’s a great way to get people to know your brand and help them measure the quality of your food and service.

Increasing this with your own platform gives your brand the opportunity to obtain your customer data. By investing enough time and resources, you can make it an effective way to retain customers.

Proposal 3ª: Get organized with a CRM

Part of owning the customer relationship comes down to being organized. A CRM will receive the data from your different systems (POS, delivery, loyalty), providing a unified view of your customers. A complete picture of your customers – who they are, what they like, when and where they order – is the starting point for leveraging data.

Instead of a blanket offer for everyone, what if you could target vegetarians who stopped coming to your restaurant with an exclusive offer? Instead of offering a discount to your loyalty program customers (why do you offer discounts to your most loyal customers?), What if you could increase the frequency of orders by letting them know exactly how many points they need to get a reward?

A CRM helps you delve into specific customer behavior, and helps you discover the exact trends that influence your business

In general, we know that implementing the proposals is complicated. Therefore, even if you are not ready for a CRM, or if you have not yet designed its delivery strategy, you should know that success in both aspects is due to the ownership of the customer relationship. It’s much harder to go wrong if you keep your customers at the center of your restaurant technology strategy.