By Jimmy Frischling, Branded Strategic Hospitality
There is nothing easy about operating a restaurant in a pandemic, but there are still many different ways to thrive in this new normal. We want to help you find profits hiding in plain sight.
As an operator, you are most likely focused on revenue and how that measures up to the cost of doing business. While you are considering how to best optimize your guest experience and simultaneously manage your human capital with the goal of turning a profit, it is our goal to point out how technology, while not always obvious, can help.
Here are 4 ways technology can increase sales:
Own Your Own Customers.
How many times have you been part of the above conversation? We get it, and we’ve all been there. Delivery marketplaces are an excellent platform to browse a variety of menus and cuisines. But the key to increasing and growing sales from DSP’s is to own your customers and market to them directly.
The best way to guide customers to your platform is to remove all other options for ordering—and when they do order from a 3rd party, you can direct them to come to you direct next time. How so? Provide a QR code with each delivery that allows the customer to scan for a percentage off their next delivery which leads back to YOUR website. Or how about incentivizing a guest to order again by gaining points through a loyalty program that YOU manage.
Gifting Revenue.
Gift cards provide a great revenue stream – they bring in cash immediately and are minimal COGS. I know what you’re thinking, Gift Cards have been around forever. You’d be correct in that assessment, which is why Branded wants you to re-think this $150 BILLION DOLLAR a year industry and modernize your gifting platform. Over 50% of SMB restaurants don’t have an online gift card platform. And here’s what we know about gift cards: (i) consumers love free stuff; (ii) merchants need customer acquisition solutions; and (iii) birthday loyalty and network programs work.
Streamline your Human Capital.
In an environment where personal interaction is minimized, the digital tools available to recruit, hire and most importantly, maintain employees is proving to be just as successful as in-person recruiting. And once an employee has been hired, tech is the name of the game to keep employees engaged and accountable for their jobs and duties. Gone are the days where cell phones were banned on the floor. Now, employees can track cleanliness and health code requirements as well as collect payment and orders all through a mobile device.
Digital in store services such as kiosks and self-pour beverage walls can be used alongside employees to save on labor and increase sales. Restaurants and Bars lose 23% of their beverage inventory to waste and freebies. Self-pour waste is less than 3%. A self-serve beverage call can also decrease labor by 20% or more and increase overall beverage net profits by 45% or more.
Optimizing the Customer Experience.
If your business isn’t focused on customer experience at every touch point, you’ll be severely limiting your growth.
Let’s start at the beginning of a meal. Give your guests the ordering power. While any restaurant can offer a QR code that will take a customer to an online menu, the restaurant putting the buying power in the hands of the guest is seeing the higher profits. For operators, the codes can help solve the labor crunch. They also offer an opportunity to engage more deeply with guests by including built-in customer satisfaction surveys. This brings us to the end of a meal.
“Wait, before you go…” “We’d love your feedback”! … How many times have you left a restaurant only to find a note to provide feedback when it’s too late. Incorporating a digital guest experience survey before a customer leaves is an opportunity to collect actional guest feedback so you can fix anything in seconds and get instant insights to improve.
Branded Strategic Hospitality is an investment and advisory platform exclusive focused on the hospitality technology and F&B innovation industry. For more information on how to embrace and implement tech into your business, please reach out directly at marketing@brandedstrateigc.com.
