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Find out how we can help you create new in-store experiences that win over consumers and add value to your brand.
Smartphone apps that allow you to order from a restaurant for home delivery are gaining more and more ground. Because of this some businesses fear that restaurants will no longer exist in the future. It is undeniable that consumer habits are changing, but digital technology in the restaurant industry is not necessarily a bad thing or an opponent that needs to be beat. Actually it’s an opportunity to evolve with the times.
The winds of the Digital Transformation change are strong in all sectors, from public administration to business, from culture to retail. It’s inevitable that those changes are coming to restaurants as well. To understand the changes taking place and to be ready for new challenges, we have designed this six step guide for tomorrow's restaurant.
Implementing technology does not automatically give you a competitive edge unless you have clearly defined what you are offering. Innovation is not a magic wand. Rather it is a tool that gives you the opportunity to enhance what your restaurant has to offer, which depends on who is in the kitchen, the ingredients you’ve chosen, how the service is organized and so on. Focus on how to create and consolidate a valuable staff before you start thinking about software solutions, Beacon and Wi-Fi.
Today your customers have more and more choices and less time. They are quite demanding, hyper-connected and technological. They want to have good reasons to leave the house. Your ability to get to know them, to listen and to satisfy their needs is essential. Technology can give you helping hand. You can get to know your customers via an App or a website, welcome them to your restaurant directly from the screen of their smartphone, make suggestions about the day’s specials based on previous orders, offer dishes that they usually order, and so on. You can also engage with them via surveys that help you understand how to offer services that meet their needs.
Digital environments help solve the most critical issues of eating out, such as wait times when ordering, before being served, and when waiting for the bill. Some fast food chains in the USA, for example, have already implemented a system that uses interactive displays at each table to complete orders without waiting or queuing at the register. The displays can offer entertainment with digital games or content of interest (sports, shows, news), and connection to Mobile Payment systems guarantees that customers won’t have to wait in line to pay.
Today people expect to be able to use digital technology to customize renting a car, an airplane flight, or a gift to a friend. They want to be able to do the same with food, personalizing the menu based on ingredients and the way the food is cooked. Food allergies are more and more common, therefore the fact that a menu can be customized is increasingly welcome, if not necessary. The more customers are free to select their own meal, the more they will be willing to make it richer. You can also offer your customers dedicated specials and stimulate upselling. Also, welcoming a customer by calling him or her by name and suggesting his or her favorite dish is a great competitive advantage.
Crossing a restaurant’s threshold and sitting at the table should not be viewed as the conclusion of a process, but as the decisive moment of a journey that begins much earlier and ends much later. You can extend the experience through a system of digital loyalty points, which entitles customers to discounts, or you can encourage interaction with your restaurant through personalized messaging systems, allow pre-order through social networks or even provide geolocated information on the availability of tables, waiting times, special limited-time-offer menus, and so on.
Digital environments allow you to collect many different pieces of information on frequency and entry times, preferences, and habits. There is software that allows you to intuitively view this wealth of data and quickly get tips to improve the experience in your restaurant.
In the future we will continue to go to restaurants, but we will most likely prefer locations where the digital and the physical meet, thanks to technology. Setting ourselves up today in order to reach this goal means creating important opportunities to increase attractiveness as well as stimulate visits, order quantity and customer loyalty. Not recognizing this need means closing yourself off to great growth opportunities.
Find out how we can help you create new in-store experiences that win over consumers and add value to your brand.
A mix of innovation and technology, for a thrilling shopping experience.
Creating a digital entertainment area for children, where they can tackle new challenges and socialize.
Recreation areas for children, playgrounds where young guests can play and compete with one another.
