How to Win Every Customer’s Heart

Every service industry wrestles with one problem that is central to everything else we do. We pay a lot of advertising money to draw people to our establishment or service only to have them greet an unhappy employee who is really not equipped to turn them into a lifelong customer by their smile and their actions. In fact, in some cases it might be better to have no one there than to risk having a negative (or at least a not positive) interaction.  

I have learned through my four decades in the service business that success comes down to this little triad: LOVE your customers. SERVE them unconditionally. WIN their hearts. Do this and something magical happens. 

So, how do we make this happen in our business? Let’s start with what we make our employees believe about our mission. And, yes, you are on a mission.  

Cast a Vision that Starts at the Top

As leaders, it’s important that we set the culture at the company so that everything we do resembles putting others before ourselves. This flows from genuinely caring about those we come in contact with, and it must be at the core of what we do. There will always be issues at work, just as there are always issues in life. How we handle these issues will vary greatly based on whether or not serving others first—even our most challenging associates—is at the core of who we are and what we do. For job commitment with a purpose, we must teach character, not success, focusing on building character, not characteristics.

What does this look like in reality? While one business culture focuses on character—humility, servanthood, and kindness—another focuses on the process and convenience of the franchise. One is based on the heart of the business while the other is based on the mechanics of the business.

What can we learn from this? It starts with the leadership and flows up through the team to our guests. We can’t expect our team members to follow our lead to live out the spirit of hospitality in our service to others if we don’t walk the talk ourselves. We must model it by living it. We must be the first to do what we expect others to do when they’re looking to us for direction and leadership. And this starts with the CEO and his leadership team, not just at the local establishment leadership level. If we want our team members to go above and beyond our expectations, we must set them up for success by leading by example and training them to do their jobs in like manner.

The way to introduce quality service standards is through a robust training program. We need to train our new team members not only in the skills necessary to do their jobs, but also in our company’s culture. People need to know the “Why” and we need to be able to explain that to them in a simple and powerful way. That means, of course, that we need to know the why. Take the time to figure this out. Then share it often with your employees. 

You’ll instill in them purpose and empathy and you’ll start building a growing tribe of engaged customers. Let’s talk about each of these vital aspects of the customer service experience. 

Purpose

Without vision, people don’t know what they’re supposed to aim for. What’s our common goal? What do we want to achieve in business? What’s our business philosophy? Our team members should be well aware of these, and this information should not only be central to all training, but it should also be repeated frequently throughout every day, at every staff meeting, in every email communication, and … well, you get the point. The Ritz Carlton is known for this. At the start of their day, the Ritz Carlton teams gather for their Daily Lineup. During this fifteen-minute gathering, they do three things. They hear what is happening at a corporate level and what is happening at the local hotel—such as a memorable story of how putting their vision to work has affected a guest. They also review their twenty core values.These values are always within the team members’ sight and hearing. There is never an excuse for the team members to not know how to respond in any given situation in order to accomplish the Ritz Carlton Golden Standard of Service. They are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.[i]

When we’re looking to hire, our potential team members need to be willing to sign off on our mission statement, agreeing that they know the standards our company strives for and are willing to exemplify those standards no matter what they are putting their hands to do any time they’re on our property. The outcome of training and development of front-line crew members should reflect the values of the owners.

But knowing our business isn’t enough. Team members also need to know and understand their purpose in their position. The goal is to provide a seamless delivery of our product or service. For that to happen, each team member needs to know what they’re responsible for and how to best serve in that position. This can only happen if we point out that purpose during their training. We’ll discuss this more in the upcoming section about roles and goals.

Empathy

Whether we’re training our team members or they are serving our guests, empathy is extremely important. It has been said that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. It’s true. We must first show we care about the person we’re communicating with. If we’re human, we understand that when we’re dealing with a difficult situation, we want someone to understand how we feel in that moment, and we don’t want to be judged for feeling that way. It’s a very vulnerable place to be. The knowledge that we care about their concerns also builds trust.

Let me share a true story that I think really exemplifies what I am talking about. Unbeknownst to the hotel staff, a gentleman would be scouting their facilities for an outstanding brand in a particular industry that held annual conventions and wanted a new place to hold one. Upon his arrival, the front desk associate realized his room wasn’t available due to overbooking. The gentleman hit the ceiling. When the front office leader heard the commotion, he took the initiative to come out from behind the counter, introduce himself to the guest, and profusely apologize for the oversight.  He asked the gentleman if he could have a couple of minutes to resolve the issue and turn around the negative situation. Within moments, the leader had a hotel limo take the guest across the street to another of the corporation’s properties, where they paid for him to spend the night. The next morning, the leader brought him back to an upgraded suite, chocolate-covered strawberries, champagne, and a written apology to him. The hotel also picked up the bill. Due to their excellent service recovery, the gentleman brought back multi-million dollar accounts. Again, the hotel staff didn’t know he was scouting their property until after the fact. Yet, they took care of him as a person first.

That’s a great lesson that we can replicate in any service business. 

We must train our team to consider the person first and the business second. Ask if there’s something we can do to help make the person feel better. “How may I serve you?” is the appropriate hospitality statement in this situation. If the guest responds in anger, frustration, or grief—we’ve all seen one blow up, growl, or break down and cry at one point or another—stating that we understand their (insert emotion here) and would love to help resolve the situation will go much further than responding in like kind. This is why putting others before ourselves at all times is so incredibly important in the spirit of hospitality. It doesn’t matter how ridiculous their request may sound to us. It doesn’t matter whether company policy allows such-and-such response. What matters is making the guest feel important enough for someone to empathize with their felt need and work with them to amend it.  

Love. Serve. Win. 

We are all operating in a different hiring environment now. For the first time in my lifetime there are more available jobs than people to fill them. Wages are rising because of supply and demand. That means that every employee we can convince to work for us is gold. It’s always been true, but never more so than now. 

So, teach them the “Why” for your organization, how it sees its customers, and what the mission is. Empower them to not just satisfy your customers, but to elate them. Then, spend your advertising dollars knowing that when they work and people come to your establishment that they will become customers for life. 

How to Win Every Customer’s Heart posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

Is Your Restaurant Ready to Host Corporate Events? Here’s A Guide to Get You There

Work, meetings, and training isn’t just taking place in corporate offices anymore. Companies are turning to outside venues — especially restaurants — to provide experiences and an inviting atmosphere away from cubicles and meeting rooms.

Your restaurant is poised to make a great profit from this trend. According to the CWT Meetings & Events 2019 Meetings & Events Future Trendsreport, the 2019 meetings market will increase by 5 to 10 percent.

If you haven’t been hosting corporate meetings and events, you can quickly become a preferred venue in your community by following a few best practices. Here’s our guide on how you can appeal to corporate event planners:

Update Your Spaces and Amenities

Companies are searching for venues that have the right amenities, and they’re going to have different needs than clients who are only booking social events. 

Corporate event planners need venues that have a variety of spaces that can accommodate different types of meetings, from a small group or board meeting, all the way to a large conference with several hundred attendees. Smaller events may need a quiet area or private room with one large conference table, several smaller tables, or rows of chairs facing a podium. Large conferences typically need a huge room that can fit hundreds of people for the day, and possibly those smaller rooms for side meetings or breakout sessions.

In addition to the spaces, corporate events require technology for presentations and trainings at these meetings, so make sure you have sufficient wifi, screens with projectors that can easily connect to a laptop, microphones, and a sound system.

Not all corporate events are about work. Companies may also contact you to book networking events, cocktail parties, staff retreats, lunches, and dinners, and your existing dining room or private rooms could be a perfect fit.

Provide the Right Information Online

Event planners are working nonstop, booking for multiple clients at once, so doing an initial search online is their first step towards researching a new venue. 49 percent of event planners use the Internet as a primary way to find and book venues.

Make sure your restaurant appears in their search by using the right keywords on your website: your city, state, neighborhood, cuisine, types of events you host (including corporate, meetings, networking, conferences, and cocktail parties), your available spaces (boardroom, meeting space, dining room, private room, banquet room, patio, rooftop, lounge) and what type of venue you are (restaurant, event space, cocktail lounge, recreation, meeting space, etc.). The more you talk about those keywords on your website, the more search engines will associate your site with those words, and you’ll have a better chance of ranking at the top of a search.

Sharing photos, room options, floor plans, amenities, and menus is a must — corporate planners will use this information in a presentation on possible venues that they provide their clients. Include photos that show your space without a setup, with an event setup, and during an event so the planner and the client can have a sense of what their event would look and feel like if they booked your venue.

Don’t stop with your website. Your event information should also be included on venue listings sites, your social media profiles and posts, Google My Business, and any other platforms that you’re using in your marketing. You never know where planners may find information about your business.

And of course provide contact information for your event staff as well as an event booking lead form so planners can get in touch with your venue right away.

Communicate Quickly

One of the biggest pain points we’ve heard from event planners is the delay or lack of response from venues when they send an inquiry. Someone from your venue should be monitoring emails and booking form responses every day and provide an answer as soon as possible. If they don’t hear from you, they’re going to book the first venue that fits their client’s needs.

Go a step further to stand out by using event management software to communicate with event planners. You can upload documents, menus, private event package options, floor plans, photos, and more to your account. Then, create email templates that include all of that information and send them easily to anyone who inquires about events at your venue. 

Connect with Your Community

Local Chambers of Commerce, convention centers, and hotels have relationships with companies and conferences that are likely to hold events in your area. Introduce yourself to these organizations and let them know that your venue is available for private dining. You may also want to host a corporate or business open house at your venue so they can see what you offer in person.

Get Started and Grow Your Revenue

Off site corporate events are here to stay and the need for new and different restaurant locations will only continue to grow. It takes a bit of initiative and marketing, but if you follow our guide, you can make your venue a preferred vendor for corporate events and meetings. 

Is Your Restaurant Ready to Host Corporate Events? Here’s A Guide to Get You There posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

Should Your Restaurant Start Accepting Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a popular digital payment system that utilizes peer-to-peer technology to manage monetary transactions on a decentralized platform rather than a centralized authority. You might have encountered a patron who insisted on paying in Bitcoin and didn’t know how to handle it.

With more than 46,000 merchants accepting Bitcoin across the globe, the popularity of the cryptocurrency is clearly on the rise. It’s about time the restaurant and catering industries jump on the bandwagon. 

Should Your Restaurant Accept Bitcoin?

Restaurants and cafes that accept Bitcoin enjoy a number of benefits. First, if you’re an advocate of cryptocurrency and you want its usage to grow, you will be happy to accept Bitcoin payments and become part of the pioneering promoters. Again, you are likely to attract like-minded clientele while giving your customers more payment choices. Even if some of your customers don’t know about Bitcoin, they will appreciate the fact that you offer multiple payment options. Let’s look at the case of Danish restaurants to see how European pioneers are doing.

Danish Restaurants Embracing Bitcoin

More than 1,500 restaurants in Denmark accept Bitcoin for online orders. Known globally for its award-winning cuisine, Denmark is extremely Bitcoin-friendly when it comes to foods and drinks. Hungry.dk is an online food chain that accepts Bitcoin for a variety of foods ordered from more than 1,500 restaurants. While most of these restaurants don’t accept Bitcoin on-premise, Bitcoin users can be happy to make their orders online and have their favorite foods delivered to their doorsteps. The improved stability of the coin over the years reassures restaurant owners that accepting BTC is a real, if not especially profitable option. 

Despite its current stability, only a few years back the coin was extremely volatile, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Remember the Bitcoin pizza story where a programmer bought two pizzas for a value of 10,000 BTC (valued at $30 in 2010). Less than a decade down the line, those two pizzas would cost more than $38 million. Will the Bitcoin miracle happen again? Hard to say. But so far it’s looking good in the first quarter of 2019, so accepting Bitcoin, a global currency, is likely to benefit your business as an investment to counter the risk of local economic downturns.

How to Start Accepting Bitcoin

Now, to begin accepting Bitcoin in your restaurant, you need to sign up for a merchant Bitcoin wallet. Websites like BitcoinPay, CoinGate, and BitPay provide easy-to-use wallets that integrate with many point-of-sale (POS), e-commerce systems like Shopify and Magneto, and various shopping carts.

When users make payments through these applications, they do so through a QR code that is scanned by the payer to send bitcoins to your wallet. Depending on the POS or bookkeeping system you use, the bitcoins can be automatically converted to USD for easy accounting and tax calculations.

After setting up the system to accept Bitcoin in your restaurant, the next step is to let your clientele and other potential customers know about the new payment method. You can do that with simple signage on your restaurant or on your website and social media sites. There are a number of websites that track businesses that accept Bitcoin, and it’s very helpful to get your business on those maps. Good examples are Coinmap.org and SpendBitcoins.

The original purpose of Bitcoin is to provide a peer-to-peer digital currency. So, it should be treated just like cash. As more people come to this realization and begin to spend their coins on everyday needs like food, traveling, and recreation, more businesses will fully benefit from the innovative currency.

Should Your Restaurant Start Accepting Bitcoin? posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

How to Split The Bill in Every Situation (Infographic)

“Who pays?” is the question every server will ask a group of diners, but the answer may start to surprise servers and restaurant owners.

Technology is changing the way people split the bill when dining out. This shift comes as financial apps make money accessible everywhere and advanced restaurant POS systems make dividing the check up easier than ever.

A common rule of thumb is that, unless designated beforehand, diners in a group setting should expect to split the tab evenly. But new research shows us that diners actually aren’t doing that in practice. In fact, 66 percent of people surveyed don’t split the bill evenly when dining with friends and 41 percent will always ask for separate checks.

As the industry standards change, it’s important for restaurant owners and servers to understand and anticipate how the bill should be handled. After all, great customer service should be simple on the customer and on trend. 

The below visual explores the five most common dining scenarios and how customers should navigate the check in each situation. It also lists helpful tips for diners to make group dining easier on their server.

How to Split The Bill in Every Situation (Infographic) posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

MRM Research Roundup: End-of-April 2019 Edition

This edition of Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine's Research Roundup features  F&B companies views on mobile technology,  the cashless culture and OpenTable's best bruch restaurants.

F&B and Mobile

 A recent survey of food and beverage leaders highlights that while a large percentage feel confident in their restaurant’s current use of mobile technology, only 48 percent feel prepared to capitalize on future innovations. Sixty-two percent of respondents expressed doubts over their ability to keep up with the speed of mobile technology changes. And more than half (59 percent) agreed that their company faces the threat of disruption from their more mobile-enabled competitors.

“The rise of mobile ordering and on-demand food delivery services are completely changing the restaurant and guest experience,” said Simon de Montfort Walker, senior vice president and general manager for Oracle Food and Beverage. “In order to remain relevant to a rapidly evolving audience, restaurants must act quickly to modernize their mobile strategy and offerings. Today, the experience a customer has ordering online or from a kiosk can be just as essential as if they were ordering in the store.

The study findings point to a clear and urgent need for restaurants to embrace the right mobile and back-end technology to drive higher ticket value, turn tables faster and enable more cross and upsell. In addition, the findings highlight the need to embrace mobile technology to avoid being outpaced by the competition, help cut labor costs and improve the guest experience – all critical components to revenue growth.

Cutting Costs, Saving Time Equals Increased Revenues

Restauranteurs are investing in mobile technology to cut costs and save time in areas such as hiring less serving staff but more runners, keeping a close eye on stock levels to avoid over-ordering and waste, and the ability to quickly change the menu and offer specials when there is an over-stock of inventory. 

84 percent of food and beverage executives believe the adoption of guest-facing apps drives down labor costs

96 percent agree, with 40 percent strongly agreeing, that expanded mobile inventory management will drive time and money savings

Improving Loyalty and the Dining Experience

Today’s foodies are satiated with choices. In addition to great food, what drives their loyalty is easy ordering and delivery, fast, seamless payments, and a personalized experience.

86 percent of operators say branded mobile apps increase their speed of service and therefore revenue

93 percent believe their guest-facing apps enhance the guest experience, promote loyalty and drive repeat business

Perceived Future Benefits of Mobile Technology

Restaurants are already using mobile devices for table reservations, taking orders, and processing payments, but what value do restauranteurs believe will come from future mobile innovations?

82 percent believe partnerships with third-party delivery services like Uber Eats and GrubHub will help grow their business

89 percent believe check averages will increase thanks to in-app recommendations

95 percent believe the guest experience and customer loyalty will continue to improve

The Road Ahead

While most organizations rated themselves as highly able to meet new consumer demands, an undercurrent of anxiety about the future was also apparent with only 48 percent of respondents reporting that they have the tools they need to meet the mobile demands of tomorrow. The mobility study findings show a clear path for restaurateurs including applying mobile innovation to broader areas such as inventory efficiency, getting new customers in the door, serving them more efficiently, and keeping them coming back. 

For this survey, Oracle queried 279 leaders in the food and beverage industry who use mobile technology in their organizations during the summer of 2018. 45 percent of those surveyed were from full-service restaurants, 24 percent from fast casual and 23 percent from quick service. Seventy-one percent of respondents are director level or higher, with 45 percent hailing from companies that generate more than $500M in annual revenue.

To learn more, click here.

Restaurant Rebound

The restaurant industry's sales rebounded solidly during March after stumbling the previous month. Same-store sales growth was 1.2 percent in March and 1.0 percent for the first quarter of 2019. The industry is going through its strongest period of sales expansion since 2015, with four consecutive quarters of positive same-store sales growth, according to TDn2K's Black Box Intelligence™. However, chain restaurants continue to struggle with declining guest counts. Same-store traffic was -1.8 percent during March.

Restaurant guests have many options when it comes to buying food away from home. This means each guest interaction is vital for restaurant brands to develop loyal guests that will help offset this waning traffic trend. But are restaurants delighting their guests and meeting their expectations?

White Box Social Intelligence™ data reveals sentiment has indeed been increasing for restaurant guests in recent months. Guest sentiment based on chain restaurant food became more positive during each month in the first quarter compared with March of 2018. The same is true for guest sentiment based on restaurant service. This is especially important since TDn2K research continues to show that service is a key differentiator for top performing brands based on sales growth. A common characteristic of these top performers in recent years has been delivering an experience that is driving higher service sentiment scores.

Although intent to return positive sentiment is declining slightly year over year, the overall values remain extremely high. 

Connecting the Dots
What food items do guests of top performing restaurant brands love? What food offerings have the highest guest sentiment among the brands with the largest same-store sales growth during the first quarter of 2019?

In the case of guests of top performing limited-service brands (those in quick service and fast casual), the terms with the highest net sentiment during March were the following: sandwich, BBQ, salad, fries and chicken. Most of these terms typically come to mind when thinking about limited-service restaurants. But there are guests of these segments that are looking for healthier options. Top performing brands in these segments are providing craveable salad options as a way to attract guests and drive sales.

In the case of full-service brands (casual dining, family dining, upscale casual and fine dining), the food terms with the highest guest sentiment during March were the following: sauces, desserts, steaks, parmesan and avocado. It is interesting that in the case of full service, the terms that get the highest positive sentiment were mainly ingredients versus meals. The details such as the sauce or a topping included in a dish can make all the difference in delighting the guest. Additionally, once guests have decided to sit down at a full-service restaurant and spend a little more time and money, desserts are enhancing the experience and can be powerful drivers of positive sentiment.

Top and Bottom DMAs
March once again proved Orlando, FL has the restaurant guests with the most positive sentiment among the largest metropolitan areas in the country. Orlando topped the list with the most positive net sentiment based on restaurant food, beverages, service, ambiance and value.

As has been the case in recent months, Los Angeles again emerged as having guests the least satisfied with their chain restaurant experiences. During March, this market had the lowest net sentiment based on service, beverages and value. Raleigh is also frequently on the list of guests with lowest restaurant sentiment. During March, guests in this market had the lowest sentiment regarding restaurant ambiance, food and their intent to return to the brands they mentioned during the month.

Best and Worst Regions
The relative strength of chain restaurants can be perceived not only at the national level, but throughout the country as well. All eleven regions of the country tracked by TDn2K reported positive same-store sales during March. This is something that has only happened four times in the last three years, all of them within the last twelve months.

As could be expected, guest sentiment is also positive in all regions of the country. For the fourth time in the last five months, over 50 percent of all restaurant online mentions and reviews were positive in each of the eleven regions.

Florida not only has the market with the highest sentiment on multiple restaurant attributes, it was also the region with the most positive sentiment overall during March. It was the only region in which over 60 percent of all mentions and reviews were positive. The Mountain Plains and Western region rounded up the list of the most positive regions during March.

The regions with the least positive restaurant sentiment during March were the Southwest, New England, and New York-New Jersey. The last two are frequent inclusions in the list of least positive sentiment each month.

Restaurant Technology Report: Empowering Diners

Hospitality Technology released its 21st annual Restaurant Technology Study, titled, “Exponential Digital Drives Quantum Convenience.” For more than two decades, Hospitality Technology has charted the budgets, business drivers and investment plans of restaurant companies across segments and brand sizes. The study has chronicled the growth of restaurant IT over a course where the pace of change and technological advancement has been exponential. 

Data from previous reports shows that in the not-far-distant past, the key charge for IT deployments was to reduce operating costs and increase efficiency. With that operational focus, in 2008, casual dining establishments were leading in technology innovation, with 43 percent saying they led the competition compared to 32 percent of QSRs that claimed to be leaders. In 2019, the quick service space includes fast casual concepts. Combined, the vast majority (93 percent) claim to feel they lead in innovation. This isn’t necessarily false pride – as the more successful a brand is, the more likely they have been referred to as “technology companies that serve food.”

The 2019 study reveals that restaurants are placing hyper-focus on empowering diners with service options. Through illustrative and written analysis the report charts the budgets, strategy and investments of restaurant technology from what happened in 2018 to what is planned for 2019. 

Key findings include:

• Restaurants are planning hardware upgrades with the largest portion of IT budgets being allocated here (23 percent). A telling byproduct of the fervor for delivery options is that the second greatest amount of IT spend will go to third party providers (21 percent). 
• As a strategic goal for technology, engaging with third-party delivery providers is a priority for 12 percent of overall respondents, but restaurants that consider themselves innovators in digital customer engagement put higher urgency here with 33 percent naming it top goal.  
• The drive for providing new service and delivery options for diners crystallizes in investment plans for 2019. The top six investment areas for restaurant innovation is dominated by providing guests with personalized experiences. These include: third party delivery integration (48 percent), mobile payments (47 percent), digital ordering (45 percent), tableside ordering (34 percent), predictive analytics (34 percent) and interactive kiosks (32 percent). 
• These investment plans are mirrored in software rollout plans. The focus will be on digital ordering software upgrades and changes with 59 percent of restaurants putting IT dollars here. This is tied with mobile payments which sees 25 percent of restaurants adding the functionality for the first time, 26 percent making enhancements and another 8 percent changing suppliers.
• As goes software, so goes hardware. Looking at installation plans for hardware POS  terminals, kiosks and tablets take the lion’s share of investment in 2019. Providing guests with the option to self-serve has driven more than a quarter of restaurants to plan to add kiosks for the first time and 19 percent of restaurants are adding tableside tablets for payment. 
• The leaders in the restaurant industry are proving that the focus on digital will be the source of growth. These digital components will be bolstered by data on both the customer side – to understand what guests want, where and how, and on the business side – to monitor, react and predict with attention on KPIs.

To download the 2019 Restaurant Technology Study,: click here.

Understanding the Cashless Culture

In Cashless Culture: the Marketer’s Guide to the Emerging Cashless Consumer, consumers grapple with the future of cash, cards, mobile, and everything in between. The surprising findings uncovered significant insights for the grocery, retail and restaurant categories in particular.

The biggest takeaway? We have a long way to go before we give up our cash completely. And yet most of us seem resigned to eventual digital domination: Over 50 percent of those surveyed anticipate paying for goods and services via fingerprint scanning or facial recognition within ten years.

Among the study’s compelling data points:

Cash and Cards Are Far From Dead

• 76 percent still carry cash daily
• 55 percent hate the idea of life without cash

We’re Still New at Mobile Payments, But Younger Consumers are Leading the Way

• 58 percent of those using mobile payments have only started in the past year
• 45 percent of those over 40 have never used mobile payments; while 22 percent of those under 40 use it daily

Significant Barriers to Going Cashless Remain:

•  45 percent say there is no reason to use mobile payments
• 63 percent say clear and consistent visual cues around mobile payment options are needed at P.O.P.

A Little Loyalty Goes a Long Way

As most businesses want to collect more and more data from customers to benefit their marketing efforts, they may be surprised to learn—just in time for national “Get to Know Your Customer Day” on April 18, 2019—that most customers actually don’t want to get that chummy. In fact, according to a new U.S. survey conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of Wilbur, a new, ultra-simple loyalty program designed by Smart Transaction Systems, most Americans (71 percent) would be less likely to join a loyalty rewards program that collects personal information (e.g., address, account information), with 27 percent saying they would be much less likely.

In addition, most Americans (58 percent) are also less likely to join a customer loyalty program that requires them to download an app to access the benefits, with 26 percent saying they would be much less likely. 

“These survey results prove that U.S. consumers are becoming much more selective about the loyalty programs they join and, I believe, are ultimately more loyal to brands that respect their personal privacy,” said Ray Clopton, President and CEO of Wilbur and Smart Transaction Systems. “It is really important for businesses to pay attention to what their customers want—especially when developing a loyalty program—and I think these results could not be timelier given that we’re about to celebrate ‘Get to Know Your Customer Day.’ Yes, businesses should get to know their customers—but as people. Not as a slice of a database or a spreadsheet column.” 

The survey also found that a majority of Americans (76 percent) are more likely to join a customer loyalty program that collects only their name and phone number, with 32 percent responding they would be much more likely to join. Americans also said they were more likely to join a customer loyalty program that does not require them to carry a physical card (79 percent), with 34 percent saying they would be much more likely to join.

“What these results tell us is that customers don’t want to join a loyalty program that asks for too much data or requires them to carry another card in their wallet or download another app on their smartphone,” Clopton says. “We have been hearing this from customers for years, which is what inspired the creation of Wilbur and how it works. But it feels official now that a reputable research company like The Harris Poll has validated our assumptions and informal research.” 

Wilbur is a privacy-friendly, super simple loyalty program designed for busy business owners who don’t have extra time to manage a loyalty program, and customers who don’t want to fill out another form, carry another card or download another app. The program only collects customers’ first name and phone number, and only texts them when they have earned or redeemed rewards. 

This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Wilbur from April 4-8, 2019 among 2,003 U.S. adults ages 18 and older. T

Best Brunch

OpenTable, the world's leading provider of online restaurant reservations and part of Booking Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG), today released its annual list of the 100 Best Brunch Restaurants in America for 2019. OpenTable data shows that 81 percent of diners book their Mother’s Day reservations two weeks in advance, so the list comes at the perfect time to help diners find the best brunch eatery to celebrate the mother figure in their lives. Featuring restaurants coast-to-coast, across 24 states and Washington, D.C., the list is a comprehensive look at the best brunch spots in the country. The Best Brunch Restaurants in America list was culled from more than 12 million verified diner reviews of over 30,000 restaurants in 50 states and Washington, D.C.

From restaurants with magnificent views like Geoffrey's Restaurant in Malibu, Calif., to brunch institutions like Sadelle’s in New York, to acclaimed eateries like Somerset in Chicago, the Best Brunch Restaurants list features a wide variety of restaurants. California is the most recognized state on the list with 16 restaurants honored, followed by New York with 12 winning restaurants and Illinois and Pennsylvania with eight each. Florida, Texas and Washington, D.C. each boast seven winning restaurants and Louisiana claims five honorees.

The annual list comes on the heels of OpenTable’s national #DiningMode campaign, a challenge to diners to set aside their phones while dining with mom and connect with those around them this Mother’s Day. Diners are now encouraged to give moms the gift of being truly present at a celebratory brunch at any of this year's winning restaurants making honoring the mom in your life easy and more rewarding.

“On Mother's Day 2018, we seated more diners than any other day that year and recognize that celebrating mom is a priority for our diners," said Caroline Potter, Chief Dining Officer at OpenTable. “The honorees on this year’s best brunch list are creating experiences that will dazzle her and make embracing our #DiningMode challenge a snap, with sublime drinks and dishes and friendly service. You won’t be tempted to pick up your phone on May 12 at any of these spots.”

The 100 Best Brunch Restaurants list is generated solely from diner reviews collected between March 1, 2018 and February 28, 2019. All restaurants with a minimum "overall" score and number of qualifying reviews were included for consideration. The overall score is made up of unique data points, such as overall diner rating, user klout, total number of reviews and regional overall rating. Qualifying restaurants were then scored and sorted according to the sum of tags for which "brunch" was selected as a special feature.

Based on this methodology, the 100 Best Brunch Restaurants in America for 2019 according to OpenTable diners, are as follows (in alphabetical order):

100 Best Brunch Restaurants in America for 2019

Ambar – Multiple Locations         

Atchafalaya Restaurant – New Orleans, Louisiana

Balthazar – New York, New York

Bartolotta's Lake Park Bistro – Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Beachcomber Cafe – Crystal Cove – Newport Coast, California

Beatrix – Multiple Locations

Brennan's – New Orleans, Louisiana

Brennan’s of Houston – Houston, Texas

Bristol Seafood Grill – Multiple Locations

The Butcher, The Baker, The Cappuccino Maker – West Hollywood, California

Bud & Marilyn's – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Café Ba-Ba-Reeba – Chicago, Illinois

Cafe Fiorello – New York, New York

Cafe Luxembourg – New York, New York

Cafe Monte – Charlotte, North Carolina

Cappy's Restaurant – San Antonio, Texas

Carmine's – 44th Street – New York, New York

Catch LA – West Hollywood, California

Chart House Restaurant – Weehawken, New Jersey

Chez Zee – Austin, Texas

Cookshop – New York, New York

The Copper Hen – Minneapolis, Minnesota

The Dandelion – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Dining Room at Salish Lodge & Spa – Snoqualmie, Washington

Duke's – Huntington Beach, California

Emmaline – Houston, Texas

Farmers & Distillers – Washington, D.C.

Farmers Fishers Bakers – Washington, D.C.

Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens – Corona Del Mar, California

Founding Farmers – Multiple Locations  

The Gage – Chicago, Illinois

Gandy Dancer – Ann Arbor, Michigan

Geoffrey's Restaurant – Malibu, California

Gertrude's – Baltimore, Maryland

Giada – The Cromwell – Las Vegas, Nevada

Grace's – Houston, Texas

The Grand Marlin of Pensacola Beach – Pensacola, Florida

Great Maple – San Diego, California

Green Valley Grill – Greensboro, North Carolina

The Hamilton – Washington, D.C.

The Hampton Social – River North – Chicago, Illinois

Harbor House – Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Hell's Kitchen – Caesars Palace Las Vegas – Las Vegas, Nevada

The Henry – Phoenix, Arizona

HEXX kitchen + bar – Las Vegas, Nevada

Ida Claire – Addison, Texas

The Ivy – West Hollywood, California

Jake's Del Mar – Del Mar, California

Kyle G's Prime Seafood – Jensen Beach, Florida

Lafayette – New York, New York

Lake Elmo Inn – Lake Elmo, Minnesota

Le Diplomate – Washington, D.C.

Le Moo – Louisville, Kentucky

Lindey's – Columbus, Ohio

Little Goat – Chicago, Illinois

Lola Seattle – Seattle, Washington

Louie Bossi Ristorante – Fort Lauderdale, Florida

The Love – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Maggiano's – South Coast Plaza  – Costa Mesa, California

Mama's Fish House – Paia, Hawaii

Mere Bulles – Brentwood, Tennessee

Mon Ami Gabi – Las Vegas, Nevada

Muriel's Jackson Square – New Orleans, Louisiana

Oxford Exchange – Tampa, Florida

Palace – Miami Beach, Florida

Palace Café – New Orleans, Louisiana

Parc – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Perch LA – Los Angeles, California

Pier W – Cleveland, Ohio

Poor Calvin's – Atlanta, Georgia

Print Works Bistro – Greensboro, North Carolina

The Rotunda at Neiman Marcus – San Francisco, California

Sadelle’s – New York, New York

Salty's – Multiple Locations          

Sarabeth's Park Avenue South – New York, New York

Shaw's Crab House – Chicago, Illinois

The Smith – Multiple Locations

Somerset – Chicago, Illinois

Spencer's Restaurant – Palm Springs, California

Stanford Grill – Columbia, Maryland

Succotash – Penn Quarter DC – Washington, D.C.

Summer House Santa Monica – Chicago, Illinois

Suraya – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Talula’s Garden – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Tavern on the Green – New York, New York

Terrain Garden Cafe – Glen Mills, Pennsylvania

The Tropicale – Palm Springs, California

Top of the Hub – Boston , Massachusetts

Tower Oaks Lodge – Rockville, Maryland

Town – San Carlos, California

Tupelo Honey – Downtown Asheville – Asheville, North Carolina

Ulele – Tampa, Florida

Unconventional Diner – Washington, D.C.

Upland – New York, New York

Whiskey Cake – Plano, Texas

White Dog Cafe – Wayne, Pennsylvania

Willa Jean – New Orleans, Louisiana

X2O Xaviars on the Hudson – Yonkers, New York

Yank Sing – Rincon Center – San Francisco, California

Yardbird – Multiple Locations     

The complete list may also be viewed here. 

MRM Research Roundup: End-of-April 2019 Edition posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

How to Make Your Restaurant Space More Marketable

Foodservice is a difficult business and an extremely competitive one. Even if you cook up the best bites in town, it can be a challenge to grab the attention of fickle consumers and even more challenging to keep it. 

Developing a loyal following is critical when launching a restaurant, and to do that you have to make your establishment stand out. Surveying the industry, we've come up with a short list of ways to set your venue apart from the competition. You'll probably need to fine-tune each of these to meet the needs of your specific restaurant, but these examples should point you in the right direction. 

Create the Right Atmosphere

Your restaurant is more than just the business name and the food on the menu. The theme and the values of your restaurant should be communicated and reinforced throughout the dining experience. This might be done through the use of good ambient lighting, a well-curated selection of artwork for guests to enjoy or easy-to-read wayfinding signage that makes dining at your restaurant stress-free.

Many restauranteurs use a soft open to collect feedback from people about their new business. This is the perfect time to ask whether guests respond to the look and feel of the place. 

Make Your Guests Feel Special

Not everyone needs to hear "Happy Birthday" sung out of tune in a foreign language by the restaurant's finest, but you should look for ways to create a unique experience for your guests. Some examples of this include setting up a special seating location that resembles a wrestling ring at a Mexican-themed taqueria, offering an eating challenge that involves recognition and a complimentary meal, or adding a new menu item inspired by one of your better-known guests. 

Participate in Community Events

Breaking in can be difficult in the restaurant industry, so community events offer a great opportunity to get your food out in front of potential customers. You might partner with a local radio station or bar to provide limited-time-only food perks for guests. Make sure to have some promotional materials on hand. You might have to sell a few discounted meals now, but if those people tell their friends and bring them to your restaurant, you'll have made your money back and then some. 

Bring in a Guest Chef

Just as you can feature your food at a community event, you can also create some excitement for guests by changing things up with a guest chef. Your restaurant will look trendy and hip if you can get someone with prominence from a TV program or another successful establishment. Have the chef create their own variations on the type of food you would normally offer. When guests come back, they will still feel like they're having a special experience. 

Make Your Food Prep Entertaining

This doesn't have to mean trick bartending or Japanese teppan-style cooking where food is prepared in front of the guests in creative ways. If your restaurant makes its own homemade tortillas with an antique machine, why not show it off for your guests to enjoy? If barbecue is more your style, put your restaurant's giant smoker on the patio so everyone can see the tasty morsels being prepared.

Making your restaurant successful is equal parts quality food and service and an interesting experience. If your guests remember the way your restaurant made them feel in combination with the delicious cuisine, you'll stand a much better chance of earning their repeat business, in addition to their friends. It's competitive out there, so get creative and be expressive with your new spot.

How to Make Your Restaurant Space More Marketable posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

The Changing Face of Restaurant Personalization and Customer Experience

McDonald’s recent acquisition of decisioning engine Dynamic Yield for $300 million is a clear indication of the vital importance of personalization in both fast food and the wider QSR sector.  No doubt, the addition of this functionality to McDonald’s stack will revolutionize their customer-facing offering and propel them even further ahead of the competition.  

To understand where the value lies for McDonald’s, one must remember that fast food restaurants operate a set menu, often sizeable with a huge amount of choice, which they market en masse to their entire audience.  Traditionally, everyone coming in the door or cruising through the drive-thru is presented with the same scenario because it isn’t practical to present them with a bespoke offering, tailored to their individual needs and desires at that point in time and space based on a variety of select criteria.  Unfortunately, this means that each individual customer is treated like the million before and after.  That’s admirable if our metric is equality, but pretty poor if the goal is to offer people what they want, when they want; or, flipping that, what the restaurant wants to offer that individual, when it wants to offer it.

The overarching goal of personalization is to readdress this and in doing so, remove the illusion of choice (where it exists) and decision fatigue, all the while retaining restaurants’ ability to position and upsell items in the most efficient manner.

Competition between key fast food players has in fact become a battleground for providing the best customer experience.  Although industry insiders have written much of late on McDonald’s desire to augment its drive-thru experience with such acquisitions as Dynamic Yield, one questions whether this is where customer and brand experiences can be best affected.  Yes, this is a crucial facet of a fast food business, but it’s the in-store experience where personalization stands to make the biggest incremental improvement to such restaurants’ bottom lines.  And nowhere is personalization more needed than when it comes to displaying menu items on the comparatively small screens of mobile devices; a channel already being pioneered by McDonald’s Global Mobile App and Mobile Order and Pay initiatives.

That which can be intelligently laid out across sizeable restaurant menu boards, digital or otherwise, becomes challenging when that visual real estate shrinks to the 5-6” representative of the vast majority of smartphones in circulation in the US in 2019.  When it comes to mobile order & pay, no amount of categorization or scrolling, irrespective of how clever the UI, can take the sheer quantity of information these menus contain and present it in an easily digestible way.  The issue here is merchants’ default strategy of showing entire menus.  This is arguably, from the perspective of personalization, an ill-fated approach.

Whether we’re talking fast food or quick service restaurants, the clue is in the name; both speed and time are of the essence.  The increase in speed and reduction in time when it comes to ordering and paying for your meal is often primarily down to the swiftness of the selection process.  Is trawling through a menu for that Filet-o-Fish® when it’s the item you always order a worthwhile pursuit?  If that 5” diagonal of screen could present you with that fish-in-a-bun at the start of the ordering journey, alongside an upsell of additional menu items, wouldn’t the experience be both faster and quicker?  If on a hot, sunny day you’re initially presented with a frozen dessert or cold drink, wouldn’t that contextually relevant recommendation resonate?

Of course, should your cravings be for something else, you could always elect to ignore the options proffered and choose to navigate the traditional menu, but the potential for greater efficiency and higher throughput is obvious. 

McDonald’s has made it clear that although they’ll be incorporating Dynamic Yield’s tech into their own, Dynamic Yield will continue to service both new and existing clients.  However, without any direct competitors to McDonald’s on its roster, it’ll be interesting to see if any can be acquired by the firm moving forwards. It’s unlikely, for example, that Starbucks is going to take up the opportunity to lay open its data to a rival-owned technology.  In Starbucks’ case, why would it, when it’s recently invested $100 million in Valor Siren Ventures’ new fund to grow companies just like this!

As such, there’s a great opportunity for proponents of personalization to explore partnerships with restaurants, as these new levels of dynamic customer experience become the norm and end users’ appetites for tailored brand interactions soar ever higher.

The Changing Face of Restaurant Personalization and Customer Experience posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com