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Month: May 2017

How data can help you accelerate your business growth?

Posted on by inresto

In the past few years, management of businesses worldwide has undergone drastic changes because of the data revolution. As per the report by Forbes, 71% of the enterprises globally predict their investments in data and analytics will accelerate in the next three years and beyond.

Restaurant industry is no different, and the modern day restaurant management platforms provide valuable insights on customer habits, tastes and preferences. Let’s delve deep into the various ways data can help you speed up your restaurant business. 

Replace the legacy systems

When you use traditional systems for managing restaurants, it’s a tedious task to manage enormous volumes of data. The data pertaining to be different functions such as billing, inventory management, sales and customer data management will be scattered in different places.

Unlike the legacy systems, the cloud based restaurant management platforms such as inresto POS help you manage all the above mentioned functions on the same platform. It also provides valuable insights such as the performance of your staff, the fast-moving items in your menu, kitchen turnaround time and many other aspects.   

Run targeted marketing campaigns

In these times of Covid-19, diners have become more safety conscious and they hesitate to visit restaurants. As per the report by ETBrandEquity, there is a shift from dining out to cooking at home as 87 % of the survey respondents said that they will continue cooking post the pandemic. Hence, the need of the hour is to engage in aggressive marketing campaigns that help in pulling customers towards your restaurant.

The data provided by restaurant management platforms help you get valuable insights about your target audience. 

Launch targeted marketing campaigns and reach out to the customers through the right communication channel. Based on the customer segment, the channel may be SMS, push or e-mail. The customer specific campaigns can be automated and scheduled in frequent time intervals. There is also the option to run multiple campaigns simultaneously, with personalised content for each target segment.

With the real-time analytics, you can understand the effectiveness of the marketing campaigns and the Return on Investment (ROI). If any of the campaigns are not working out, you can make necessary tweaks to the programs and relaunch them later.

Capture customer data

Offering free Wi-Fi at your restaurant is an easy method to capture customer information. When diners login to your Wi-Fi with their social media profiles, several details such as their name, age, gender, contact number and e-mail id can be collected and stored in the restaurant management platforms. It acts as the primary source of getting valuable insights about the customer’s likes and dislikes, change in their dining patterns and other latest trends that can be effectively utilised for boosting your sales.

A survey conducted by Mckinsey among more than 700 organisations worldwide found that spending on analytics to gain competitive intelligence on future market conditions, to target customers more successfully, and to optimize operations and supply chains generated operating-profit increases in the 6 percent range. 

Establish a feedback platform

With the feedback feature offered by restaurant management platforms, you can collect responses of customers. Create a personalised feedback form and gather feedback on various parameters such as the quality of food, service and the overall dining experience. Based on the customer responses, you will get to know more about the positive aspects of your restaurant and the weak areas where you need to work on.

Even before a customer visits your restaurant, you will be able to offer them the food of their choice based on the insights provided by the POS system. The customer will also feel valued by such small gestures. Thus the analytics and insights offered by restaurant management platforms help you take better business decisions and come up with new strategies. 

Parting Words

Data plays a crucial role in managing present day business enterprises. The modern day restaurant management platforms have proved to be a boon for restaurants as they make use of data and offer smart insights. For an industry reeling under huge losses caused by the pandemic, it not only helps them understand customer preferences but also take strategic decisions.

Impact of ban on sale of liquor on Highways

Posted on by inresto

Liqour Ban

The liquor ban within 500 meter radius alongside national and state highways at hotels, restaurants, bars and shops have caused mayhem amongst owners and its employees. Where the decision is torn between what’s ethical and what’s practical, hotels restaurants and bars are suffering lean times in their business in cities like Kolkata, Pune, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Agra, Kerala, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Goa and Mumbai.

Pune is worst hit by the ban where almost 71% of the hotels and restaurants are affected due to the decision as more than 15 state highways pass through the city, followed by Kolkata and Agra while businesses in the financial capital of India and Goa will be less affected. In a survey conducted by Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited (Crisil), it was found that up to 30% of premium segment hotels of 12 major cities have already been affected by the Supreme Court’s decision. After assessing 383 premium segment hotels across these cities, 102 hotels stand affected i.e. almost 27% of premium hotels will be urged to stop the sale of liquor.

This proves that 3 star and 4 star hotels and restaurants within the city areas will now compete with premium segment hotels and restaurants along highways. In a country where travel and tourism play an important role in revenue generation, hotels and restaurants have observed a drop in reservations for meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions (MICE), events, and weddings and have calculated increased cancellations in bookings. According to India Brand Equity Foundation, with an estimate of almost 9% of the total employment opportunities in 2016 i.e. jobs of almost 38.4 million people that are generated in the travel and tourism sector are now under threat where the number is expected to increase 2% a year i.e. 46.42 million jobs by 2026.

In order to cope with the slack in business, hoteliers and restaurant owners are implying direct and indirect ways to avoid revenue losses. Many restaurateurs are trying different ways of increasing the actual distance that a person may have to traverse to reach the destination by changing entrances, adding hardscape/landscape. Where many states are in the process of de-notifying state highways to reduce the impact of ban in the cities, the Maharashtra Government has recently accepted to de-notify the Eastern and Western Express Highways within the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and being transferred to MMRDA for 5 years.

However if we look on the other side of the grass, women and families strongly agree with the Supreme Court’s decision to avoid cases of drink and drive along the highways. Haryana women and child development minister Kavita Jain stated that “Drinking liquor is a social evil, any addiction is a habit,” she said, adding that “the government wants to save people of the country from bad habits and addiction.”

Thus the Apex Court is likely to stand by its order on liquor ban, while affecting more than 1 million jobs by putting thousands of valid businesses employing lakhs of people at risk. On one hand restaurants and bars are unsure about the recovery for their losses while on the other hand, Riyaaz Amlani, president of National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) has stated that the body is lobbying at every stage with tourism and chief ministers of various states.

 

Although the decision where restaurants and bars will be able to serve alcohol will be issued in week or two, the Supreme Court is open to suggestions to balance all interests while stakeholders and state governments are appealing to denotify several state and national highways to save businesses from further losses.