Innovation is the mother of necessity. Whether it’s food, ambiance or serving techniques, the F&B industry has always experimented its way through the customers’ hearts. After the second wave, restaurants are all set to welcome the diners back to experiencing the wholesome dining experience. People are longing to get back to dining-out and break the monotony of the lockdown. Restaurants also need to up their game to offer their customers a great experience so that they become your best advocates and keep on returning to boost your revenue.
inresto has always been at the helm of supporting restaurants with world class technology to conduct their day-to-day operations smoothly. This time, we are taking it up a notch by solving the mystery of ‘How to bring back customers and keep them coming?’
PULSE is not your usual webinar where people give ‘Gyaan’ about how to run your restaurant? No, you already know that and are an expert. But, what we are here to help you with is to open the world of some tried & tested and innovative marketing techniques that can make your restaurant(s) stand out
Who doesn’t want to be on top of their game?
How to retain customers in a restaurant business? How to accelerate revenue? What’s the best way to market your restaurant? If you are a restaurateur these questions are lingering in your head. We know as a business we never stop learning and evolving. Here’s another chance for you to learn. Learn from the best in the business and gain valuable insights.
Simply put PULSE is your monthly dose of the marketing innovations & management techniques to help you run your business smoothly and take it up a notch.
What’s in it for you?
A world full of marketing tactics and innovations that actually work. Know what the Who’s Who of industry are preparing to lure the customers post the Pandemic. Along with an added bonus of Marketing Solutions that can set your brand apart from the competitors.
Where?
Tune in to our FACEBOOK page on 4th August, at 5 PM for the fist episode.
In this fast-changing world where innovations and new concepts are a daily affair keeping up with the trends becomes essential. In the post-covid world, the traditional restaurant concept is far from reality. Restrictions, social distancing, and other norms of the contemporary world have crept into the traditions. The new era of restaurants is brimming with ideas. Restaurateurs are thinking out of the box to come up with new concepts. Presently, a restaurant is simply not a place to grab your meals. It’s much more than that.
Some New age Restaurant concepts trending now:
1. Co-working plus restaurant space
image source: https://socialoffline.in/workspace/
While Social was always known for its work-friendly ambiance, they have taken it up a notch, and the all-day bar and café chain has come up with a unique concept for restaurants. They are here to provide you with the social working experience. Under this model, the chain has come up with the first restaurant workplace infrastructure, with restaurants and coworking spaces working together. The motto is to connect people as they collaborate over a drink or food while listening to good music. Here, the cubicles are smaller, where creative people can communicate with each other and work. With this concept of the restaurant, people can merge their professional and social lifestyles.
If you have come across restaurants like Ambra GK2, you know how innovative these concepts are. These organizations have come up with dining cum retail spaces, where one can purchase home décor items and packed food items like coffee and tea. This also proves beneficial for the organization, as they can diversify their portfolio. It is an innovative business model where the visitors can enjoy shopping for their homes and experience the restaurant ambiance. From the business perspective, it is beneficial as the owners can increase their revenue substantially.
3. Restaurant with private cubicles
Some restaurants have private cubicles for their visitors. Rather than sitting amidst other visitors, people can enjoy small social or personal gatherings. This type of restaurant is not new in India. However, the post-pandemic world is witnessing more restaurants coming up with this model. People are more interested in visiting restaurants with private cubicles, as there is social distance and they can enjoy a more personalized dining time. This is particularly popular among families.
4. Shipping container restaurants
How about dining in a box container? Sounds bizarre, right? This particular model of a restaurant in shipping containers was prevalent even in the pre-pandemic era. Presently, with potential business threats like social distancing, dining at container restaurants is quickly becoming a trend. Although the sight might startle you for a while, the concept is brand new. Each day, the container may serve a different locality. Of course, these restaurants are on wheels and travel to different places during other times of the year. Biggby Coffee and Swig have already set up the base for this restaurant model. Swig has even planned to partner with grocery brands like Kroger. Moving the container box to a parking lot would prove beneficial to both parties.
5. Improvised and new vending machines
Well, you might have been seeing vending machines in different places all these years. Now, this concept has come into the food and restaurant industry as well. Brands like Saladworks have come up with a vending machine called Sally the Robot. Here, the food is provided to the customers through a vending machine. Although the concept drew attention in 2019, it was only after the pandemic that restaurant owners realized the true potential of the mechanism. In a nutshell, the system serves the objective of maintaining social distance. Particularly, in hospitals, this system is being incorporated. Other places having sanitized environments are also using these vending machines.
Coolgreens, on the other hand, has come up with the concept of a smart fridge. Throughout the pandemic, this mechanism has been used in different hospitals for serving salads.
6. DIY meal kits
Even before the pandemic, restaurant brands had been thinking of coming up with DIY meal kits. With this concept, restaurant owners can save space on their premises. In addition, social distancing is also a factor to consider amidst the pandemic. Considering these aspects, the DIY meal kits concept is fast catching up in India and other countries. Under this model, the customers would have a key role in preparing their meals. While Blaze Pizza has already set the trend, other brands are closely following. Here, the customers can pick up the ingredients through the kits. Next, they need to assemble the pies back at their home.
This tactic is cost-effective and involves minimal labour. However, the kits might be complex, depending on the brand and what is being served. Brands are spreading the word through social media and other marketing tactics as the food delivery business continues to grow.
7. Drop-off sites
While systems like drive-through have already gained popularity, you have a different concept here. Some brands have set up their innovative ecosystems with cars. Some of the localities do not have drive-through facilities. To resolve this issue, they are offering food drop-offs at sites. Rom Ram and Kathleen have shown the way, with other restaurants following the suit. This mechanism is based on an ordered system. The customers simply need to place their orders beforehand and pick them up from the specified location. Of course, in the post-pandemic world, people will maintain social distance through this system.
Restaurateurs are adapting to drastic changes and adopting new concepts of dining. While the pandemic adversely hit the restaurant industry, it came out stronger with strategies and concepts to win over the market.
Hope you have picked your favourite among these all. Unlock with the latest concepts of dining that are also cost-effective and consumer-friendly. inresto is making restaurants better equipped with technology and is helping them raise their revenue. Contact us here.
We are back with yet another edition of inresto Superstar, where we celebrate top restaurants that overpowered the drop in the revenue curves during the pandemic with the help of inresto Online Order: the most robust online ordering platform.
What is ‘inresto Superstar’?
A monthly initiative to identify and recognize our partner restaurants’ phenomenal dining experience using inresto’s product suite. It is an effort to celebrate the unrelenting spirit of restaurants across the country! Restaurants spread laughter, moments of joy and create memories for a lifetime for millions of people. And to make that possible, it takes a dedicated staff and the right technology to streamline all the restaurant operations.
This month we are here to celebrate a few of such incredible restaurants that managed to do away with aggregator commissions using inresto online order, increased their profit margins, and delved into marketing solutions that have managed to raise efficiency and business for them.
What’s so special about it?
After a rough 2020 and a slow 2021, restaurant businesses have picked up with the help of a food delivery model. Restaurants managed to stay relevant among the diners through their online presence and marketing techniques to grow their business further with their off-the-spin business strategies.
Check out the Superstars of July 2021!
1. Nav Chaitanya Andheri, Mumbai
This one-of-a-kind place for food lovers continues to bring home happiness with authentic seafood & Malwani cuisine with their delivery services when customers couldn’t visit them during the lockdown. They relied on their online ordering platform powered by inresto to accelerate online orders and avoid hefty aggregator commissions.
This place in Chennai is a paradise for Biryani lovers. They have been serving hundreds of biryani lovers across Chennai, and they have cracked the code to every biryani lover’s heart. They have it all, be it Mutton, prawn, or chicken.
During the lockdown when people couldn’t visit them, and even now, they have been bringing home their specialty through their delivery services made possible with inresto Online Order.
With the help of their own online ordering platform and digital marketing strategies, these restaurants managed to increase their incoming online orders by 4 times. Something that calls for big applause and celebration.
A big congratulations to all the superstars! We are happy to have helped you raise your revenue, increase productivity, and improve efficiency. We wish you continued success and happy diners all year long. 🙂
Keep reaching your restaurant business goals and continue to raise the bar for fellow restaurateurs with each passing year.
As competition in the food and beverage industry is getting stiffer day by day, restaurateurs are gearing up to combat the different challenges. However, there are certain factors that pose a major threat to restaurant owners. These factors can include refunding a disgruntled customer, offering a replacement for an overcooked dish, or getting chargebacks. As a restaurateur, it’s quite important to understand in detail what is a chargeback and how you can deal with it in the most cost-effective way.
What is a Chargeback?
A chargeback is initiated in cases where a cardholder disputes a transaction, and it leads to a forced reversal of the original payment. It differs from the refund, as the refund is a return of the amount by the restaurant directly, whereas chargeback is facilitated by the bank or the credit card issuer. Generally, chargebacks happen when a customer disapproves of a charge appearing in the credit card statement.
As a restaurant owner, you always have the option to challenge the claim of the diner. You can prove that the original transaction was legitimate, and the cardholder’s claim was invalid.
Why is it Critical to Deal with Chargebacks?
As per the 2018 State Of Chargebacks survey, the food and beverage industry reported having a chargeback between 0.5 percent and 1 percent of overall transactions. One of the major reasons for chargeback is criminal fraud. Simple steps such as including CVV verification, geolocation, and 3-D Secure 2.0 technology can bring down criminal frauds to a great extent.
Merchant errors can be avoided by providing excellent customer service. You can do it through e-mail, phone, or social media. In the next section, we discuss in detail how to avoid chargebacks.
How to Avoid Chargebacks in your Restaurant Using 7 Effective Tips?
Changing your ways can make a huge difference to the bottom line of your business. Now, let’s understand how to avoid chargebacks in your restaurant with 7 effective steps:
1. Have a Robust Point of Sale System
A study by ClearSale shows that out of 3% of the chargeback cases, the order was billed twice or some other clerical errors were involved. When a customer raises a claim for chargeback, you no longer have to dig through a huge pile of paper receipts or printouts. With smart digital platforms such as inresto Point of Sale, billing and real-time payment statuses are tracked and recorded from a single dashboard. These digital receipts act as evidence whenever you want to disprove a chargeback claim. Hence, you can transform your billing and payment process with an efficient POS system.
2. Try to Resolve Customer Issues Immediately
Whenever the diner raises a complaint, speak directly to the customer and address the issue quickly. Analyse the matter carefully and check whether the customer stands a chance to win a chargeback. If that’s the case, offer a partial or a full refund to avoid a messy and expensive battle. You should always keep in mind that a refund is always cheaper than a chargeback.
3. Add your Contact Information on the Receipt
On the customer’s receipt, mention your contact details so they can reach out to you for complaints. This tip comes in handy as you can resolve the issue rather than waiting for the guest to dispute the transaction and claim a chargeback in the future. One more effective method is to collect the guest’s contact information from your comment cards. Whenever the customers raise complaints, you can contact them and address the concern without losing time or escalating the issue.
4. Identify the Root Cause of Customer Dissatisfaction
Observe the nature of customer complaints to understand the issue deeper. Check whether the same cause has led to multiple customer complaints and chargebacks. A prominent example would be a salty mutton curry. In such cases, you can direct the chef to reduce the salt content so that the same issue does not recur. With inresto Point of Sale, it is possible to get precise reviews of each item ordered by the customer and measure dish performance accordingly. The platform also provides detailed insights and reports based on which you can implement corrective measures.
5. Adhere to the Guidelines Issued by Major Credit Card Brands
All 4 major credit card brands have established a set of guidelines for the merchants to follow. Ensure that your restaurant adheres to these guidelines and best practices. This adherence cuts down disputes and focuses effectively on the restaurant operations.
Visa
Mastercard
Discover
American Express
6. Set the Expectations Clear for the Guests
Mention the name of the various dishes, a clear image, and the method of preparation in the menu. This step can avoid high expectations and disappointment of diners. Assume the case where a guest is new to the dish chicken sizzler. In the menu, it can be mentioned: “Trying chicken sizzler for the first time? Ask your waiter to explain the options”. The waiter explaining the details of the preparation will help to a great extent to prevent customer dissatisfaction and disappointments.
We all know that diner reviews can make or break your restaurant business. The Local Consumer Review Survey 2020 conducted by BrightLocal shows that restaurants are among the top 5 industries where customers are most likely to have gone through reviews. And rightfully so, experience is everything when it comes to food! Hence, you cannot ignore the increasing influence of customer reviews. A negative review can tarnish your brand reputation terribly. But, at the same time, a few excellent reviews can catapult your restaurant in the top league.
What is customer-generated content?
A positive customer review is nothing but customer-generated content or user-generated content (UGC). It can be a social media post, story, or blog where customers voluntarily share rave reviews.
3 major benefits of customer-generated content
Unlike paid content, the trust factor is more when it’s customer-generated. Any customer, for that matter, feels that it’s just a regular user like them who has shared the review. The survey results released by Businesswire vouches that consumers find user-generated content 9.8 times more impactful than influencer content. Secondly, when it’s your friends or relatives who have shared a rave review, the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) factor naturally prompts you to experience that brand. Last but not least, customer-generated content comes for free. So without spending a single penny, you are getting free publicity.
Top tips to make effective use of customer reviews
Let’s see how you can take advantage of the reviews posted by your customers on online platforms.
1. Post the best reviews on your social media profile
Look for the best online review about your restaurant. Pick the one with appealing images and vivid descriptions. Add graphics to the content and share them as posts and stories on your Instagram and Facebook profiles. ImpactPlus reports that one out of four Gen Zers and millennials actively look at levels of the products and services they are planning to buy.
Tag your customers while posting the content. In all likelihood, they will share the post on their profiles as well. This increases the reach and visibility of your restaurant on social media. This also inspires other customers to share the reviews along with their photos. If it’s a video review, it can be pretty beneficial for your brand name.
2. Lure your customers for repeated visits through loyalty programs
When customers share excellent reviews on your internal feedback platform, take advantage of that opportunity. With India’s leading digital feedback management software, such as inresto Feedback, you can instantly collect feedback. In case of any inconvenience, you can settle the matter in real-time by, for example, sending a free beer or offering a small discount on the customer’s bill. You can also request your customers to share their good experiences on social media as well.
You can make good use of feedbacks and create loyalty programs best suited for your customers. Say, for example, a corporate honcho shared the feedback that group discounts are missing at your restaurant. You can introduce reward points for every 5th buffet lunch for such regular group visitors. Similarly, young couples might have expressed their view to introducing red wine to your menu. On Valentine’s Day, launching red wine with a special offer of a 10% discount on every second red wine ordered would be an attractive offer for couples.
As per the survey results reported by Bigcommerce, 72% of the customers opined that positive reviews and testimonials influence them to trust a business more. Hence, whenever your customers share positive reviews on online platforms, post them on your restaurant website, too, as testimonials. The food lovers who do a Google search will come across these testimonials. It will prompt them to try out the variety of cuisines offered by your establishment.
4. Use the reviews to improve your offerings and operations.
Positive feedback and critical criticism is a fantastic opportunity to develop your business further. An example is a bunch of great reviews about the newly introduced Mexican burger. Come up with offerings on the same lines that can boost your sales. An excellent review of the exceptional service offered by one of your waiters is another opportunity. Reward him and motivate him through words of appreciation in team meetings. This will encourage fellow staff to keep up the excellent work. Thus positive reviews can contribute significantly to the overall development of your restaurant.
5. Run social media contests to create more user-generated content
Everyone loves freebies. Launch a social media contest where the best comment on your dishes will win a prize. It can be a free meal or a dine-in offer. Naturally, customers will share the news with their friends on social media. It means more engagement, likes, and comments for your restaurant brand organically.
Gen z is used to taking photos before having their food. Posting on Instagram, they want their friends and relatives to know about where they are dining out. Hence create an ambiance at your restaurant which is quite ‘Instafriendly.’
Here’s what you can do:
Natural lighting makes a big difference while taking photos.
You can build a booth with your restaurant branding printed on it. It will prompt the social media savvy generation to pose for pictures near the kiosk.
Presentation of dishes also makes a huge difference. Never overcrowd the plates with too many things.
Develop a branded hashtag for your restaurant. Ensure that your customers use the same hashtag while posting on Instagram and Facebook.
Parting Words
In these times of Covid-19, sales at restaurants have not been the best. So to tide over the challenges, the best way is to cash in on every marketing opportunity. Positive customer reviews on online platforms being one such—Marketer’s, world over vouch for its effectiveness over other paid forms of advertising. Hence by making maximum use of positive reviews, you can retain your customers and persuade new ones.
In the food and beverage industry, no restaurant wants to go through experiences that tarnish the brand image. As a restaurateur, one of the worst nightmares for you can be a food quality recall. You may be forced to recall a food product that causes harm or pose a threat to public health. It might also be because the food items do not meet the required standards prescribed by the regulatory authorities.
In a Harris interactive poll, consumers indicated that 55% would switch brands temporarily following a recall and 15% said they would never purchase the recalled product. However, there are several ways to manage and prevent a food quality recall.
Managing a Food Quality Recall
In case a food quality recall happens in your restaurant, how do you deal with it? The below methods can be adopted in managing a food quality recall.
1. Communicate to All your Outlets
As soon as you identify the issue, the first step is to communicate about the food recall immediately to all the restaurants spread across multiple locations. You can mention details such as the lot code of the food item that caused the issue, the vendor who supplied the item, and the severity of the issue. A strict instruction should go to all the outlets that stop them from further usage of the item in cooking.
2. Speak to the Vendors and Get the Issue Resolved
Once you have identified the issue, destroy all the items that caused the food quality recall. The details of the item such as the date of purchase, item code, etc. should be collected and a complaint needs to be raised to the vendor. Get a replacement for those items from the vendor and ensure that such a nasty incident does not recur in the future.
Since your restaurant is affected by a food recall, sanitizing the kitchen is of primary importance. Your staff should be well educated on the protocol to be followed while performing the sanitization. However, sanitization is a part of the standard operating procedure of any restaurant and it needs to be performed regularly. Especially in these pandemic times, dine-in customers are quite concerned about the hygiene factor during the restaurant visit. Hence, you can extend the sanitization process to the entire restaurant instead of limiting it to the kitchen. The staff performing the sanitization should use all the safety measures as they are at the risk of getting infected.
4. Keep the Media and Customers Informed
Proper communication should go out to inform the media and customers about the corrective steps you have adopted to fix the issue. The preventive measures followed to avoid the recurrence of such unfortunate incidents should also be part of the communication. Such measures help to regain the lost reputation for your brand. The staff may also be trained on how to communicate properly on this matter to the customers. Managing a food quality recall depends to a great extent on the efforts you put in to reduce the damage control.
Methods of Preventing a Food Quality Recall
We already discussed the various methods of managing a food quality recall. Now let’s go through the 3 methods of how a food quality recall can be avoided in the future:
1. Check your Inventory at Regular Intervals
One of the important reasons for food contamination is the presence of microbes in the stock. During the cooking or storing process, there are possibilities of microbe infection. To avoid these issues, have stringent quality checks to inspect the quality of items in inventory at regular intervals. Checking the label, date of packaging, and expiry date frequently can avoid food recall to a large extent.
This is one of the important ways to manage and prevent a food quality recall. Streamlining inventory management is pretty easy with digital restaurant management platforms such as inresto SCM. You can track the inventory in real-time with such systems.
2. Right Storage of Inventory and Exercising Cleanliness
You must make sure that the food materials are stored in the right places at the right temperature. In the case of perishable food items such as meat and fish, it needs to be stored in the freezer. Keeping them in the wrong places can lead to contamination and microbial infection. The advantage of keeping track of the expiry dates is that you can prioritize the order in which the items need to be used in the kitchen. Those food materials which are nearing the expiry date should be used immediately and the rest of the items can be kept aside for later use. The staff should be instructed to wash and sanitize cutting boards, plates, knives, and forks. Washing their hands with soap and hot water during the sanitization process should also be strictly followed.
In many cases, the items in your stock expire. Your staff members should be given strict instructions that they shouldn’t use the expired food materials under any circumstances. Nobody wants to take a chance that may lead to food quality recall later. In case of isolating or disposing of expired products, the guidelines issued by the vendors should be kept in mind. That’s because you will be eligible for product reimbursement only if you follow the measures recommended by the vendor. Also, be well informed on the various food standards prescribed by the respective authority in your region.
Parting Words
As discussed, there are several ways to manage and prevent a food quality recall. However, it’s recommended to exercise due care and follow all the hygiene protocols so you can avoid the pain of dealing with a recall. Dealing with recalls is critical because once your brand image is tarnished, it will take a long time to pull customers back to the restaurant. In these competitive times, restaurants are doing everything to grab a share of the market pie, and you cannot afford to lag.
As a restaurateur, you might be worried about the stiff challenges posed due to COVID-19. After all, impatient and cautious dine-in customers don’t prefer to wait in long queues anymore.
A survey states there’s been a sharp increase in restaurant reservations and transactions when restaurants resumed operations post lockdown. The latest trends underline why a reservation management system is important for your restaurant.
Reservation management systems have made life so simple that you don’t have to deal with multiple issues at the same time. Now, you can tackle customer complaints and arguments when you’re done with daily restaurant operations.
6 Unique Benefits of Reservation Management System
You might be wondering, ‘Why do you need a reservation management system?’ Let’s understand why a reservation management system is important and how it helps you attract and retain customers.
1. Manage Reservations on the Go
Gone are the days when restaurant staff had to stay tied to the reception desk and handle both walk-in customers and telephonic reservations. With inresto Guest and Reserve, you can experience cross-platform capabilities to manage bookings using tablets, laptops, smartphones, and other mediums 24/7. Consequently, the time your staff will save by being on the go will help you utilise them for other purposes like managing the user experience and improving operational efficiency.
2. Handle Reservations Across Platforms with Ease
Nowadays, almost all businesses have gone digital due to the convenience factor. Further, customers prefer to reserve the tables in advance, so they don’t have to wait in lines anymore. As per an Adobe survey, during COVID-19 lockdowns, 58% of the consumers in the Asia Pacific region increased their online shopping frequency.
One of the key benefits of the reservation management system is that it lets you effectively manage rush hour queues and reservations from multiple platforms such as Facebook, website and app, mobiles, tablets, and others. Additionally, you can also manage the walk-in-guests using the same interface.
3. Cut Down on Booking Errors Easily
Without a restaurant reservation system, managing bookings gets riddled with confusion and chaos. When you book restaurant reservations over the phone, you might mishear the number of reservations and end up booking an incorrect number. You might also face situations where customers reserved the tables in advance and find someone else in their seats when they reach the restaurant. With integrated inresto’s reservation management system, you can enjoy hassle-free processes and serve your customers in the best possible way. Further, with systems, you reduce the error rate significantly as compared to the traditional manual systems.
4. Reduce Customer Wait Times
No guest ever wants to stand next to the restaurant table waiting for their turn. Fortunately, you can get rid of this nagging problem forever, thanks to systems like inresto Guest and Reserve! The question: why a reservation management system is important becomes even more critical during the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s because customers prefer to get food safely and reduce their waiting time. With Guest and Reserve, you can effectively manage the customers outside the restaurant and ensure to follow proper social distancing.
As soon as a diner raises a reservation request over the call, mobile app, or as a walk-in customer, the system registers a reservation. As the restaurant owner, you can view the details of the booking on the mobile app. Based on real-time seat availability at your restaurant, you can assign a table according to customer preference. Adding this simple feature leads to a drastic reduction in customer wait times and a natural increase in word-of-mouth publicity for your restaurant. Thus, this feature is one of the major benefits of the reservation management system.
5. Enhance Operational Efficiency
With reservation management systems, billing operations are quite fast, and so, unnecessary delays and wait times are cut short. One of the major reasons customers don’t visit some restaurants is the undue delay in receiving a check after consuming food. In addition, you can experience a major reduction in the table turnaround times.
By efficiently managing tables, you can serve more customers with the same employee strength. In short, it adds to your restaurant’s profit with absolutely no need to increase the headcount of the employees. When you’re hiring an additional resource to serve the customer, it increases your total expenses.
6. Increase Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty
The question: why do you need a reservation management system is a justified one for every restaurant owner to ask. Here we’ll tell you how a good reservation management system improves customer experience.
Using 360-degree customer profiles, you can personalise and offer a unique dining experience for your customers. It’s simple to get valuable insights on customer preferences such as the place they prefer to sit at your restaurant and their preferred timings. Let’s assume a particular customer reserves a table at your restaurant for the first time, using the mobile app. Suppose he reserves the last table at the right-hand side corner of your restaurant. If he picks the same table next time as well, it’s a clear indication that he prefers to sit at the same corner.
Another effective method of expanding your customer base is to engage with your customers in real-time through the reservation management system. You can develop a personalised landing page and enhance engagement by planning customised events and using social media handles. Use social media presence to maintain relevance, improve your reach and build the brand value of your restaurant.
Parting Words
With COVID-19 on the horizon, the safety aspect is gaining more importance than ever before. In the current scenario, reservation management systems can make a real difference to your restaurant. On any given day, customers would prefer to book their reservation in advance and avoid contactless dining as much as possible. In this highly competitive era, you can carve a space of your own by offering a seamless reservation management system to your customers. Ultimately, customer delight will naturally lead to more business and higher profits for your restaurant brand.
Restaurant diners are diverse in nature. While some are price-conscious, others can be picky about the food for their palette. You spot them daily at your restaurant. While they keep you entertained, you must know how to strategize wins with them! Without further ado, let’s dive into it:
Some commonly found diners fall among one of the below six categories:
1. The Picky Melons
At least once in their lives (majorly downplaying it), everyone has come across people who have weird food preferences. Seriously, who doesn’t like sambar because ‘it has too many flavours’? Trust me, they exist. These people will go to a restaurant and inadvertently either make a new recipe or break the old one. Restaurants that can meet their ideal taste palette are always in the good books of these food critics.
Thankfully, inresto’s POS can collect such diner preferences and make suitable suggestions the next they visit and decide to skip cheese over a pizza.
2. The Coupon Collector
Everyone loves a good discount! While most people dine out to experience good food with good company, there are others who always somehow show up with just the right kind of coupons or discount cards at the right time! They know all about which new restaurant has a promotional discount offer going or which restaurant has combo Fridays for a good weekend binge. These diners are a cherry on top of a yummy cheesecake because they make good food with good company complete with good discounts!
But do you know their secret? Chances are that these diners are a part of many loyalty programs run by restaurants. Companies like inresto help these restaurants create personalised loyalty programs for their diners. This is how they get all the latest discount offers!
3. The Love Birds
Love is an evergreen (and commercially viable 😉 ) emotion. And in the 21st century, people rarely try to hide their giddy smiles and sparkling eyes. Restaurants are their hotspot for dates and PDA.
Some can’t keep their hands off of each other, while others might be there to re-ignite a spark that was fading due to lack of attention or communication. If your restaurant is the place where love blooms, it’s undoubtedly the happiest place we could imagine.
Lovers form an important segment that restaurateurs need to focus on. There are so many that we can write another blog on them, maybe on Valentine’s Day! :p
As a restaurateur, you can keep those lovers coming back for more through inresto Campaign.
4. The Food Blogger
Your restaurant can become a natural habitat for food bloggers if you have invested some thought into the ambience and food plating aesthetics. Food bloggers can become your biggest brand ambassadors.
These are the people who arrive at your restaurant with their posh cameras and aesthetic eye to conduct a professional photoshoot and make people on the internet salivate! These pictures also instigate their followers to visit your restaurant. They can do your restaurant’s marketing well.
As restaurateurs, if you want to target this segment, think Instagram-worthy food and ambiance. If the food is plated well, it will end up on social media, gaining you some significant clout without having to do anything major!
5. The Indecisive Ones
There are people who always get their regular order at your restaurant, there are those who come with a list of recommendations from their friends and know what they want to try next, and then there are those who are simply lost – in your menu. These diners will take an eternity going through the whole menu. It will take them forever to land on something vaguely curious before they’re thrown into the abyss of confusion again.
In such cases, friendly staff is all they are looking for. A staff that is well aware of the restaurant’s flavors and taste platelets it caters to, can recommend some new dishes to these diners and guide their decision-making. It will help your staff build a good customer relationship which helps in converting them into loyal diners. It will also prevent both your staff and your diners from driving themselves crazy, especially if you have an elaborate menu with some fancy cuisines!
6. The ‘I want to speak to the Manager.’
There is always a diner who demands to talk to the manager in case of some minor, unreasonable inconvenience. They will ask you ten thousand questions about your restaurant (sometimes unrelated to food and hygiene) before ordering a lime soda with a crusty cheeseburger with no cheese. Well, some of these are great talkers, and they keep the manager busy. :p
While this is part and parcel of any restaurant business, we look at it as an opportunity to make more friends for the restaurant. The manager can build a great customer relationship with them. This later can be utilised in creating personalised loyalty programs and campaigns.
Also, inresto feedback helps in instant grievance redressal. You can send a free beer or a dessert to their table as a gesture.
Parting Words
These are all types of interesting personalities that keep you entertained and happy. We all missed them, and we know you just couldn’t wait to serve them again. There is no greater feeling than going back to work and Unlocking the restaurant doors.
If you would like to upgrade your restaurant management and accelerate your revenue, we have the tip >>>> #Unlockwithinresto
Data is becoming a very crucial factor for different businesses to analyze their shortcomings and strengths to perform better. So, it’s extremely important in the food industry to have a proper inventory system. This system will not only help in managing different things seamlessly but also in keeping a proper record of food items and other expenses. It can also help in the reduction of costs that helps you to save a lot.
In this article, we are going to look at which is better – An automated Inventory system or a Manual Inventory system. So let us get started by understanding the difference between the two.
Difference Between Automated and Manual Inventory System
The manual inventory system keeps all the data in inventory sheets and manually notes down everything in there. It is an old method and is used by many even now. In the manual inventory system, each record is maintained and updated manually by a person who keeps track of all things which increases the human error frequency. Further, this system is also vulnerable to the loss of valuable data as inventory sheets may get torn down over time or may get replaced or lost.
Whereas, the automated inventory system is a new concept and is managed by Inventory Software. It is relatively fast, more secure, highly efficient, and there are very fewer chances of data loss. More and more people are now using an automated food inventory system for faster and secure data and inventory management.
Why Do You Need to Automate Your Inventory System?
The market out there is becoming more and more competitive. Those who understand the needs of the present and change accordingly are the one who succeeds in the long run. Currently, the world is becoming fast-paced and is highly dependent on technology. Customers require higher efficiency, fast services, and quality products. Those who are in sync with these dynamic circumstances in any industry are the clear winners.
An automated inventory system is a modern solution to the many troublesome issues of the manual inventory system. It is more efficient and easy to manage inventory systems as it comes with automation and helps the management to manage tasks effectively at a much faster speed. Automated inventory systems are the need of the hour.
Anyone who is looking forward to adopting an inventory system or having an old school manual system, this is the reason why you need to automate your inventory system at the earliest. In the next section, we are going to talk about the advantages of the Automated Inventory System.
Advantages of Automated Inventory System
An automated inventory system uses inventory software that helps in tracking inventory from procurement to its utilization. It also helps in bringing different parts of inventory like materials, vendors, recipes, taxes, and other expenditures under a single umbrella, and helps in managing things well. Find the detailed advantages of automated inventory system in detail below: –
1. Better Material and Recipe Management
An automated inventory list keeps all aspects of your restaurant inventory on track. It will help you track and stock all the materials in your inventory accurately and aids in better optimization of available resources while saving any kind of wastage. It will also aid in managing all the recipes that never allow you to run out of materials at any point in time. As a result, you’ll prepare and serve food timely to your customers without worrying about the availability of small materials and items.
2. Tax Management
Automated inventory software keeps track of every penny from what is being bought to what is served at the counter. The chances of any mistake are very less as the software is foolproof and cannot be used inappropriately by anyone. This will help you in the calculation and better management of your taxes and expenses.
3. Better Outlet Management
If you are having a base kitchen or a multiple outlet system, it is very important to track down everything from delivery to the details of the outlet providers. As there are higher chances of mistakes and improper usage of resources by workers while dealing with multiple outlet systems, a better inventory system is a must. Automated inventory software helps in tracking details very efficiently. It manages opening stock, closing stock, and everything in between to avoid any kind of mistake.
4. Efficient Waste Tracking
Reducing your daily wastage is an efficient method to increase your profits and cut down your avoidable expenditures. Automated inventory software will keep real-time track of every item that comes in and is wasted eventually. These statistics at the end of the day may assist you in understanding what items can be reduced in your list to cut down the daily wastage. This can even help you save a lot of money in the long run. The automated inventory system is an amazing tool to track your wastage over time paving way for maximum usage.
5. Food Cost Management
Restaurants, cafes, base kitchens, and other food-serving platforms can maximize their profits to a greater extent by managing their food costs daily. Automated inventory software can help food companies in managing their food costs in the right way. The data stored can help you to adjust your menu as well as help you in understanding the peak hours of purchase adding maximum profit to your business.
Conclusion
As technology is becoming an integral part of different industries, those who can remain in sync with these dynamic changes are the ones who will earn more profit and stand out among others.
Managing data is an essential tool that helps businesses to run efficiently while managing their expenses. That’s why you need to automate your inventory system as it’s the best method to keep a track of all your inventories that ultimately helps you in enhancing your returns. With inresto’s expert restaurant supply chain management tool, you can easily optimize your inventory usage and save a lot of money! So, get in touch with our experts today.
Now that restaurants have started to open their doors for diners, they face a new challenge of keeping up with the new normal. Business strategies and marketing need a spin that taps into the changing customer behaviour and caters to that. Living in the digital age, social media and the web seems to be a fast and effective solution to market any business. We do not deny that fact; instead, we are the advocates of it. With heavy competition and easy access to social media, any business can mark its presence there. But to truly make a mark and get recognized by the right set of audience is a game you need to win and stand out in the crowd of the #Foodgasm gang on the internet.
Let’s understand what marketing strategies a restaurant needs to adopt in the current scenario:
Seems a little bizarre to incentivise such a basic need? Here’s what we are talking about in examples:
You can run a vaccination drive for your staff. Once all your staff is vaccinated, you must inform your customers about the same. You can have T-shirts printed for them which say – Hi! I am vaccinated! Are you?? Or a more cost-effective solution can be displaying the vaccination status of your staff on your website or digital menu. Not sure how? Know more here.
You can run discounts and offers based on the vaccination status of the diners. If the diner is vaccinated, he gets a free beer! How attractive is that?
While you already follow all safety guidelines and take extra care over sanitisation and social distancing, you need to incorporate that in your marketing strategies. Your diners must be aware so that they are able to trust you and visit you with a peaceful mind.
2. Up Your Social Media Game
It appears that the success of businesses like the food business depends a whole lot on social media following and reach. But while you’re showing yourself in the best light, make sure not to come across as tone-deaf and ignore reality. You can position your restaurant as a safe place to come together after the lockdown. It is also a great place for you to stay connected with your diners. Keep them engaged with fun posts and contests.
Spreading foodgasms on Instagram is like Christmas cheer. You can spread that all year long with your yummy food & exciting events.
3. Run a Facebook & Instagram Promotion
If you want to keep the diners coming in, running an ad campaign on Social Media will bring people to your tables who would otherwise never have known about your existence – or had no idea you were operational again.
Running ads is not as simple as just throwing money and seeing results. You have to be a little strategic. Targeting local audiences and retargeting your loyal customers and customers with similar interests is important to get good results. Creating the right kind of content that your target audience finds engaging is another important aspect.
4. Digital Solutions to the Rescue
As safety remains the priority, it is advised that restaurants & hotels run with a 50% diner capacity, and there are limitations on party sizes. Online reservation software like Guest & Reserve is coming to the rescue, helping you organise your restaurant better and manage waitlists.
Many more new technologies have come in and are changing the ways in which people dine. A great example: Food menus that use QR codes and contactless payments.
When it comes to the digital world, having your own website or online ordering platform can market your services well and persuade the customers to directly order from the website to avoid hefty aggregator commissions. An expert Search Engine Optimisation can increase your website’s discoverability on Google.
Tips from a marketer for a great website:
Make sure that your main page says all the essential information e.g. ‘Now Open for dine-in from 12 pm – 9 pm
Add a short description explaining your new offering (new menu, service, discounts, or any add ons)
A link to your online ordering menu
Add your address with a direct link to Google Maps
Make it visually appealing
5. Photoshoots & Listing Banners
The food & beverage industry is one such industry where photography plays a major role when it comes to Advertising and marketing. A tempting food image can lure hundreds of people to buy the product, the same goes for any restaurant. You can get professional photoshoots done for your restaurant to showcase over the web.
Diners use apps like Dineout to check reviews and ratings before deciding a restaurant for dining out. Restaurants get their listing banners on the homepage of the app in order to gain more visibility.
COVID-19 is transforming hospitality as we know it. The new normal has changed customer behaviour. This creates the need to stay flexible and keep adapting.
Innovative technologies and marketing tools will fundamentally help in adapting to the new normal. Click here to learn more about social media marketing, creating your own online ordering platform, or other marketing solutions.
