Improving your hospitality venue’s profits doesn’t just come down to the food and drink you serve: the experience you deliver is just as important.

David Charlton, Commercial Director for Zonal Marketing Technologies looks at the trends for the year ahead.  I am confident that consumers will expect to use their mobile devices to order food and drinks and speed up payment.   The figures say it all.  In under two years the number of consumers who use mobile devices to speed up payment has increased from 2.4 million to 3.1 million [source: GO Technology by Zonal and CGA].

APP TECHNOLOGY

Driving the app revolution is consumer hunger for speed.  Two in five (41%) of GO Technology respondents cite the ability to pay quicker and avoid waiting to settle bills as the main advantage of apps.  Almost as many respondents mention the ability to skip queues.

And this year at Zonal, we have witnessed a 400% increase in enquiries from operators for our Order & Pay app as they recognise mobile ordering is no longer an option but fast becoming a necessity to attract and retain customers.

DELIVERY

I also have no doubt that our appetite for food delivery from our favourite high street food brands will also continue to see rapid growth in 2019, with voice based ordering and food tracking devices taking it to the next level.  Last year, there was a 28% jump in food delivery orders from the previous year and with almost a third of consumers wanting to know the exact delivery time of their meal, this is where I predict GPS tracking technology will be part of the solution.

Furthermore, as the restaurant sector hots up to win the customer pound, they will continue to seek additional ways to optimise sales and food delivery will be high on the to do list.  This is supported by GO Technology, whereby two in five (40%) of consumers believe more restaurants will start to offer delivery direct from their own websites, as they are viewed as the best source of information about delivery.  In In comparison, only 29% predict a growth in third party mobile delivery apps.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

I also expect to see significant growth in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), such as chatbot technology, which has become a staple in our homes thanks to the likes of Alexa, Apple HomePod and Google Home.

In the last 12 months we have been supporting operators to optimise the opportunity of chatbots within channels such as Facebook’s Messenger.  This form of communication is changing the way that bookings and orders are being taken and will become mainstream this year as chatbot technology becomes even more familiar in our everyday lives.

There is no doubt that technology is changing the way we conduct our lives, and the traditional way of doing things has gone out the window, so brands should have a tech strategy for 2019.

With more choice than ever on the high street and online, hospitality businesses are finding it increasingly challenging to attract and retain customers. The home delivery market in particular has grown an astonishing 73% over the last decade, driven by the Netflix generation who want instant access and on-demand service, and is now worth a whopping £4.2 billion.

Advances in technology are providing new ways to address these challenges however, allowing businesses to become smarter and more cost-effective. Here are six ways that technology can help you not only solve customer-facing issues, but also establish an advantage over your less digitally-aware competitors.

1. The booking experience

Flexible working and 24×7 lifestyles means that your customers are no longer bound by the 9-to-5 workday routine. Even the out-of-hours operations of the hospitality industry are insufficient to keep up with consumer demand.

Customers like to book on the go, make a spontaneous reservation while they’re out and about. Crucially, they expect real-time availability to get the assurance of a confirmed booking.

By deploying an online booking system that shows real-time availability, your business can better meet the 24×7 expectations of customers. Any venues that can’t offer a confirmed booking will leave would-be customers disappointed.

There are a number of booking systems available to meet customers’ preferences, such as Bookings by Phone powered by IOVOX and intelligent chatbots. Billed under a flat monthly fee with no commission to pay for each booking you receive, these platforms offer exceptional value for money.

An online booking system also allows your business to begin building a GDPR-compliant customer loyalty database. This information can then be used to better understand clients, and to tailor offers and promotions to their preferences.

2. Pay and go/payment convenience

Time and convenience are powerful motivators for customers. Any business that can create easy time savings is on to a winner, particularly in relation to leisure activities.

Order & Pay gives customers greater control of their own experience. A specialised smartphone app allows customers to order food and drink, and the order is sent direct to the kitchen. The app also allows them to pay for their meal upfront.

Importantly, this entire process is completely frictionless – no more waiting at bars or trying to catch the server’s attention when they want to pay. This convenience is particularly important for busy venues and a range of different customers, such as those who are less mobile and customers with children.

By empowering the customer to take care of the “administrative” tasks, your front-of-house staff are able to devote more time and attention to making their visit more enjoyable and personable. And don’t underestimate your customers’ technical ability – 69% have already placed food orders using mobile devices.

3. Customer spend habits

Understanding client spending habits is crucial to building loyalty. Your EPoS system allows you to review and analyse a customer’s entire purchase history and build up a better understanding of them as an individual.

This profile is invaluable, giving you actionable insights that allow you to better serve each customer. Putting that information to work allows you to create specific, relevant communications and deals that speak directly to the customer’s preferences, helping to tempt them back. For example, if a customer always drinks the same red wine when she’s in your venue but hasn’t visited for over a month, an email offering a free glass of that wine when she next visits is more likely to encourage her to make a booking than a generic ‘10% discount’ email.

Do not underestimate the importance of personalisation either. Seventy-two percent of consumers say they expect companies to understand their unique needs and expectations. What happens if you don’t personalise? 66% say they’re likely to switch brands if they feel they are not being treated as an individual.

4. Giving customers a voice

Data and analytics are incredibly useful for understanding your customers – but there will still be gaps, particularly when you’re dealing with first-time visitors. The best way to capture information about their experience is simply to ask them.

Feed it Back provides a quick and easy way to find out what customers think about their experience in your establishment. Thanks to the system’s integration with EPoS, their feedback is then combined with their order data to give a complete picture of what they ordered and how much they spent.

Feedback is crucial to identifying areas of potential improvement, prioritised by the people who matter the most – your customers. The streamlined survey process takes no more than a few seconds, but it shows that your business really does care about what its customers think – another key in helping to build brand loyalty.

5. Fostering customer loyalty

We’ve touched on it several times already, but building customer loyalty should be the ultimate goal of any technology project. In-venue technology needs to be put to use, rewarding your customers for their loyalty.

Everyone loves a freebie, but those that are tailored to their individual tastes and preferences are without doubt more successful. Your EPoS data allows you to identify their preferred food and drink – so why not offer them a discount on their favourite meal next visit.

Studies show that positive emotions toward a brand have far greater influence on consumer loyalty than trust and other judgments which are based on a brand’s attributes. If you can convince clients to like you, they’re much more likely to come back again.

6. Increasing operational simplicity

Technology has always been intended to simplify routine tasks, and hospitality systems are no different. Order & Pay may help to streamline the purchasing process for your customers, but there are efficiencies for your business too. Applied correctly, technology allows you to do more with fewer resources.

That means independent venues can achieve more and operate like big brands, while multi-venue operators can dedicate more staff to improving the customer experience. In both scenarios, the quality of service provided to customers is the key end result.

It’s not just front-of-house who benefit though. Intelligent technology can sift through the data and feedback collected automatically. Segmentation of marketing campaigns can be automated, allowing your marketing and sales teams to focus on the content of future campaigns; marketing complexity with operational simplicity.

By offering a personalised experience that delights your customers at every step of their journey, you’re sure to be more successful and more profitable. And technology has a key role to play in achieving those goals.

Takeaways

• Ensure customers can make a confirmed booking with real-time availability 24x7x365
• Order & Pay functionality creates a seamless, more convenient experience for customers
• Observing spending habits helps you offer rewards and benefits that match their preferences
• Collecting feedback helps improve your offering – and shows customers you care
• Identifying and more importantly rewarding customer loyalty is crucial to bringing them back
• Streamlining in-store operations allows your team to do more with less

DON’T WORK HARDER: WORK SMARTER

How Jolly Farmers maximised covers AND created an enjoyable working environment at the same time.

With margins tightening and competition fierce, every restaurant and pub is under pressure to get more covers, serve more customers, and make more money. But the risk is that this may translate into more pressure on staff, slipping standards, and increased risk of burnout. However, there is another way. Instead of working harder, hospitality businesses can work smarter. A fully integrated booking and table management system has the power to deliver the Holy Grail for any GM or operations manager: higher yield and less stress.

INTRODUCING JOLLY FARMERS

Jolly Farmers is a busy pub-restaurant with capacity for 160 covers, popular with families and groups, and part of multisite operator McMullen. Over the past five years, General Manager Carolyn Jordan has lived through a change in the way they operate, with her site introducing the Zonal Bookings integrated booking and table management system to replace the old paper diary.

“You will not look back once you get Zonal Bookings. As long as every table’s allocated, you know that you’re going to have a good shift.”

– Carolyn Jordan, General Manager, Jolly Farmers

GO DIGITAL TO BRING ORDER FROM CHAOS

“Before Zonal Bookings, it was just pen and paper and pot luck really. One of the main advantages is the pressure that’s gone off the kitchen – plus we don’t have to worry about people double-booking a table anymore!”

With one unified system recording all bookings centrally, managers can wave goodbye to the chaos of accidental overbooking.

Whether a reservation comes in by telephone, website, email or even carrier pigeon, everything gets logged to the same central system for an accurate real-time view.

Crucially, it also gives you the power to plan, manage and control capacity, rather than simply reacting to demand.

TURN MORE TABLES MORE OFTEN

“If you use the table management system you can turn some tables five times in that day. We only cook till eight but we have turned some of the tables around up to six times.”

With knowledge comes power. Zonal Bookings users can effortlessly map out each table and set booking availability times that maximise its use throughout the session, optimising yield.

They can also collect email addresses from online reservations and send them automated reminders ahead of bookings to reconfirm or cancel, reducing the risk of no-shows.

SAVE PRECIOUS TIME AND LABOUR

“We used to have to put everything on an Excel sheet and then join tables together, doing table plans for the next day, then going back to update after getting more phone bookings. So you’re looking at two hours’ worth of labour at least.”

Using a purpose-built software solution made for the hospitality industry makes table management electronic, efficient and effortless.

RADICALLY BOOST COVERS ON SPECIAL OCCASIONS

“Last Mother’s Day we did 602 covers in total and our capacity is 160. With the old pen and paper system, we had to increase everyone’s turn time to two hours or more. But now we just let the table management system do what it’s supposed to do.”

On those peak seasonal occasions, harness the table management system to better organise table availability and timings, maximising the amount of covers you can serve.

REDUCE PRESSURE ON THE KITCHEN

“If you can make chefs’ lives a little bit easier and still take the same amount of money – actually more – then that’s got to be a bonus. And if they’re under less pressure they’re producing better quality food because they’re not rushing.”

By spreading availability intelligently, venue managers can reduce the high pressure caused by steep peaks in demand and ensure a calmer, better work environment for kitchen staff to produce their best.

MAKE THE TEAM MOTIVATED, EMPOWERED, AND WANT TO STAY!

“All my team – front and back-of-house – came up and thanked me after Mother’s Day, saying: ‘That was a really great shift, I really enjoyed it.’ And that’s on our busiest day of the year!”

Workplace stress is a notorious feature of hospitality businesses, and in a recent survey 64% of workers complained of getting no help from their employers. Giving your staff a positive, lower pressure working environment can only improve satisfaction and retention.

IMPROVE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

“It’s so user-friendly. Even your most junior member of staff can easily find customers a table by just pressing quick add. If it’s really busy you can check the waitlist and tell them exactly how long they have to wait.”

EPoS integration gives you real-time visibility of each table – right down to meal stage. This is hugely empowering for front-of-house staff, allowing them to give customers accurate wait-time estimates and say yes or no to walk-ins with confidence.

The simplicity and intuitiveness of Zonal Bookings software makes it user-friendly for all members of the restaurant team to handle. This improves both the promptness and quality of customer interactions.

“I think I want to push our covers to 650 or 700 next Mother’s Day. That will be achievable, if we really focus on manipulating the bookings. If you can push your bigger bookings then you just make more money quite easily without anyone even having to break a sweat.”

And why wait until Mother’s Day? With the fully integrated Zonal bookings and table management system, GMs and operations managers can deliver more covers in any session on any day of the year.

It’s not about wringing more out of your staff, squeezing in another table and chairs, or cutting corners on quality of service.

Instead, harnessing the power of technology to optimise processes can reduce stress and deliver higher yield, using the covers and staff you’ve already got.