Article

How new technologies transform guest experience

Technology has transformed every part of the guest experience from the way hungry diners select an eatery to the way they order their meals and the way they offer feedback on their experience.

August 21, 2013

By Skip Cass, CEO, LRS

We live in the information age, where technology is transforming industries at the speed of gigabytes per minute. Just as other industries have done before, the food service industry, is now embracing technology and beginning to realize the advantages of putting information to work in an automated and simple to use way. New technologies are transforming fast casual, enhancing the guest experience and creating an exciting future that directly impacts the bottom line.

It's a future where virtually every part of the guest experience has evolved, from the way hungry diners select an eatery to the way they order their meals and the way they offer feedback on the whole experience.

Following are some exciting innovations you should expect to see soon (and some that already are spreading). Each will enhance and improve the dining experience, increasing the likelihood that customers return time and again.

Online order placement

Technology is turbocharging the fast in fast casual. Whether dining in or ordering to-go, customers want the ability to order online and have their food ready when they arrive. Online ordering provides additional benefits, such as the ability to duplicate a customer's past order or suggest complementary items (great for up-selling).

For the restaurant, online ordering creates an easy way to capture customer contact information and foster loyalty with engagement. You can announce new menu items, offer digital discount and solicit feedback.

Customized, dynamic menus

Say goodbye to the static menu board, chalkboard specials and soup of the day inserts. Today's menu board is digital. It can easily be customized by time of day or to feature promotional items or items with excess inventory. You also can remove 86'd items and display specials or items-of-the-day.

Instant feedback

The last thing a restaurant manager wants is to find out about a negative guest experience by reading an excoriating review on Yelp or Facebook. Traditional methods of soliciting guest feedback via comment cards or websites suffer from low response rates and tend to capture the extremes of positive and negative reviews. They also do nothing to help rectify a bad guest experience. By the time you know about the negative feedback, customers are long gone.

Digital survey solutions give customers an easy way to offer feedback before leaving the table. Managers can be immediately notified of negative responses via text alerts, giving them the chance to engage the customer and turn the situation around before it's too late. Management also gets early insights into systematic problem

with operations or specific staff members, allowing issues to be addressed early and accurately. Guests are 10 times more likely to fill out a digital survey on site than they are a traditional print or online survey.

Furthermore, surveys are yet another opportunity to capture customer emails and build loyalty and show gratitude by emailing a digital reward (i.e. discount) to the guest as a thank you for completing the survey.

The Value of data and automation

Today, you're only as smart as your data. Affordable and automated technology is available today that helps manage guest flow, seating configurations, service delivery times and inventory. Data gives restaurateurs the information to make smart reforms. For example, GPS-like technology enables fast casual establishments improve efficiency both short- and long-term by providing information in real time:

1. Where is the guest sitting? (No more wasted time looking for the table tent number.)
2. How long has the guest been waiting for food delivery? (Which order should the kitchen/expediter prioritize?)
3. What tables are the most in-demand? (Does the restaurant need more four-tops and fewer two-tops?)

Quick-service restaurants have been on the forefront of automating inventory tracking, something that is likely to expand into the fast casual arena. By integrating data points (i.e., what a guest ordered with his survey satisfaction score), restaurants will be able to see in real time how their menu items are performing and make adjustments as needed.

Why fast casual should embrace new technology

The restaurant of the future — just as the restaurant of the present — truly revolves around the guest experience. The key difference is the tools now at your disposal to improve that experience in a manner that is neither intrusive to your guest, time-consuming for your staff nor costly to your operations. To this point, all of the benefits described would have relied on manual implementation, which is neither practical nor cost-effective. Today, however, the tables have turned (pardon the pun), and technology becomes an enabler for a range of restaurateurs, regardless of size and level of technical sophistication. For the first time, owners and managers will have the tools they need to both understand and cater to the guest's every need.

Skip Cass is chief executive officer of Long Range Systems (LRS), a global provider of on-site paging, guest management and marketing research/surveying tools.

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Photos: Courtesy of LRS