A View From The Top

McAlister’s president: 'We are winning with digital'

When dining rooms closed down at the onset of COVID-19, lines became too long at McAlister's Deli. President Joe Guith reveals what he did to fix the issue.

McAlister's Deli President Joe Guith, provided

February 17, 2021

By Joe Guith, president of McAlister's Deli

The obstacles that the restaurant industry has faced over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic are unlike anything we've seen in modern times. Brands have had to get creative and off-premise dining has become the norm and critical for any brand to survive the last 10 months.

As a dine-in, lunch-based brand, there were immediate concerns for the McAlister's Deli business, as community connections and top of the line guest service are key brand pillars. To help maintain recommended pandemic protocols and give guests comfort at our locations, we recently introduced tableside ordering. Tableside dine-in ordering allows for less person-to-person interaction, but still gives McAlister's the opportunity to provide the service our guests love with their own personal, digital waiter.

When guests arrive at the restaurant, they simply take a seat at an open table and use their McAlister's Deli app to select tableside ordering. From there, guests can place and pay for their order, and a team member will bring their meal straight to the table. At the time of launch, 85% of diners said they loved the experience and 65 %would return to use tableside dine-in ordering. This launch at 240+ locations marks the third new mode of service (in addition to curbside and McAlister's Delivers) on our mobile app, which is currently seeing participation up seven times from the pre-pandemic usage.

This is how we got here.

Immediate challenges

When our dining rooms closed down at the onset of COVID-19, lines for pickup became long. It made our operators concerned for how their restaurants were going to navigate through the pandemic while adhering to social-distancing protocols to ensure that all guests and staff felt comfortable in the restaurants. The learning experience forced McAlister's Deli to become more convenient and accessible.

We knew that brands who invested in digital were winning, and fortunately, together with our franchisees, we began investing in a new digital and loyalty program in 2019. As a percentage of total sales and largely credited to this investment, digital sales from 1st party and 3rd party channels more than doubled from 2019 to 2020. We knew we were on to something, and we needed to invest to streamline the dining experience.

Making the pivot to digital

When we introduced the new McAlister's Deli app in February 2020, little did we know the platform would set the foundation for our pandemic game plan. Franchisees started to utilize the app by implementing curbside pick-up at their respective locations prior to COVID-19, and then two weeks later, 350+ units adopted it. This quickly became the ultimate hub for guest service.

When looking at additional alternatives to put into action, our goal was to discover a solution that allowed us to maintain the welcoming attention-to-detail that guests seek each time they return to our restaurants. Now, with tableside ordering, all customers need to do is sign up for the McAlister's app and loyalty program to have a full sit-down experience and order and pay from their table via the app. Ultimately, this helps to limit the length of lines and further encourages social distancing.

The app has been able to connect all digital transactions, helping to drive sales during the pandemic. Its success earned a ranking only behind Starbucks, Panera and McDonalds in Incisiv's 2020 Limited Service Restaurant Digital Maturity Benchmark report*.

What's next?

Following the success of our tableside dining soft launch at the end of 2020, we are planning to implement the offering at more of our locations in the coming months. Knowing that the trends and customer habits adopted throughout the pandemic will continue on, our goal is to eventually have all of our nearly 500 units feature tableside ordering as a dining option for guests.

We are anticipating some level of dine-in to return in 2021. and our digital innovation is going to be the bridge to the new normal we can expect in the restaurant industry.