DECEMBER 2013 | VOL.1, ISSUE: 2
IT will tell you about 10 Business Intelligence, and THINGS what you should know PAGE 27
First Look at e*Restaurant’s new mobile app and user interface PAGE 24
Delivery fl eets: on demand, online, off payroll PAGE 16 HOW TECHNOLOGY MOVES YOU AND YOUR CUSTOMER Winning Loyalty
“Universal” loyalty programs like MOGL, Front Flip and Belly make it easy to raise customer frequency and check totals with “Solo” programs discounts, games like Starbucks’ and freebies. Their also replace punch apps introduce cards and paper you (and your local coupons. They competition) to gather marketing new customers. PAGE 8 intelligence, too, while customers see your brand
alone. PAGE 13
The trick to matching off er with customer? Hint: POS Data PAGE 20 Digital Edition Copyright Notice
The content contained in this digital edition (“Digital Material”), as well as its selection and arrangement, is owned by Penton. and its affiliated companies, licensors, and suppliers, and is protected by their respective copyright, trademark and other proprietary rights.
Upon payment of the subscription price, if applicable, you are hereby authorized to view, download, copy, and print Digital Material solely for your own personal, non-commercial use, provided that by doing any of the foregoing, you acknowledge that (i) you do not and will not acquire any ownership rights of any kind in the Digital Material or any portion thereof, (ii) you must preserve all copyright and other proprietary notices included in any downloaded Digital Material, and (iii) you must comply in all respects with the use restrictions set forth below and in the Penton Privacy Policy and the Penton Terms of Use (the “Use Restrictions”), each of which is hereby incorporated by reference. Any use not in accordance with, and any failure to comply fully with, the Use Restrictions is expressly prohibited by law, and may result in severe civil and criminal penalties. Violators will be prosecuted to the maximum possible extent.
You may not modify, publish, license, transmit (including by way of email, facsimile or other electronic means), transfer, sell, reproduce (including by copying or posting on any network computer), create derivative works from, display, store, or in any way exploit, broadcast, disseminate or distribute, in any format or media of any kind, any of the Digital Material, in whole or in part, without the express prior written consent of Penton. To request content for commercial use or Penton’s approval of any other restricted activity described above, please contact the Reprints Department at (877) 652-5295. Without in any way limiting the foregoing, you may not use spiders, robots, data mining techniques or other automated techniques to catalog, download or otherwise reproduce, store or distribute any Digital Material.
NEITHER PENTON NOR ANY THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDER OR THEIR AGENTS SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY ACT, DIRECT OR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR ACCESS TO ANY DIGITAL MATERIAL, AND/OR ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN. All the power of e*Restaurant, now available for carry-out.
Ever since its groundbreaking introduction, e*Restaurant has become the choice of four of America’s top ten restaurant chains, including the #1 operator in the world. And now, with the new e*Restaurant User Interface and Mobile App, managers and end users have seamless anytime/anywhere access to every critical restaurant back office operation. To find out how easy it is to take the most scalable, adaptable, end-to-end restaurant management system into any environment, request a demo today.
do what others dream™ WORKFORCE + INVENTORY + SUPPLY CHAIN + BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
Learn more at 800-676-1281 (Ext. 2) or altametrics.com December 2013 In Th is Issue
8 Cover Story Restaurant Loyalty Programs: Power in Pooling Th ird-party, “universal” loyalty programs make it easy to reward frequent diners with discounts and freebies. Th ey also introduce you—and your local competition—to new customers.
FEATURE DEPARTMENTS 4 16 25 Editor’s Letter Trimming Costs Back of House I knew loyalty programs Delivery Services: Th ird- Write-once, post- were real when I saw a card party services relieve everywhere directory hanging from my own kid’s operators from the hassle listings, food distributors’ keychain. of in-house delivery people loyalty play, socialized and throw in a side of scheduling. 20 marketing. Mining POS Data 6 for Fun, Profi t Front of House 26 and Business Waitlist application 23 Q and A Optimization. marries social media, RFID Then Now Next Are we building loyalty to Between seat- bracelets that keep bar tabs, A look behind, ahead, and restaurant brands, or to customer cheat sheets set in the moment at what we discounts? of-the-pants upon OpenTable. mean by...Word of Mouth. familiarity and hard data analysis 27 lies the potential 13 24 Ten Things for better use of Knowing Your First Look IT will tell you space, staff , time Customer e*Restaurant’s about Business new mobile Intelligence...and and inventory. Solo Loyalty Programs: When you want the app and user what you should loyalty app or card all interface. know. to your own brand.
www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com December 2013 3 Editor’s Letter Surveying the Loyalty Landscape DECEMBER 2013 VOL.1, ISSUE: 2 e chose a hot topic—loy- It’s howl-worthy because the ability alty programs—for the to reach your customers, with offers second issue of Restau- tailored to their preferences, is at the rant Technology Maga- core of the loyalty program proposi- EDITORIAL & ART zine. After all, aren’t loyal, regular custom- tion, as our stories show. Operators who Editorial Director: ers the holy grail of brick-and-mortar, leave all the outbound marketing to Ellen Muraskin storefront businesses like restaurants? the program provider aren’t getting full [email protected] Th eir dependability is what counteracts value out of their investment. Opera- the risk of opening your doors every day tors who use the tools provided with Publisher: to a fi ckle public in an uncertain economy. most of these programs to segment their Restaurant Technology Magazine Now ask a random person of my customers—say, into those who buy boomer generation, as I did, if they par- desserts—and offer foods or events with Creative Director: ticipate in any restaurant loyalty programs. them in mind will fill up more tables Cavedweller Studio Th ey’re likely to say no, even if, like most and sell more desserts. They’ll also per- [email protected] of my friends, they’re current enough to suade more regulars to let their emails Project Manager: carry smart phones. Nor do they think into their primary folders, where they Kelly Lambert much, I’ll bet, about the data being gath- check every day. [email protected] ered on their purchasing habits and how In this issue, we try to survey the that’s being used to market to them. booming loyalty landscape, and even Restaurant Technnology One generation down, it’s another story. take up the underlying debate of Magazine is published by Restaurant Technology On my daughter’s last visit, I noticed a Bel- whether one can or should buy loyalty at Magazine LLC and produced ly loyalty card with its QR code, hanging all (see Q and A, p. 26). As good a way as by Penton Marketing Services from her key ring on the hook. She knows any of dividing the topic, IMHO, is into all about it. She also understands the two broad categories: solo programs (p. trade she’s asked to make in exchange for 13), which show the customer only your those discount or free-food rewards. But if own brand, and pooled programs (see she can get that reward without giving up “Power in Pooling,” p. 8), which offer one her email address, you can bet she’ll keep card or app, one customer ID and one AD INDEX
that address to herself. map with which to find and win rewards IFC Th erein lies one of the challenges of at multiple restaurant brands. E*Restaurant loyalty programs—the overloaded email Since loyalty programs, at the end www.altametrics.com
in-box. Acknowledging the consumer’s of the day, are all about data, we also Page 5 problem, Google recently launched thought to share with you a story on Red Book Connect Google Tabs, a separate Gmail in-box the uses of the data ground out by the http://redbookconnect. com/ that automatically receives all market- POS of just one restaurant property (see ing emails unless said consumer makes “Mining POS Data,” p. 20). This, too, can Page 7 exceptions. Not surprisingly, this raised a work its way into loyalty offers and ROI EMN8 www.emn8.com howl of objections from marketers. tracking. Page 10-11 Altametrics Ellen Muraskint&EJUPSJBM%JSFDUPSt[email protected] www.altametrics.com
BC Hula THROUGHOUT THIS ISSUE, LOOK FOR THIS SIGN TO FIND www.hulapos.com STORIES RELATED TO CUSTOMER LOYALTY PROGRAMS
4 December 2013 www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com !."! 0%+*ċ %),(!ċƫûƫ+. (!ċƫ ( (!ċ
One Source. Proven Solutions.
Join the 1.2 million users and 128,000 independents and multi-unit chains using
our solutions to signifi cantly streamline “ /ƫ ƫ) * #!.Čƫ ƫ (3 5/ƫ%) #%*! ƫ.1**%*#ƫ0$!ƫ,!."! 0ƫ/$%"0ċƫ their operations and engage with their %.%*#Čƫ0. %*%*#ƫ * ƫ.!0 %*%*#ƫ#.! 0ƫ0! )ƫ)!) !./ƫ3!.!ƫ0$!ƫ
staff through online, mobile and social tools. '!5/ƫ0+ƫ .! 0%*#ƫ)!)+. (!ƫ#1!/0ƫ!4,!.%!* !/ƫ * ƫ#.+3%*#ƫ .!2!*1!ċƫ * #%*#ƫ!4,!*/!/ƫģƫ( +.ƫ * ƫ"++ ƫ +/0/ƫģƫ3!.!ƫ đƫ %.%*#Čƫ. %*%*#Čƫ $! 1(%*# essential to pleasing my boss and advancing my career. đƫ ! (ġ0%)!ƫ0 ûƫƫ+))1*% 0%+* +3ƫ 0ƫ! ƫ++'ƫ+**! 0Čƫ3!ƫ,.+2% !ƫ ((ƫ0$!ƫ0++(/ƫ5+1ƫ*!! ƫ đƫ $%"0ƫ+0!/ƫĒƫ /'ƫ+ 1)!*0 0%+* 0+ƫ $%!2!ƫ0$!ƫ,!."! 0ƫ/$%"0ċ” đƫ +.ƫĒƫ *2!*0+.5ƫ * #!)!*0 đƫ +.! /0%*#Čƫ* (5/%/ƫĒƫ!,+.0%*# David Cantu, Chief Customer Offi cer Red Book Connect
.! ++' +**! 0ċ +) !0ƫ/0 .0! ƫ*+3ċƫƫ ((ƫĉĆĆċĈĂĂċąąĊć
1**%*#ƫ ƫ.!/0 1. *0ƫ&1/0ƫ#+0ƫ! /%!.ċ
/0ƫ /1 ( 1% 'ƫ!.2% ! 1((ƫ!.2% !
ĀĀĀĈ Front of House By Ellen Muraskin
Waitlist Notifi cation, Appifi ed
We’ve seen several waitlist management apps that replace vibrating buzzers with text messages. What we haven’t seen yet is BuzzTable (www.buzztable.com), which has taken that system several big steps further in 2013, out into mobile mar- keting and loyalty territory. BuzzTable now consists of down- loadable consumer app, web-based host application and web-based control dashboard. You can get your customers started by texting them a link to the smart phone download. Patrons Pour, Their screen shot: BuzzTable Bracelets Keep Tab
Th e iPourIt (www.ipouritinc.com) device frees up your bartender to mix drinks while Joe and Jill Average Cus- tomer pour their own beers. What??? Well, fi rst you give them a special bracelet: one with an RFID chip that’s read by a beer tap add-on before the beverage fl ows. Th e system Customers no longer only get SMS messages when their measures each wearer’s consumption down to the tenth of tables are ready: they can see where they are in queue, an ounce, and runs a tab that he or she pays off at the end. and drop out if they’d rather not wait. They can also see the Limits can be set for each bracelet and, of course, they can 47% menu and photos of trending dishes, getting them to the be deactivated as well.
table more ready to order. They can dial out from the app to Th e system consists of a management workstation, In 2012, coordinate with friends. They can receive loyalty rewards. meter, valve, iPourIt board, RFID wristbands and RFID
The host sees the status of everyone in line, and can build readers, and it’s gotten fancier since introduced in April. 47% of Americans’ food dollar that coveted email list of customers and their birthdays and Now it accumulates customers’ consumption histories favorite dishes for subsequent promotions or requests for (good for loyalty programs), tracks inventory and talks to Yelp reviews. The operator dashboard shows higher-level social media so you can Facebook post or tweet when you analytics, over time. announce what brews are coming up next.
Customer Intel, from the POS and injects it right into the by staff. And since it’s software as a
Embedded general manager’s reservation report, service, Venga can share the data across was spen so that sommeliers, for example, can tell all locations of a chain. screen Lots of loyalty and marketing programs the $100-dollar-a-bottle from the shot:
Venga t tell you what specifi c customers spend at six-bucks-a-glass wine buyers in restaurants your restaurant, on which menu items and before they decide which tables to how often. But they typically do it through approach, and know the right price a separate piece of hardware and sepa- range in which to make sugges- rate software. Venga (www.getvenga.com) tions. Hostesses can “remember” (Source: National Restaurant Association) is pushing that information out to where patrons’ favorite tables. Any server maitre d’s and servers are already looking: can know that diner’s favorite dish- in Open Table, the wildly popular reserva- es or varietals from the cheat sheet tion and guest management system used data that Venga inserts among by restaurants and consumers. the reservation fi elds. Venga also Venga extracts customer historical data stores and displays notes entered
6 December 2013 www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com [email protected]
©2013 Tillster, Inc. 8 Restaurant Loyalty Programs Power in Pooling
By Ellen Muraskin
If you read the trade press or just eat out, you may have noticed that it’s now raining loyalty programs. A shakeout is inevitable, but to help you place your bets, here’s a quick tour.
irst, three scenes from the loyalty frontier, “pooled” division: i.e., single programs that promote multiple restaurant brands, even if each brand keeps its own measures and rewards of loyalty.
MOGL Harry owns three burrito QSRs in the suburbs of San Diego. At checkout, his cashier invites customers to register with the MOGL (www.mogl.com) loyalty program simply by swiping their credit card and registering their email addresses. From that moment on, Harry can view their spending habits and history with him on his MOGL dashboard—average check, total spend, if they’re new, when they came and how often. From the credit card registration, he also can tell how far away they live. When Sally, who’s enrolled, pays for Harry’s burrito with her credit card, MOGL credits her account 10 percent cash back—an amount she’ll see on her monthly statement. Sally also knows she’s helped feed the hungry, since MOGL donates one meal
9 Restaurant Loyalty Programs: Power in Pooling
ago, and has already switched his gender, birthday (you can lie—I loyalty program from the fran- checked) and ZIP code in addition chise’s own scannable card to Belly to email address and credit card. (https://bellycard.com/), another When customer Gary presents the “universal” loyalty program whose QR code in his phone app to the scan- members can use the Belly key ring ner, he’s also paying. Since Sylvia’s card or the Belly smart phone app, POS has LevelUp integration built in available for iPhone or Android. at the payment level (LevelUp says Payment isn’t part of this program, that 90 percent of food service POS but email promotion and (limited) systems do), it automatically takes data are. Jon can tell when customers off the 5 or 10 percent discount and come by and who redeems his points, registers the transaction like any other but not how much they spend. credit card payment. It also shows Customer Elaine downloads the Sylvia what Gary has spent over time, Belly app, since she’s tired of rifl ing and when. Is he a lunchtime custom- through her wallet for the right piece er? She can send him (and, of course, of plastic every time she buys lunch. everyone like him) an off er for ten Th e fi rst time she scans her QR code dollars off dinner on slow nights. into the Belly tablet sitting in front of If Sylvia wants to send Gary (and Jon’s POS, she comes home to a new everyone else) an automated birth- Pooled loyalty programs like MOGL show welcome email. Th e “from” fi eld says day reward, that’s a canned, ongoing your restaurant on the map with other local participating properties. Th e good Belly but the subject line says: “A Spe- promotion that comes with her starter news: You have more chances to pop up cial Message from CRISP: We Liked package. A few clicks to decide the on people’s smart phone screens. Th e bad: So do all the other MOGLing restaurants Seeing Your Face!” It gives her the amount and she’s off . Other pre-built in the area. Th ose with highest discount fi rst fi ve points toward a reward that campaigns: straight 10 percent off ; percentages appear on top. If the discount is the same, ranking is based on the user’s can be anything that Jon dreams up win-backs and welcome fi rst-timer. food-type preference and distance. and wants to give away—free fries, a Of course, with all the data coming drink, a t-shirt or (for 300 points) free in from customers on one end and through Feeding America for meals for a week. For an immediate the Internet on the other, you can every $20 members spend. extra fi ve points, she merely has to hit get amazingly (if not to say scarily) MOGL emails members with the Facebook “like” button. creative. hunger-fi ghting progress reports Jon also can slice and dice his For example: Sylvia knows that her for specifi c areas and special customer list to send targeted pro- younger customers’ online hangout “double meal month” promo- motions to those who, for example, du jour is now the photo-based social tions. Finally, Sally knows she might not have come by in the past media site Instagram as much as has entered to win a monthly month. Or he can off er “Belly Bite” Facebook. She can launch an email cash jackpot; the three high- free-sample off ers to all local mem- promotion to customers aged 13-30 est spenders at that restaurant bers who’ve yet to belly up to CRISP. that rewards them for taking photos share one percent of the MOGL- of their sushi meal and posting them linked proceeds. LEVELUP there. By specifying the hashtag to In fact, Sally’s elected to be Using the web-based opera- append to the photo and knowing notifi ed via smart phone if tor dashboard of her LevelUp the Instagram ID of the customer, someone pulls ahead of her (www.thelevelup.com) loyalty LevelUp can verify that the post has in the race to the jackpot—in program, Sylvia of Sylvia’s three- been made. enough time to get back to store Sushi Palace chain can launch Another example: You know how Harry’s burrito place and canned email promotions that are Facebook alerts you and all your spend some more. An online completely automated or custom- second cousin’s friends when she dashboard shows customers ized. LevelUp member customers achieves a new level of Candy Crush their rankings. all use LevelUp smart phone apps; Saga? Well, if members likewise agree they’ve signed up online (An- to link LevelUp with their Facebook BELLY droid or iPhone) and handed over accounts, LevelUp can tell all their Jon opened a new CRISP falafel quick-serve in north- ern New Jersey just months Instagram averages 55 million new photos per day (Source: Instagram, September 2013)
10 December 2013 www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com screen shot: LevelUp
STATISTICS ON reward-granting ability to ADOPTION credit cards. Th ese three scenes—two Everyone still carries fi ctional but illustrative, one credit cards, and they need actual—demonstrate the only enroll them in a loyalty loyalty programs that are program for the payment possible when the Internet network to start exchanging is everywhere, smart phones data with it. can report on their own- Th at’s how it works. But is it ers’ restaurant-spending working? habits wherever they go, and A recent loyalty survey by LevelUp’s card-linked loyalty program comes with a in the opposite direction, foodservice market research selection of pre-made email promotions, like those for birthdays and we-miss-you winbacks. deliver off ers from restaurant fi rm Technomic found that 58 to prospect. For the shrink- percent of queried consumers friends, by posting to their Face- ing percentage of folks without say they’re “very likely” to base book pages, whenever they redeem smart phones, platforms such as their decision of where to dine rewards at Sushi Palace. With a link, Cardspring, running under MOGL on whether they have a mem- of course, to enroll and do the same. and other loyalty programs, attach bership with that brand. Th is is viral marketing, automated. the same mobile data-gathering and Surprisingly, that likelihood
CASE STUDY: ONE CALIF. QSR PLAYS LOYALTY TWO WAYS
Jason Schwetz owns Señor Grandes, a Mexican QSR in Thou- Front Flip’s downside? Lack of sand Oaks, Calif., and participates in two loyalty programs, critical mass, says Schwetz. To MOGL (www.mogl.com) and Front Flip (www.frontfl ip.com). He date, Front Flip has very few par- says that after 10 months with MOGL, he has seen his average ticipating businesses or custom- check go from $9.25 to $11.13 with MOGL partici- ers in the Los Angeles area. But time will tell. pating customers. His analytics further report an His Front Flip customers make 4.89 visits per average MOGLer frequency of 3.5 visits per month. month, one percent higher than average. Aver- A good rewards program also turneth away wrath. age number of days between visits is 5.49—1.22 “Let’s say you have an unhappy customer. We can fewer than previously. Front Flip offer him 10 percent through MOGL that he can use customers show up in analytics even over and over. They’re as happy as can be.” if they scan and run; MOGL customers Schwetz says that MOGL and Front Flip don’t only show up if they buy something. compete—exactly. For a monthly fee, Front Flip But will people try to game the system appeals to game players with a phone-based by scanning and running? “I set the scratch-off discount. Customers sign up, come in, odds,” says Schwetz. The odds for get scanned and “scratch” a “label” off their app those who don’t buy are much lower. screen that reveals the reward. Operators can set their own offers. Schwetz fi nds Front Flip’s analyt- SEO ics better, and the offers more automated. Looking Schwetz points out that with their associated at his dashboard, he can tell that a named person listings/maps/directories, loyalty programs are (male, 32) came in whose phone is registered 23.3 miles away. also search engine optimization (SEO) tools. This is simply This person scanned his phone and won a free small coffee. because the Yelps, Four Squares, LevelUps and MOGLs so “From where their credit card is registered, I know how far dominate rankings in search. “Search for Mexican restaurants they travel,” says Schwetz. That knowledge can isolate the in Thousand Oaks, Calif.,” he instructs. His is the fi rst restau- segment for an email campaign that invites a lunchtime crowd rant name to appear by itself, but only after he is listed on nine to come in for dinner. “I can set Front Flip to send this guy a or 10 directory sites. And with everything moving to mobile, free coffee every time he hasn’t come in two weeks. I can send he says, you’d better come up on a fi rst page or your loyalty something every holiday.” programs won’t matter.
www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com December 2013 11 Restaurant Loyalty Programs: Power in Pooling 82% of consumers say discounts and % coupons motivate 82 them to join loyalty scales up with income. Unsur- branded] cards will likely become programs. (Source: Technomic, prisingly, it also scales up with obsolete in the coming years.” 2013 Loyalty Report) youth and mobile fi repower. Four out of fi ve participants COSTS on MOGL (see sidebar, p. 11), he’s who have smart phones use Costs for participation in these seen his average check go from $9.25 them to communicate or gain programs run the gamut. At the low to $11.13 with participating con- info about their programs, two end, Belly off ers straightforward sumers. “It sure beats a two-for-one out of fi ve of these on a daily fl at-fee pricing from $79 to $149 a coupon,” he says. “And it costs a lot basis. One in fi ve says they use month that varies with the number more than 15 percent of nine dollars their smart phones every two of cards, number of email market- to get a new customer.” to three days to connect to their ing campaigns, level of support, LevelUp, with more than 1 million favorite restaurants. Th e data access to customer emails and signups and 5,000 business partici- suggests that for most QSRs, at web/social media integration. Th e pants, charges 25 percent of the off er least, the question is no longer Belly scanner/kiosk is included—a discount and a 2 percent processing whether to adopt a loyalty pro- Nexus tablet at the low end and an fee, replacing (and reducing) the gram, but how to fi nd the best iPad mini otherwise. At the end of merchant’s separate direct payment one for a particular business. August, the GigaOm site reported to processors. LevelUp Market- ing Manager Matt Kiernan says his An email promotion can reward, clients experience a pretty consistent 7-percent lift in transaction dollar say, teen and twenty-something volume. Dashboards display ROI.
diners for posting pictures of SOLO VS. POOLED PROGRAMS their meals on Instagram. Some operators (see Q and A with Mitesh Gala, p. 26) object to sharing a “Millennial consumers are the that Belly had about 2 million loyalty program and a Google pushpin map generation that is using mobile card members, increasing by 4,000 with other participating restaurants apps with the highest frequency,” to 6,000 members daily; participat- that may be competing for the same says Darren Tristano, executive ing businesses numbered 6,500. trade. (For these owners, LevelUp vice president at Technomic. “I MOGL’s take is 15 percent of the off ers a “White label” smart phone expect cash back is highest with check. Of this, 11 percent goes back app that comes with all the program’s the millennial generation and to customers for the discount and multi-brand capabilities, but shows frequency rewards are more ap- jackpot prize, .75 percent goes to the customer a single brand.) How- pealing to GenX and Boomers.” Feeding America, some unspecifi ed ever, others see advantages to pooled Th e majority of those sur- amount to the Cardspring and TSYS or “universal” loyalty programs: Like veyed would be more likely to services linking credit cards to the Yelp or other directories (develop- sign up if rewards were “eff ort- program, and 2.5 percent in profi t. ing their own loyalty programs, btw), less,” requiring no coupons to In addition, operators must pay their “MOGL is also a discovery tool,” says be printed, for example. Th at’s credit card processing fees. Federer. “If you’re new in a neighbor- a case for mobile applica- Jeff Federer, CMO at MOGL, says hood and you’re not familiar with the tions. Tristano: “Mobile apps that MOGLers spend 70.5 percent local restaurants, you can open your are continuing to increase in more in a given month. “Th ey order MOGL app and see what’s there.” popularity, based on the cost the Patrone Silver in their margarita And fi nally, for the time-starved, opportunity (lower today) due instead of the Cuervo, since they small-chain restaurateur, “better to the competitiveness of the know they’re getting 10 percent a ready-made multiple-restaurant market for programs. Mobile back,” he says. About 2,000 restau- program than no program at all,” says apps also are easier to track, rants currently participate, clustered Tristano. While noting that it’s still implement and data mine on the west coast; new businesses early in the game—“Especially among results. Although scan cards have just joined in Nevada and Ari- independents, more operators are are still popular, there is only zona, and they’re hoping to enter 20 looking to leverage outside services so much room on a key ring/ more U.S. markets by EOY 2014. to manage and administer programs. wallet to store them. With Jason Schwetz, owner of Señor More customers are interested in mobile devices becoming Grandes, a Mexican QSR in Th ousand these programs, so more operators the ‘new wallet,’ [restaurant Oaks, Calif., says that after 10 months will join in over the near-term.”
12 December 2013 www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com By David Strom Knowing Your Customer Solo Loyalty Whether based on dedicated cards or Programs: mobile apps, single- brand programs appeal to those who don’t want Showing the their pushpin to share the map with those of Customer possible competitors.
shley Ceraolo, vice Your Brand president of market- ing for California Pizza Kitchen, ran Alone with a pooled loyalty program at another chain before she worked at CPK, and found that “we got lost with all the other brands that were part of the pool. We wanted to have a more one-stop- shopping approach with our own app.” CPK launched their dedicated smart phone app this past April. Th at disinclination to share the limelight is one of the big reasons restaurant marketers opt for solo loyalty programs. One-brand programs are also where the loyalty reward idea began, back in the days of punch cards. But unless you’re a local mom-and-pop, the ones adopted today have advanced far beyond the punch-card stage. Reason: “You can’t collect a lot of usage data with paper cards,” says Victor Lang, vice president for enterprise systems at Smart- bridge (www.smartbridge.com), a restaurant consultancy. Data, as much as luring in new custom- ers, is what loyalty programs are all about.
www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com December 2013 13 Knowing Your Customer
In data lies a restaurant’s potential card data to understand the impact their data.” POSiq gets installed on for optimizing marketing eff orts: of our app, and have seen check clients’ POSes and shares informa- Th ink of something as simple as mak- spending increases as well as higher tion with administrators via cloud. ing sure your Valentine’s Day dinner visit frequency for loyalty program POSiq can do deep dives into off ers get emailed to your biggest members.” CPK also uses check-level customer analytics (see fi gure)—both wine spenders fi rst. It takes this kind details to keep track of win-back to craft crafty off ers and to verify that of data—buying history plus iden- rates and performance of particular rewards programs are achieving ROI. tity—to fi ll tables with your property’s promotions. “We can send specifi c Th ey can use any kind of physical best shot at a stellar February. messages to certain customers based card or app to identify customers, Tying customer identity to buying on their prior purchase behavior to but they most often rely on phone history requires tagging transactions increase response rates.” Now they numbers. Th ey primarily recommend with any constant identifi er, whether are looking at participating in Google advertising campaigns that feature scannable or mag-stripe card, phone Wallet and Amex, primarily for the specifi c key words to be texted into number or smart phone app, at payment options. the system, both to capture customer time of purchase or order. Getting phone numbers and send back text- the address part is accomplished KEEPING CUSTOMER based off ers. But POSiq can start through registration, at sign-up. And DATA INHOUSE building profi les even before custom- one basic decision operators need to Stefano Scalia, marketing vice presi- ers register (they won’t say how). make, among others, is whether to dent at POS CRM software company Once customers do sign up, POSiq join a pre-existing, multi-brand loy- POSiq (http://posiq.net/), also makes can link up past transactions, and alty program (see “Pooled Programs” the case for going solo. “Th e big guys compare spend—factoring in loyalty accompanying article, p. 8), or go it know that their most valuable asset discounts—before and after. alone with a card or app that only is customer data,” he says. “In the Scalia also wants to make a dis- shows their brand. olden days, for fi ne dining especially, tinction between “POS integration,” “Our app is the basis for all of our it was the black reservation book. If claimed by some loyalty programs, company-wide marketing eff orts, they were to deploy these user-driven and what POSiq does: including loyalty rewards,” says programs, they’d be giving that away. “‘True integration’ means not only Ceraolo. “We began analyzing credit When a restaurant deploys POSiq, it’s do we have full visibility into the ticket (what you bought, when, at what terminal, at what table you were sitting, who your server was, how long your orders were open...etc.),” screen shot: he says, “but we can on-the-fl y ma- POSiq nipulate that ticket and apply—and enforce—off ers. “As an example: A typical loyalty program off er might be 10 percent off your order. A POSiq-based off er can be, ‘Buy One Bud Light Platinum, Get the 2nd Half-Off ! Valid only Monday through Wednesday, three PM to seven PM.’ “Our POS integration checks the ticket for valid items (Bud light plati- num, at least two), checks that it’s Monday through Wednesday, and the appropriate time (3 to 7 p.m.). And only then applies the off er. Automati- cally.” Th e other side of this coin is automated “enforcement.” Here, humans can’t stretch the discount POSiq’s CRM system includes very sophisticated analytics to help measure the eff ect of rules for friends. loyalty programs. “Crossings” are the number of loyal guests who have met or exceeded their points requirements. “Tickets” displays the actual lift per check. Th e numbers also show that Adam Brotman is chief digital offi - members of the loyalty program spend 44 percent more on average than non-members. cer at Starbucks (see sidebar), whose
14 December 2013 www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com WHAT’S IN AN APP? The king of apps has to be stored-value gift card has morphed programs. “You have to fi nd the right Starbucks’, in use for four into a customer-registered, recharge- way to implement it and make it years now. Starbucks’ app able loyalty card, and whose mobile unique to your brand,” he says, sug- has tiered reward levels, app now accounts for 10 percent of gesting that a restaurant should start store locators, versions all Starbucks transactions. “Our pro- small, with a few features. “Th is can for both Web and mobile gram is more of a customer engage- take six to eight weeks to get going phones, and an integrated ment mechanism for us—both for and about $50,000 in overall invest- payment function. The existing and new customers. Th e app ment to build your fi rst app. Later on, app’s stored payments are is at the heart of everything we do, your can make incremental invest- accepted at more than 80 and all our other [digital] programs ments and add new features, such as percent of the chain’s U.S. are interconnected,” he says. geofencing or location-based off ers, locations. It also offers and you can turn these updates into weekly downloads of free MOVING FROM CARDS additional marketing opportunities music tracks, and an inbox TO APPS to encourage new people to come that contains messages to As smart phones continue to prolifer- and try your app.” individual consumers, notify- ate, operators are increasingly replac- Promotion is also critical. “You ing them of new features and ing or augmenting their card-based can’t just expect your customers to promotions. programs with smart phone versions, sign up for your loyalty program,” says Nor are they sitting still even if it’s only to scan the phone’s Bob Schellenbach at Retail Control in Seattle: “We have a big screen with the customer identifi er. Solutions (http://www.rcs-usa.com/), pipeline of innovations,” Besides, there’s just so much room in another restaurant consultancy. “You says Adam Brotman, chief consumers’ wallets and on key rings. need to make sure your customers digital offi cer. “You will see Lang discourages operators from know about it through signage and new features and design rushing to launch “me-too” loyalty training your employees.” improvements such as digital Lang also suggests that a restau- tipping, the ability to save rant needs to bring all the various your favorite order and better Solo-brand loyalty program participating brands with the most members: stakeholder groups to the table when visual cues to make it easier designing their loyalty programs. “It to use.” Starbucks claims My Subway, is a reciprocal, customer-to-brand that the program is growing followed by relationship, not just a one-way ef- rapidly, with 10 percent of Panera, fort to retain customers. It is a better all of their store transactions Applebee’s and way to understand and engage the now happening with their Papa John’s. customer, and respond to customer mobile payment app. (Source: Technomic, 2012 study) demand.”
www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com December 2013 15 Trimming Costs By Jennifer Zaino Delivery Services
A combination of online ordering portals, GPS location, field service apps and smart phone- packing drivers—most of them independent contractors—take the hassle of in-house delivery off the shoulders of restaurant operators. These ordering and delivery startups throw in a hefty side of marketing, too.
p until earlier this year, customers who wanted (www.grubhub.com), that don’t support delivery options. to eat their fatush salad from Oren’s Hummus Another is Foodie Call (https://makeafoodiecall.com), oper- Shop in front of their TV, rather than in the ating in the Charlotte, N.C., area and offering both delivery 50-seat Palo Alto, Calif., restaurant, were left and takeout order support. DiningIn (www.diningin.com) to their own devices to get the cuisine to the couch. Today, offers services in five cities that lack strong delivery networks, takeaway diners—consuming 35 percent of the eatery’s including Dallas and Philadelphia. It currently uses full- meals—can have their orders brought to them, thanks to time drivers, but finds the independent contractor idea “an Oren’s signing up with DoorDash, a startup online ordering interesting model to explore,” according to Michael Hackel, and delivery service. DiningIn founder and CEO. “We’re now pushing about $4,000 a week with them,” says Like DoorDash, these services work on the percent- Oren’s Hummus partner Mistie Cohen. With DoorDash age commission model for each order. “If no orders come (www.doordash.com), Oren’s can avoid the costs, manage- through, the restaurants don’t pay anything,” says Sherry ment and scheduling hassles of handling delivery on its own. Nep, owner of Bring It To Me. “There are a lot of different components to hiring a delivery guy, from paying minimum wage to worker’s compensation THE MOBILE CONNECTION and vehicle insurance, and it’s inconsistent on the clock, Thanks to the rise of mobile computing, it’s becoming more since you could be waiting to get a delivery order for some efficient to coordinate dispatch and delivery among multiple time,” she says. Also factor in such associated accessories as drivers as well. A central dispatch system typically records hot bags and coolers. orders and supports their assignment to drivers, who can “The spikey delivery demand for a single restaurant is very pick them up via emails, text messages or even smart phone difficult to solve, and maybe the solution is to come up with a apps and who can provide real-time confirmations in return. shared resource of drivers to smooth that out,” says Tony Xu, one of the founding members of DoorDash. In addition to helping its customers with up-and-down delivery demands, the service cuts down on fixed costs by using a mobile, on- demand workforce of independent contract drivers respon- sible for their own vehicles, gas and other expenses. That’s a common approach for these services when independent contractor workers are involved, as is paying drivers with the delivery service charges and letting them keep the tips. “Restaurant owners pay us a percentage on orders we bring them,” says Xu. “Customers (diners) pay us a flat $6 de- livery fee for orders under $100 and $12 for orders over $100.” Bring It To Me LLC (www.bringittome.com), based in San Diego, also relies on contract drivers working their own
time and schedules. This service generates leads through Bring It To Me LLC (www.bringittome.com), based in San Diego, its own site and online ordering services, such as GrubHub uses this app to find the best-located driver for each of its deliveries.
16 December 2013 www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com On Demand says that in the last 12 months DiningIn has seen the tablet option rise in popularity. Foodie Call sees tablets gaining some traction in another Online respect, as the device by which restaurants pick up their emails of incoming orders. But, says Mehra, “One better step On Call up would be to integrate orders into the restaurant’s POS system. As of now, though, no software can do that.” Off Payroll With DoorDash, the iPad app it offers to restaurants provides a way to compare the feedback on orders from customers and drivers (who submit it via the company’s driver app) to the original requests. “Our customers write in detailed feedback, especially if things go wrong, and our customer service team checks the feedback against our dispatch system,” says Xu. “This feedback is relayed back to the merchant, who uses the iPad app to compare the feedback to the orders.” Its driver app also is updated to inform all its drivers about repeated pat- terns that DoorDash discovers—for example, that a certain In some cases, those drivers are tracked via GPS technology, restaurant typically forgets to package bread with a salad—so activated on their smart phones; in others, driver locations that they know what to double-check at each merchant. are estimated by software, using information communicated about their most recent restaurant pickup and customer MAKING THE RESTAURANT LOOK GOOD delivery sites. Indeed, one of the most important things to restaurants, as At Foodie Call, for example, drivers alerted to an order by Cohen explains, is that the service “represents us as we would text, email or smart phone app can use email or the com- represent ourselves.” Helping a merchant get orders right and pany’s smart phone app itself to confirm their receipt of the delivered to customers quickly are big pieces of that puzzle, message, their arrival at the restaurant, their en route status but so is helping a restaurant represent itself in a positive light and the delivery itself, President Anu Mehra says. Customers to more and more potential customers. Companies such as can sign up for email or text status updates on the deliverer’s DoorDash, Foodie Call, DiningIn and Bring It To Me, in fact, general location. consider themselves to be a lead generator for their restau- A service that shares near-real-time status on multiple rant customers as much as a delivery service. drivers is a real boon to the smaller res- taurant community. Foodie Call aims to have about 50 drivers in its retinue, says Companies such as DoorDash and Bring It To Mehra, noting that “no single restaurant Me consider themselves lead generators for their could get close to that many.” DiningIn has 50 to 100 drivers, depending on restaurant customers as much as delivery services. the community, working nightly. “We are monitoring driver progress to the route we have given Their complementary marketing services range from leav- them,” says Hackel, leveraging the smart phone app it gives ing menu guides, publishing newsletters, magazines, blogs drivers and GPS technology. “We have a suggested time of and social media that highlight restaurant clients to print delivery and we keep a tight handle on where they are with ads and Google AdWords. The delivery companies generally respect to what we quoted.” DoorDash currently employs a do the job of inputting a restaurant’s menu content into the total of 29 contract drivers, and the GPS data coming from delivery service’s own website and online ordering engine. the smart phone app it gives to them “makes it easy for our “We literally do everything except cook the food for them,” customer service team to understand exactly where the says Mehra. order is,” says Xu. Katherine Park, whose family owns the sushi restaurant While most services in this vein can deliver incoming or- Zen5 in San Diego, says the extra advertising power that ders to the restaurant by fax, phone or email, both DiningIn Bring It To Me offers to the relationship is real. “In our and DoorDash also offer an app that runs on a tablet. Heckel location, there’s more of a younger crowd and they tend to use delivery services a lot more,” she says. “So this has worked out great. We are reaching a new customer base Americans spent about $14 billion on delivered because we are just a small restaurant and don’t have a big meals in 2012. (Source: NPD Group/Crest) budget for marketing.”
www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com December 2013 17 EVERYTHING WORKS BETTER WHEN EVERYTHING WORKS TOGETHER.
SmartClock™ The stabilizing force for every restaurant operation, e*SmartClock gives you real-time control of overtime costs and labor law violations with proactive advance notice that solves potential problems before they happen.
The industry’s leading-edge web-based, end-to-end enterprise solution drives the entire ecosystem of Altametrics products, assuring that everything works better together while delivering savings of 5% in food and 3% in labor costs.
From the front of the house to the back and beyond, Altametrics family of products goes further for unprecedented cost savings and efficiencies. Now, with the groundbreaking e*Restaurant Mobile App, managers and end users have anytime/anywhere High performance Hula POS software lets your operation fly free with every wanted feature, no pricey add-ons, and simple expansion with affordable, enterprise-level apps available through the cloud.
The all-in-one OrderBee online solution is just the ticket to send sales climbing upward by tapping into the growing demand for online ordering with one simple and comprehensive web-based application.
Xformity’s advanced data intelligence anticipates what’s ahead and allows for quick reaction to lift your operation above unforeseen challenges and reach 2% per unit profit improvement.
access to every critical restaurant operation imaginable. To find out how you can get it all together with the most scalable, Altametrics affordable and easy-to-use restaurant management systems do what others dream™ available, request a personal demo today at altametrics.com. Raising Revenue By Pam Baker
010010011001011100101100101101100111010101101001001001110011001110100110101 101100101101100111010101101001001001110011001110100110100001111101010101010 01101001001001110011001110100110010101010100100110110010101001100101100110 10100100100111001100111010011010000111110101010101001001101100101010011001 01110010110010110110011101010110100100100111001100111010011010101010101001 001001001110011001110100110100001111101010101010010011011001010100110010110 001001100101110010110010110110011101010110100100100111001100111010011010000 100101110010110010110110011101010110100100100111001100111010011010000111101 100101101100111010101101001001001110011001110100110100001111101010101010010 11101010110100100100111001100111010011010000110101010100100110110010101001 0011101010110100100100111001100111010010101001001101100101010011001011001 Mining POS 1 101110010110010110110011101010110100100100111001100111010011010000111110101 0010011100110011101001101000011111011010110101001010101010101011011010110101 01001001100101110010110010110110011101010110100100100111001100111010011010 01110010110010110110011101010110100100100111001100111010011010000 (for Fun, Profi t1111101010 and 01001001100101001111000101001001001101110011001100100010101001100100110110 01001110011001110100110100001111101010101010010011011001010100110010110011 100111010101101001001001110011001110100110100101010101001001101100101010011 001011001011011001110101011010010010011100110011101001101000011111010101010 1011010 10110
will tell you the winner. Th is single example is what separates the good Everyone recognizes by now that the day the POS POS systems from the great.” replaced the cash register, it started keeping track of so much A POS can also help with fore- casting and anticipating volumes more than money. But until recently, few restaurant operators based on same-day sales of a year realized the additional income potential hiding in that additional ago and other factors that can be folded in to the algorithm. “A key data. Fed into the right analytics and marketing tools, the new to food prep is anticipating vol- details—check numbers, items sold, tables served, servers ume accurately,” says Aaron Allen, global restaurant consultant and employed, time of day, tendered payment—can signifi cantly founder of Aaron Allen & Associates improve a property’s bottom line. (http://aaronallen.com). “Prep too much and you will have waste. Prep too little and you will let down the guest and miss sales opportunities.” REALTIME, PROACTIVE POWERPLAYS Because POS systems can report itemized sales by To take a simple example: “Th e POS system can send you an server, they can reveal waiters who sell little wine, indi- alert based on an automated inventory aging report of some cating a possible need for more coaching on wine and items that have been sitting a while,” says Chris Allen, CEO thereby lifting the average check. Because they are time at BEPOZ POS (www.bepoz.com.au). “Th en, with a great stamped, itemized sales reports can reveal the bottom- customer loyalty system in the software, you can set up a line effect of extending breakfast later into the morning. promotion to give a targeted subset of customers a great And because they can track food costs, they can report deal on those products. With the click of a button, you send and help forecast the bottom-line effect of changing, say, out a relevant blast of SMS texts or emails. For walk-ins, you breakfast buffet composition. motivate staff by setting up an internal promotion. An- POS reports can guide staff placement according to who nounce in the system’s internal messaging that the top seller handles big tables or small ones best, and who does best at of that product for the week gets a $25 gift card. Th e report upsells, for example. Th ey can optimize revenue-per-table
20 December 2013 www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com 00011111010101010100100110110010101001100101100110101010110101011001010100 001001101100101010011001011001101010101101010110010101001101011010110101001 010101011010101100101010011010110101101010010101010101011011010101010010101 101100110101010110101011001010100110101101011010100101010101010111011010101 00110110010101001100101100110101010110101011001010100110101101011010100101 001101010101101010110010101001101011010110101001010101010101010101010110101 011111010101010100100110110010101001100101100110101010110101011001010100110 01010101101101011010100101010101010101001001101100101010011001011001101010 001101100101010011101101011010100101010101010101001011001101010101101010110 110010110011010101011010101100101010011010110101101010010101010101011010110 101010110101101010010101010101010110110101101010010101010101010110101101010Data 01010100100110110010101001100101100110101010110101011001010100110101101011 10010101010101010110101010101001001101100101010011001011001101010101101010 00101010101001001101100101010011001011001101010101101010110010101001101011 0 10101001001101100101010101101011010100101010101010101011001011001101010101Business Optimization) 001010100110010110011010110110101101010010101010101010101011010101100101010 01010101101010110010110101101010010101010101010110110101101010010101010101 100101100110101010110101011001010100110101110110101101010010101010101010101 010010011011001010100110010110011010101011010101100101010011010110101101010
by timing mailings for special-night offerings to go to the at Smartbridge (www.smartbridge.com). “Using Big Data historically biggest spenders first, your middling spend- technology, you can layer many kinds of data sources. ers next. They can compare the results of turning tables Everything from weather, social media and [automotive] over faster vs. selling more desserts, at various times of the traffic patterns can be leveraged to improve sales forecast- week; guidance you share with servers to best effect. ing, marketing activities and other predictive analytics.” While current POS systems can also be used to mo- Sometimes this data crunching is a POS reporting option; tivate and reward top performers with anything sometimes it requires additional tools. from comp time and bonuses to reserved One such tool is Avero Slingshot (https:// parking spots, you can expect this par- slingshot.averoinc.com), a cloud-based, ticular POS usage to become far more Did our SaaS analytics platform that makes use of sophisticated. on-site POS data and other sources at “I see a future where the restau- soft-shell crab the store or above-store level. Claude rant POS meets gamification and Roussell, director of operations at associate performance measure- promotion work China Grill Management, describes ment,” says global restaurant better on weekends how he can track, for example, the consultant Aaron Allen. “We will results of special dish promotions. be able to measure productivity or weekdays? “Did our soft-shell crab promo- on a minute-by-minute basis and Lunch or dinner? tion work better on weekends or use game theory to motivate staff weekdays? Lunch or dinner?” This —Claude Roussell, China Grill and management to outperform yes- Management information influences future menus terday’s numbers.” For a preview, see and the marketing team’s media buys. Gamification.org. He can also track labor costs. “If I see that overtime is up 20 percent compared to last POS + BIG DATA ANALYTICS year, I can start drilling down. Is it front-of-house? Even great POS systems are not the sum total of a restau- Back-of-house? Was it a one-time situation, like a late- rant’s analysis needs. breaking function?” “Restaurants should leverage multiple data sources,” Knowing which outside forces affect your business is es- says Victor Lang, vice president of restaurant technologies sential to operating profitably.
www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com December 2013 21 Raising Revenue By Pam Baker
“One large factor for external sources will be the weather COMBINING POS AND MPOS WITH LOYALTY and the impact that it may have on empirical data,” says Data from loyalty programs should be added in the mix David Kincheloe, president of National Restaurant Con- as well. sultants (http://nationalrestaurantconsultants.com). “For “Many POS systems tie in with third-party loyalty pro- instance, we have a soup/sandwich company as a client grams, which for the most part are still catching up to fully that actually sees their business go up on bad weather days. realize the potential,” says Robert D’Ambrosia, CEO and Restaurants with large patios will be adversely affected. founder of Ctuit (www.ctuit.com). “Soon it will be pos- Restaurants with large convention centers in their area sible to have customer-tailored promotions based on each need to be aware of the different conventions in town or customer’s dining habits. For example, the system will be special events. smart enough to offer promotions to items that a customer frequently orders. Or the system will know key dates—such POS DATA FOR OPTIMIZING OPERATIONS as anniversaries or birthdays, based on prior history.” “A lot of times people think the value is in accessing the Guest satisfaction measurements also lurk in POS data. data, but they don’t know what to do with it, “Credit card tip percentages are a very good or what questions to ask, or how to get indicator of guest satisfaction—both at the information that they can use to the restaurant and the employee better drive their business,” says level,” says D’Ambrosia. Restau- Mitesh Gala, CEO of restaurant rateurs also can tie mobile solutions provider Altametrics technologies to their POS to (www.altametrics.com). “We gain valuable insights into can help them do that in a customers who are cur- couple of ways. Hula [Al- rently in the store, and to tametrics’ POS software] make the most of their can mine product mix visit before and after information to show how they leave. guest dining prefer- Mobile POS tools...allow you ences are changing over TAILORED MENU time, so operators can to scan loyalty cards in addition SUGGESTIONS get in front of consump- to payment cards, adding to For example, by tying tion trends and profit from something such as the them. It can also tell, for the data you can collect. Punchh mobile platform example, whether a coupon (http://punchh.com) to the —Yezid Acosta, CIO, I Love Velvet, is actually making or costing an a provider of mobile POS and using the Punchh operator money. It allows people POS solutions. mobile app, managers can easily to stop guessing whether their mar- know who is in the store, whether keting efforts are working for them.” they are in the restaurant because of With another layer of analysis, the compa- a social media referral, what they purchase ny’s cloud-based Xformity software can identify patterns and their spend history. With that information on hand, and causal relationships between data fields that users managers can greet diners by name and/or deliver a per- wouldn’t know to look for. Gala provides an example: sonalized offer or menu suggestion by text or push notifica- “Xformity might reveal that when someone orders coffee, tion over the branded Punchh smart phone app. the chance of that person also ordering dessert goes up “Mobile POS tools are perfect for this, as they allow you 50 percent. This info might lead you to launch a coffee to scan loyalty cards in addition to payment cards, adding promotion, because even if you discount the coffee, there’s to the data you can collect,” says Yezid Acosta, CIO, I Love a pretty low cost there, but if you get an add-on sale 50% of Velvet (www.ilovevelvet.com), a provider of mobile POS the time, you’ll get a gross profit.” solutions. “For example, if a customer orders coffee, you Controlling product ordering and just-in-time deliver- could use an app that connects to your CRM that could ies is another recommended, but often underutilized, use provide a recommendation based on their previous his- of POS. Altametrics’ e*Restaurant product applies propri- tory, i.e., ‘I see our scones are a favorite—would you like to etary algorithms to historical POS data and other variables order one?’” to suggest quantities of food to order. According to Gala, Last but not least, don’t get lost in the data you collect, it achieves a 98-percent statistical accuracy, besting any say the experts. Focus on the information you need to actu- human manager in a study with a large national QSR. It ally improve your operation and the actions to be taken. similarly forecasts labor needs. “Don’t fall prey to analysis paralysis,” says Kincheloe.
22 December 2013 www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com By Ellen Muraskin Then Now Next
A look behind, ahead and in the moment at what we mean by... WORD OF MOUTH
Word of mouth actually comes out of the mouth of someone you know. People trade restaurant picks and pans at water Then coolers, PTA meetings, worship services and laundry rooms. Th ey take written lists of recommended eateries when they travel to places their friends (whose opinions they value) have visited before them.
Restaurant recommendations or pans come from total strangers online when you search for them, or from Facebook friends NOW even when you don’t. Because you’ve given them access to your Facebook account, review sites such as Yelp, Foursquare or Trip Advisor alert you when a friend posts a review. Restaurateurs identify avid fans by seeing, via POS- or credit-card linked CRM/loyalty software, who comes in most frequently. Th ey then encourage these frequent diners (via email, branded app or face-to-face request) to post favorable Case in Point: Punchh’s consumer loyalty app also asks diners to comment on their experience. Should Punchh’s reviews, and share them on their Facebook “sentiment analysis” detect unfavorable feedback, the pages. (See Punchh, p. 22, POSiq, p. 14.) comment is sent to the manager.
Restaurateurs try to head negative reviews off at the pass by sending diners their own online surveys within minutes of a fi nished meal. Should the Next grades be good, they automatically encourage the evaluators to share on public review sites and social media. Should they be bad, they are immediately forwarded to GMs who can try to mollify the reviewer with assurances to address the defi ciencies and/or incentives to check improvement on a subsequent visit (see Venga, page 6). Once the online pan is written, it can be caught by monitoring software that alerts the same GM, in hopes of taking similar action to get the “panner” to remove it.
% 78 of Facebook’s 128 million daily U.S. users are on mobile devices. (Source: Facebook, Sept. 2013)
www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com December 2013 23 First Look By Ellen Muraskin e*Restaurant restaurant management solutions are going mobile for iOS and Android smart phones and tablets beginning January 2014.
at the new e*Restaurant Mobile App and UI Restaurant Management, Mobilized
ltametrics gave us a sneak peek of the mobile food item quantities with new accuracy in one step. This version of its cloud-based e*Restaurant not only replaces a time-consuming item-ID lookup, it management software. It’s rolling out on all permits employees to change “shelf-to-sheet” digital reigning platforms at once: native iOS and inventory sheets to match a shelf if someone stores an native Android, tablet and smart phone. In the process, item in a new place; it’s a simple matter of touch-screen it’s bringing restaurant information out to where it can be dragging and dropping. acted upon, and giving managers and end users anytime, More important, the mobile device can tell you in real front-pocket access to formerly back-office tools. time if your count is reasonable, based on proprietary A good example is labor scheduling (as pictured, algorithms that accurately track purchasing and other fac- above). Managers can arrange schedules and send notes tors and derive depletion rates. to employees while on the floor, in the middle of everyday Fully featured and requiring little by way of training, action. Employees can use their smart phones to check mobile e*Restaurant offers modules in inventory and their schedules online, swap shifts, and send time-off and purchasing, workforce and labor management, restau- other approval requests. The labor scheduling module rant performance tracking and business intelligence, and also gives us a look at Altametrics’ major redesign of its the hourly employee app. The software allows users, for core software user interface. A more quickly grasped pre- example, to record waste, place food orders, and schedule sentation, it employs a consistent ribbon of functions—re- and even hire employees via tablet or phone. ports, filter, analysis, etc.—across all modules. E*Restaurant mobile apps will be available from the Along with anytime, anywhere access, mobile Apple iTunes store and Google Play store beginning Janu- e*Restaurant incorporates intrinsic advantages of mobile ary 2014. devices. A good example here is inventory: Scanner attachments have given smart phones and tablets the 91% of smart phone owners have ability to quickly scan bar codes, replacing specialized 91% their phone within reach 24/7 hand-held scanners. E*restaurant integrates this function (Source: Mobile Marketing Association, 2013) into its software, allowing employees to count and record
24 December 2013 www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com By Ellen Muraskin Back of House
Change all Someone’s courting your online directory loyalty, too
listings in one That would be major distributor US Foods stroke (www.usfoods.com), which has begun rewarding its loyal inde- Yext (www.yext.com) is a service that lets pendent restaurateurs you update and correct your restaurant’s with customized bro- listing on all the major online directories by chures under the name updating the information in one place. Consid- MyKitchen, containing MOVED MOVED ering 1) how many such sites exist now—Yelp items regularly ordered is just the tip of the iceberg—and 2) how a by that property, at dis- Google search on “Mexican restaurant” and counts of up to 15 per- “Los Angeles” returns 10 directory listings be- cent. Putting the “know fore it turns up one dedicated restaurant home your customer” rule into MOVED MOVED page, this could be very worth your while and practice, MyKitchen PowerListing cost. Yext incorporates social offers are data-driven media monitoring and marketing aspects, too. by a restaurant’s buying history, type of cuisine and other analytics. The custom brochure MOVE SCHEDULE CHANGES OFF THE PING also introduces buyers to new products that PONG TABLE, INTO THE CLOUD match their business profi les. Hand delivered ShiftNote (www.shiftnote.com) is a web-based digital logbook and scheduling by their US Foods sales tool. Use it to publish schedules for the entire staff to see, and let them release representatives, they and pick up shifts online. It runs on desktops and mobiles, so you can approve get a 70-percent takeup these changes from anywhere. rate, according to the company.
! "#$%
()( * +) , " &' -./01-.023 456789/20:;3<..=3>9.?
@ABCDEFAGBDH IJKAGBCLABMNCOPCQJL RSTUVWSXYVZ[[U
www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com December 2013 25 Q & A Loyalty programs: Should Operators Pledge, and to Which? Smart loyalty program designers also are Q and A with Mitesh Gala, CEO of Altametrics, beginning to leverage restaurant management solutions provider behavioral psychology, specifi cally as it applies Restaurant Technology Magazine: We keep hearing about the launch of new to variable rewards restaurant loyalty programs, but you’ve expressed reservations about many of them. Why so? and game play. MG: We’re now into the second generation of loyalty programs, which are on the point system: earn so many “points” for purchases, and get something for free or ing lunch and only eat salads. You can at a discount. But other than airlines’ frequent fl yer plans, most of these programs send a targeted promotion that asks, are failures. In food service and retail, we’re not building loyalty to a brand so “Try us out for dinner,” and raise their much as loyalty to discounts. Th at’s a very shallow emotional relationship. dinner frequency. You can email to Furthermore, why do I want to join a loyalty program that shows my customer customers who haven’t shown up in all the other participating restaurants he can go to in my area? How do I know I’m months with a “We haven’t seen you not simply discounting my existing customers? in a while” win-back off er. You can then track your redemption rates to RTM: So what is the way forward? see what’s worked, and what hasn’t. MG: Th e future of loyalty programs has to do with tailoring rewards based on value to a particular consumer. Th at, in turn, has to do with a deeper understand- RTM: Aren’t those still discounts? ing of your customer. MG: Yes, they are, but very tailored RTM: But don’t you get all kinds of customer data on frequency, total spend and and targeted. And there are other, demographics from these third-party, multi-brand programs? better ways to motivate customers. It MG: You don’t need a third-party or credit-card-linked program to accumulate may be earning a privilege, or achiev- customer data. It’s easy to append an identifi er to a check, or to get it from a phone ing a new status level, or skipping to number, or NFC ID, mag stripe or QR code. Any single player can do that; you only the head of a line. need a readable or scannable token, always presented by a specifi c consumer. It Smart loyalty program design- should be tap and go: totally frictionless, totally passive. ers also are beginning to leverage behavioral psychology, specifi cally RTM: How do you attach identity to an anonymous transaction? as it applies to variable rewards and MG: You don’t really have to attach a person’s name to a sale, just as a website game play. Th ese are motivators doesn’t have to know who’s visited. Th e website just gets the IP address and can and activities that tie in closely with correlate all future activities with that address. Similarly, POS data can be attached the development of habits—such as to an anonymous token/barcode/mag stripe/NFC chip—until you the consumer frequenting a particular restaurant. take some action that lets me connect the dots. You buy a gift card. You sign up for a You’ll see how we’ve taken these loyalty program. You enter a sweepstakes. Now I can connect up all the other activi- lessons to heart in upcoming product ties to build a profi le: female salad luncher, male who stops in after work for drinks. announcements. I don’t have to be right all the time, but in the aggregate cohort, I know who you are and what you buy. I can tie into email. 33% of consumers join loyalty programs for freebie enrollment incentive, and just 16% to demonstrate loyalty to the brand. RTM: What do you do with that data? (Source: Technomic, 2013 Loyalty Report) MG: Say you discover that you have many female customers who only come in dur-
26 December 2013 www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com By Jeff Chasney IMHO 10 IT Will Tell You About THINGS Business Intelligence... (What You Should Know)
There is no such thing as a commercial, ready-made BI “solution.” “We will buy a Business Intelligence solution.” 1 There are simply commercial tools that “may” help you “build” a BI solution.
“Our BI system must have dashboards with 3D Dashboards are for Operations reporting, not BI. To management gadgets and gizmos presenting performance 2 teams, such whiz-bang pictorials are kindergarten picture books— levels.” insulting and uninformative.
No, you’ve got the wrong user base in mind. You are confusing “We must present real-time information that will executive teams, which make strategic decisions, with NASDAQ day- show today’s current sales at our stores.” 3 traders, who follow changes by the minute.
“Our system must drill down to store-level Really? Include such non-actionable detail for your decision makers transactions so that our users can analyze the and you are well on your way to building yet another useless BI cause of issues.” 4 system!
Not even close. Do your analysts and developers know how to “Our IT systems analysts and developers have the construct explanatory regression models? Represent moving average skills to design and produce the system.” 5 trends as percentages? Perform signifi cance tests? These are the statistical measures your captains need to navigate.
“We will present information on company-owned Do you also believe that an X-ray of your butt represents the health of stores, since they’re reasonably representative of 6 your entire body? the overall chain performance.”
“We will create exception reports showing the worst Not as much as you need to present which stores are the worst and and best stores for each performance indicator.” 7 best “overall.” Who can construct this? That’s right, the stats guy!
If the only way you can keep the information secret from your “This facility will deliver confi dential proprietary data competitors is by keeping it secret from your internal personnel, and will therefore be made available only to select 8 either: a) you have incorrectly constructed the system, or b) your executives.” company employs the wrong people.
BI systems need to report actionable and “directional” information, not absolute data. Nor is your BI system the source of your regulatory “We need to report audited data so that our fi nancial data. If your BI is to report what happened yesterday fi rst numbers tie in with those in our fi nancial reports.” 9 thing in the morning, then there is no time to fi rst audit the data (and truly no need to).
“The system must be built using technology that OMG-level wrong. Your C-level execs want to know what happened, permits the users to pivot the data and perform why it happened and what direction to take next. Their career goals other analytical functions.“ 10 never included becoming data or fi nancial analysts. MoralS
r#*TZTUFNTBSFBCPVUQFSGPSNBODFEJ r3FWJFXUIFLFZTUSBUFHJFT r*O#* MFTTJTNPSF1SF r*GVTFSTOFFEUIFJS rection, changes in direction and red-fl ag and strategy changes your sented data that is not di- BI system more notables. The data analysis and associat- C-level execs have made in rectly or indirectly action- than 15 minutes ed modeling that inform these functions the past month. Ask them able is called “noise” and each day to “get come under the heading of “statistics,” how they used the BI system the more of it displayed, what is going on,” and the professionals who excel at these to make or justify those deci- the harder it is to fi nd the then the system tasks are called statisticians; they are not sions. If you come up empty information that might hasn’t been cor- titled “developer” or “analyst.” handed, that’s a bad sign. actually be important. rectly architected.
www.RestaurantTechnologyMagazine.com December 2013 27 ALOHA
MICROS
XPIENT HULA
Why go down the same old POS road when Hula makes the complicated simple?
100% free Hula software gives you everything you like about other POS, plus everything you’ve always wanted. Hula is simple to customize for any size business, and easily expandable through the cloud with affordable, enterprise-level apps. It eliminates expensive service calls, contracts or add-ons. Enterprise users can enhance the system with the Hula POS Director module. And it’s backed by the performance and credibility of the makers of e*Restaurant. So which POS is best for you? That’s simple.
do what others dream™ from Altametrics,® makers of e*Restaurant
See it in action and download it now: www.hulapos.com Or call 800-676-1281 (Press 2 for Sales)