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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Sevenrooms

Q&A: Tools for the Data-Driven Restaurant, According to Sevenrooms Founder Allison Page

The restaurant industry faces a lot of question marks right now, but one certainty is that future dining room and off-premises experiences will generate and include a lot more data.

Founder and Chief Product Office Allison Page created Sevenrooms on the idea that restaurants need to be able to better understand their customers through this data. In doing so, businesses can ultimately provide a better, more efficient and enjoyable restaurant experience for everyone. The company’s front-of-house-focused software gives restaurants insights about these customers by providing data collected throughout the guest journey: from reservations and waitlists to online ordering and review aggregation, to name just a few areas.

Allison will be discussing data with other panelists at The Spoon’s upcoming Restaurant Tech Summit, a day-log virtual event that will discuss the state, present and future, of restaurant tech. As a teaser, we recently got some high-level thoughts from her around the future of the data-driven restaurant. Full Q&A is below. And if you haven’t already, grab a ticket to the show here.

1. What problem does SevenRooms solve for restaurants/the restaurant industry?

When we started SevenRooms, our goal was to provide hospitality operators with better access to their guest data. Before SevenRooms, if you asked an operator who their biggest spenders, best tippers or brand advocates were, they would have no idea. Ten years later, access to actionable data has changed the way operators think about data (hint: it’s no longer a dirty word) and the role it plays in their day-to-day operations. 

Since the onset of the pandemic, our solution has provided even greater benefits for operators, especially in light of staff shortages across the world. We give them a platform that helps them punch above their weight class and do more with less. Over the past 18 months, we have continued to help them automate so many of the manual processes that enabled them to add headcount, without having to hire more staff. This includes guest profiles that build themselves, marketing automation to leverage that data, and, subsequently, the insight needed to provide personalized, unmatched experiences whether a guest is on- or off-premise. 

Now, as the world and restaurant industry reopens, operators realize the importance of owning their direct channels instead of solely relying on third-party platforms. With a fully integrated guest experience and retention platform like SevenRooms, they now have the tools they need to acquire, engage and retain more guests. 

2. What is the biggest change in terms of the restaurant industry’s approach towards technology as a result of the pandemic? 

At the start of the pandemic, we saw many restaurants rush to tech as a solution to many of the challenges they had to face. This led to quick, not always great, decisions, and many lessons learned over the past 18 months. The biggest takeaway from the pandemic is that operators now understand the importance of a direct relationship with their customers. 

Before COVID, restaurants were leveraging third-parties for reservations and online ordering. But when the pandemic started, restaurants began to understand the impact of outsourcing all of their customer relationships to third-party brands. For many restaurants, this meant that when they were mandated to close they didn’t have access to guest data that would allow them to email their customers and let them know they were now available for takeout only. Many months and negative press articles later, it’s been proven that the economics of a third-party-only strategy are not sustainable. 

The past year has also highlighted the importance of working with technology providers who seamlessly integrate across a restaurant’s existing tech stack. This helps create operational efficiencies, versus slowing them down and creating extra work. With restaurants more short-staffed than ever before, it no longer makes sense to use 10 different systems to do 10 different things in your restaurant. Operators want one system, one vendor, one support team and one invoice. They don’t have the bandwidth to have inefficiencies in their tech stack, especially when they’re putting out fires, navigating government regulations and keeping guests and staff safe.  

3. In your eyes, how has the emphasis on takeout and delivery formats impacted the front of house? 

Speaking from the SevenRooms perspective, we saw an opportunity to combine the data collected during takeout and delivery with in-person dining data to get a holistic 360-degree view of the customer. This has created an incredibly powerful data set for restaurant operators to provide exceptional experiences to their guests across both on- and off-premise. 

The shift to off-premise dining during the pandemic meant that operators could no longer have the face-to-face hospitality interactions they were accustomed to. This meant that they had to completely adjust their operations to provide that same level of service and hospitality via delivery and takeout instead. For some of our restaurant partners, many who had never offered takeout, this meant reimagining their operations, physical spaces and menus for delivery and pickup. 

The biggest impact to the front of house has been being able to capture and leverage more data on their customers. For the first time, operators now have a single source of truth on their guests — across both on- and off-premise. This includes who their regular or big spender online ordering customers are, whether they have any specific preferences and allergies and so much more. Data enables operators to not only personalize the experience for guests when they order delivery, but also understand the types of experiences they want when they dine in person. Most importantly, this data can be used to ‘surprise and delight’ guests and to create personalized marketing campaigns that will boost revenue and retention. 

For example, take an NYC diner that only orders from their neighborhood Italian restaurant for delivery, even though they live on the same block as the restaurant. With access to this data, the restaurant knows the customer’s address and can create specific, personalized promotions for that guest. Perhaps a Wine Wednesday experience featuring the wine they order the most, a complimentary appetizer or special treat in their bag, or a handwritten note from the general manager inviting them into the restaurant to try a new pasta dish. Data helps operators build long-lasting relationships with guests that keep them coming back for years to come. 

4. What is the biggest challenge for restaurants right now when it comes to digitization? 

Right now, the biggest challenge for restaurants when it comes to digitization is working with vendors who are on their side. In other words, working with technology vendors who are aligned with their success and 100% focused on building solutions that help them run their businesses more effectively. When business priorities are misaligned, what’s best for the restaurant falls to the wayside. Restaurant operators need to learn to ask the hard questions of their tech vendors to ensure they have their best interests in mind. 

Another challenge falls in the realm of the platforms and integrations restaurants choose to use within their tech stacks. Oftentimes, restaurants are using systems that don’t speak to each other – making it almost impossible to put together a seamless experience for guests, let alone a consistent one. The key to a good digital guest experience is in a seamlessly integrated tech stack.

5. What are you most excited about when it comes to the impact of restaurant technology?

When thinking about SevenRooms, I’m most excited about how we can help restaurants stay in business longer and generate more revenue. Also, how operators can use restaurant technology to impact the way someone feels and the experiences they have both in a dining room and at home.  

I’m also incredibly excited about all of the different ways data is starting to be used throughout the industry. It now touches so many areas of hospitality businesses — helping operators to be more efficient in everything they do, from inventory and menu planning, to employee scheduling and marketing, to reservations and online ordering. At SevenRooms, we are continuing to talk about the importance of data, especially from a 360-degree perspective, and how it can contribute to a restaurant’s bottom line for years to come. Today, it’s so much easier to really understand the ROI of every tech platform because the data is available and becoming more actionable and easier to digest for operators. It’s wonderful to see technology leading the charge when it comes to innovation in these areas. 

6. What do you think the restaurant industry will look like in five years? 

Data-enabled with a human touch. Over the next five years, we’re going to see more data-powered experiences, more personalization and deeper relationships between restaurants and customers than ever before. 

On-premise operators have no choice but to think about data and the role it plays in bringing hyper-personalized experiences to the table. This largely stems from the fact that guest expectations are higher than ever coming out of the pandemic. Over the course of the past year, consumers have learned how to make gourmet meals at home, the ins and outs of baking the perfect sourdough bread, even turning to meal kits for date nights. They have more options available to them than ever before. When they dine out, they want the experience and hospitality that comes with the food, not just the food itself. If they aren’t getting the experience they need or want, there’s another option waiting right next door. 

We’re at the early innings of a data revolution for the hospitality industry. Over the next five years, hospitality experiences are only going to become more personalized and tailored to the wants and needs of guests – to the levels we see on an everyday basis from the likes of Amazon and Spotify today. The restaurant industry has been through a lot over the past year, but it’s one of the most inspiring industries to work in and be a part of every day and I’m excited to see what the next five years hold. 

Sevenrooms Integrates Its Digital Waitlist With Google Reserve

Restaurant management platform Sevenrooms announced today it has integrated its waitlist feature with Google’s reservation tool, Reserve With Google. Sevenrooms has also integrated its waitlist Google Search, Maps, and Assistant, according to a press release sent to The Spoon.

The Reserve With Google integration means guests can add themselves to a restaurant’s waitlist digitally, while they are still at home, and receive real-time estimates and updates on their wait time. 

Guests are notified via text message when they are close to the top of the waitlist and can then check in virtually when they arrive at the restaurants. Remember the pre-digital process where the restaurant called your name over a loudspeaker then crossed it off a piece of paper when you arrived at the host station? The Sevenrooms-Google integration is basically a digital version of that.

It also comes at a time when most dining rooms are still operating at reduced capacity and restaurants that might not have previously used reservations now require them. This is in part to manage that reduced capacity, but it’s also a way to keep waiting areas less crowded and customers more socially distanced.

For Google, the Sevenrooms partnership is just the latest step in the search giant’s march into the restaurant industry. In August, Google announced a partnership with Panera that lets guests order and pickup meals directly via Search, Maps, and Assistant. Last year, it partnered with delivery integrator Olo to offer more pickup and delivery through Google features and added several new innovations around restaurant menus.

Sevenrooms, meanwhile, has expanded its own arsenal of features in recent months to include contactless ordering and payments and a direct delivery tool that lets restaurants (partly) bypass third-party services like Grubhub and DoorDash. The company raised $50 million in Series B funding in June of this year.

Survey: Restaurants Should Expect to Serve 4 Types of Customers in the Coming Months

Roughly one in three Americans look forward to dining in restaurants again over the next three months, but different customers have different standards for what the new era of eating out should look like. So says restaurant tech company Sevenrooms, which today released a new survey entitled “Restaurant Reckoning: Dynamic Diner.”

The survey, conducted with third-party research firm YouGov PLC, polled 1,327 U.S. restaurant customers at the end of July. As its title suggests, the pandemic has created new types of diners with different sets of priorities. Sevenrooms has divvied these up into four categories:

  • “The Pick-Up Patron:” More than one in four survey respondents, or 27 percent, said they will not feel comfortable eating in a restaurant dining room until a vaccine for COVID-19 is found. Nearly one in four, 23 percent, will stick to takeout orders for the rest of 2020. 
  • “The Safety-Savvy Consumer:” More than one in five, or 22 percent, of those surveyed want a detailed outline of a restaurant’s safety protocols, including physical barriers between tables, at-table hand sanitizer, and having their food covered when brought to the table.
  • “The Tech-Conscious Contactless Diner:” A smaller percentage, 13 percent, said they would only dine in a restaurant that uses contactless dining solutions like virtual waitlists, QR code-enabled order and payments, and contact tracing technology.
  • “The Carefree Guest:” Despite nationwide restrictions around indoor dining, a healthy number of respondents, 29 percent, said they are comfortable with the format. Another 42 percent said they are comfortable with outdoor dining.

The outdoor dining stat, though, is an important reminder of a situation most restaurants around the U.S. will soon face: winter is on its way, and once it arrives, outdoor dining will be uncomfortable in some locations, impossible in many more. It may very well be that colder weather will mean the Pick-Up Patron category gets a lot larger and the number of “carefree” guests lowers alongside the temperature.

The survey also recommends that restaurants double-down on collecting customer data that can better tell them which of the above customer types they serve most. That directive makes sense, given that Sevenrooms is a guest management platform that emphasizes the value of restaurant customer data. But it brings up a good point: with the restaurant experience going more and more digital, it’s time for restaurants to rethink their relationship to customer data.

Speaking in today’s press release, Sevenrooms CEO Joel Montaniel also suggested that agility is crucial for restaurant operators right now: “Our research has made one thing clear: operators need to be flexible,” he said. “Whether it’s in regard to outdoor dining, virtual waitlists or contactless order and pay – every guest has different needs.”

With colder temperatures and a lot of uncertainty around both the pandemic and the future of the restaurant industry, that flexibility will remain a must-have for restaurants for the foreseeable future. The good news is, since restaurants were allowed to slowly reopen their dining rooms, we’ve seen no end of creativity when it comes to serving guests while keeping them socially distanced. No doubt we’ll see even more of that as the restaurant industry transitions into a new season.

Bbot Raises $3M for Its Contactless Restaurant Tech Solution

NYC-based restaurant tech company Bbot today announced a $3 million seed funding round led by Craft Ventures. The company says it will use the new funds to hire up and expand its reach and product capabilities, according to a press release sent to The Spoon.

Bbot, which was founded in 2017, was ahead of the times when it originally launched its mobile order and pay platform that emphasizes contactless functionality and minimizes human-to-human contact in restaurants and bars. The system integrates directly with a restaurant or bar’s existing tech setup. Customers use their own phones to scan a QR code (usually placed on a decal on the table) and browse the menu, as well as order and pay for food. 

Bbot points to a number of different advantages with this setup. Most obviously, contactless features in the dining room makes it easier for restaurants to foster social distancing among customers and staff. It also more or less forces restaurants to have at least some digital presence, which is becoming increasingly mandatory these days. Bbot also says the system can increase revenue for the restaurant, and that some of its existing clients have seen a 15 percent lift thanks to the system.

While that’s an encouraging figure, the challenge right now for any restaurant tech is two-fold. First is the sheer amount of competition in the restaurant tech space — particularly when it comes to the consumer-facing side of things. As I said earlier, companies that formerly served the front of house are now racing to find new ways to stay relevant. So far, that’s been through contactless dining kits a la Paytronix, Zuppler, Presto, and many others. 

The other part of the challenge is that the state of restaurant dining rooms remains uncertain, to put it mildly. Some states and/or individual businesses are halting or reversing their reopening plans, thanks to a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases, and businesses are being encouraged to continue their focus off-premises orders.

On that latter note, Bbot has an advantage in that its system is designed to work for any type of restaurant setting, including the off-premises ones. That ability to translate across restaurant formats plus its early entry into the contactless space may give Bbot a greater advantage over the competition, even if dining rooms don’t reopen the way we thought they would.

Sevenrooms Raises $50M Series B Funding for Its Data-Driven Restaurant Tech Platform

Restaurant tech company Sevenrooms has raised $50 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Providence Strategic Growth and brings Sevenrooms’ total funding to $71.5 million. According to a press release sent to The Spoon, Sevenrooms will use the new funds to “further enhance” its restaurant guest-management platform as well as continue expanding globally. 

Sevenrooms, which was founded in 2011, has over time evolved from a reservations platform to a full suite of front-of-house tools that nowadays includes some pandemic-friendly features like contactless ordering and payments. The company continues to offer its reservations system, as well as waitlist and table management tools, marketing automation, and online ordering. Pre-pandemic, Sevenrooms was exploring voice-enabled restaurant tech as well as data-driven personalization.  

Like other front-of-house-focused restaurant tech companies, Sevenrooms quickly reacted to the COVID-19 crisis and the dining room shutdowns that followed. At no extra cost, it launched its DirectDelivery feature, which gives restaurants more ownership over their customers data on delivery order. The company also recently released its version of the contactless dining kit, meant to equip freshly reopened restaurant dining rooms with more contactless solutions, from order and pay technologies to digital menus. 

Others have made similar moves recently. In fact most restaurant tech companies — Presto, Zuppler, Paytronix, etc. — are offering enhancements to their platforms that emphasize contactless tools for the restaurant dining room.

Standing out from the masses will be the biggest challenge for all of these companies. Sevenrooms’ previous work around voice tech and personalization would give it a push in a somewhat unique direction. Its continued focus on giving restaurants more control over customer data will also be an important asset for the company going forward as digital properties become the restaurant experience, rather than an add-on sales channel.

Paytronix Puts a New Spin on Contactless Tech in Restaurant Dining Rooms

Guest management platform Paytronix Systems today announced its version of the contactless dining kit for restaurants, simply called Paytronix Contactless Dining. With it, restaurants can offer guests touch-free ways to browse menus, order, and pay for meals while in the restaurant dining room, according to a press release sent to The Spoon.

While the motivation behind Paytronix’ new offering is similar to other contactless dining kits out there — minimize human-to-human contact in the restaurant — the tech itself offers some features we haven’t yet seen on other platforms.

Most notably, Paytronix’ system allows guests to keep their virtual “tab” — that is, ticket — throughout the entire meal.

Right now with most mobile apps, a customer has to order and pay to complete the transaction and get that order sent to the restaurant kitchen. That works fine for takeout or delivery orders, which are inherently meant to be one-off transactions. For dine-in service, however, a customer might want to order a second drink partway through their meal. Or they may decide at last minute to get dessert. For each of those extra items, a new transaction, or “tab,” would have to be made, which means more transaction fees for restaurants that they may or may not pass on to the customer via higher menu prices. It’s also just a messy scenario to have to pay multiple transactions for each course at a single meal.

That mess and expense is what Paytronix is trying to eliminate with this Contactless Dining kit. The platform connects directly to the restaurant’s POS system. Customers then use their mobile devices to browse the menu, order items, and make a single payment (the virtual equivalent of “closing the tab”) at the end of the meal. 

Tim Ridgely, head of development for Contactless Dining, got to the heart of the matter when he noted in today’s press release that, “When it comes to on-premises dining, guests want the freedom to peruse a menu, order what they want when they want it, open tabs, and ultimately, pay for that experience at the end.”

Offering more flexibility in terms of this open tab feature also means restaurants could potentially sell more per ticket, whether that’s a second martini or a slice of cake at the end of the meal. That boost in sales will be much needed for most restaurants, since dining rooms across the U.S. are still operating at reduced capacity and, depending on how the pandemic wave falls, will be doing so for quite some time.

Paytronix joins Presto, Sevenrooms, Zuppler, and other others offering systems that try to minimize contact between guests and restaurant staff.

Of course, to make the most of Paytronix new system, restaurants will actually need a lot of customers. As we learned recently, the general population remains pretty divided about going out to eat. Some refuse to set foot in restaurants. Others were ready weeks before they reopened. Between those two extremes is a swath of folks who, while wary, are slowly but surely becoming open to the idea of going out to eat once more. Restaurant tech companies that can help sway more people towards that idea will be the ones businesses find most valuable going forward.

Revention Rebrands as HungerRush, Launches Off-Premises Enhancements

Restaurant tech company Revention has rebranded as HungerRush and announced a new set of features aimed at helping restaurants fulfill off-premises orders. According to a tip sent to The Spoon, new products include contactless delivery capabilities, driver tracking, and integration with third-party delivery services.

HungerRush’s focus on digital ordering and off-premises orders isn’t completely new. As Revention, the restaurant management platform already included integration with some delivery companies, mobile and online ordering, and the ability to manage customer loyalty programs. 

The new features are mostly enhancements to existing products. HungerRush Drive lets restaurant operators track drivers as they deliver orders, which is becoming a more common practice nowadays. There is also messaging system for curbside pickup orders, where customers can notify the restaurant when they arrive, as well as the addition of more integrations with third-party delivery services, including Postmates, Grubhub, and “hundreds more,” according to today’s press release.

HungerRush is rebranding and releasing these features at at time when most restaurants continue to focus on improving their digital ordering as well as the process for takeout and delivery. The pandemic forced many restaurants into the off-premises world, and though dining rooms have reopened in a lot of states, they’ve done so with reduced capacity, not to mention customer base rather wary of going out to eat. It’s pretty much assumed at this point that restaurants must continue building to-go strategies to make up for lost revenue and keep the lights on.

Many a tech company promises to help in that area. Toast, Presto, CardFree, Sevenrooms, and a boatload of others have all announced new features or product enhancements that emphasize digital ordering and contactless delivery/pickup.

How well they deliver on these promises is what will determine who has value and who’s expendable when it comes to choosing a restaurant tech platform. For example, having a system for customers to message the restaurant when they arrive for their curbside order is smart. But geofencing tech, which automatically alerts the restaurant when a customer arrives, is even more efficient. 

HungerRush is old guard when it comes to restaurant tech companies, having been founded in 2003. (It’s also very popular with pizza chains, for some reason.) Time will tell if these new enhancements to its platform will be enough to compete with the dozens of other offerings vying for dominance as the restaurant industry reinvents itself. 

Sevenrooms Is the Latest Restaurant Tech Company Serving Up Contactless Order and Pay Features

Restaurant guest management platform Sevenrooms today released a Contactless Order & Pay system for restaurants as businesses get set to reopen under new social distancing guidelines and regulations. The new system “aims to ease consumer hesitation around dining out,” according to an email sent to The Spoon.

Since Sevenrooms is first and foremost a tech company, it will obviously be using technology to minimize person-to-person contact in an effort to make dining rooms safer places once they reopen. 

The new contactless system includes a digital menu as well as ordering and payment functionality customers can access with their own devices by one of three ways: scanning a QR code, using near-field communication (NFC), or going to a URL. Importantly, there is no need for customers to download any additional apps, something that would only add confusion and extra steps to the process. 

Ideally, this setup will mean restaurants do not have to hand physical menus out to guests, and that items like order tickets and credit cards won’t pass from one person to the next, potentially spreading infectious germs along the way.

The idea isn’t specific to Sevenrooms. In its reopening guidelines for restaurants, the National Restaurant Association said that “Contactless payment systems, automated ordering systems, mobile ordering apps, website updates and simple texts can help you to communicate and conduct business with reduced need for close contact.”

Other industry figures agree. Seated cofounder and chairman Bo Peabody, who also sits on the task force in charge of restaurant reopening guidelines for the state of Georgia, told me recently that contactless payments are one of the most important pieces of tech a restaurant can invest in right now and that by the end of next year, “putting your credit card down will be a thing of the past.”

He added, however, that most restaurants right now are not equipped to easily switch to contactless ordering and payments. Making the process of adoption easier and affordable will be a major factor restaurant tech companies like Sevenrooms must consider if they truly want to help restaurants through the reopening process. 

Sevenrooms joins other restaurant tech companies pivoting to offer contactless order and payment capabilities. This week, Presto released its own version of a contactless order and pay tech bundle. Paytronix, which raised $10 million in April, has also added an online order platform and touchless payments to its tech stack. 

A subject we land on frequently these days is exactly how relevant will front-of-house restaurant tech companies be as more dining rooms reopen with limited seating capacity and consumers cautiously venture out to eat. The growing number of companies offering contactless order and payment options makes me think that the debate isn’t around whether these companies will remain relevant. Rather, the ones that can present restaurants with the most helpful, hassle-free ways to go contactless will be the ones the industry finds most valuable going forward. 

Here’s a Rundown of Restaurant Tech Deals Available to Struggling Businesses

As more restaurants are forced to pivot to off-premises models in the fight to stay alive, it seems more tech companies are coming to market with hardware and/or software meant to speed up, simplify, automate, and more efficiently manage delivery. And in the spirit of simplifying things, I’ve rounded up a number of those solutions here that address different parts of the off-premises model. 

Just remember: there are tech solutions that solve problems and, as a friend of mine once said, tech solutions in search of problems. Reduced fees or no, not every product or service is going to be useful, and what improves one restaurant’s business could be a total distraction for another.

Order-ahead app Allset has a contactless pickup option at participating restaurants. For all existing restaurant partners that provide the contactless pickup option at their stores, the company is waiving commission fees.

Delivery orchestration platform Bringg launched its BringgNow feature months ahead of schedule. The new feature helps larger chain restaurants, among other businesses, manage delivery orders, track drivers, make last-minute adjustments, and integrate with third-party platforms. BringgNow is free to new users at this time.

Chowly, whose tech helps manage delivery orders, is offering a “no cost” starter package to businesses needing to quickly pivot to delivery models as more cities and states shut down dining rooms.

DailyPay, an app that lets restaurant workers access their earnings immediately, has waived all access fees so that individuals using the service can get their earned income immediately. 

POS and guest management software platform Epicuri is waiving set up fees and offering a 60-day free trial with no commitment for restaurants right now.

Paytronix just launched a new cloud-based solution that lets restaurants add online ordering and delivery to their existing POS systems and, for those who want to conduct delivery in-house, integrate with DoorDash.

Presto is giving away free self-service kiosks that at this point can be used for pickup orders. In an email to The Spoon, the company also said it is also “offering Presto Quick Serve drive-thru kiosks, staff handhelds, and smartwatches completely free.”

Ordermark, a software-hardware platform that streamlines the process of accepting, managing, and fulfilling delivery orders, is waiving all setup fees right now, according to an email sent to The Spoon.

Restaurant order management platform Revention is offering an Online Ordering and Delivery Starter Bundle for a reduced price. It includes a POS terminal, optional DoorDash on-demand delivery service, and remote installation.

Guest management platform Sevenrooms now offers a feature called Direct Delivery that gives restaurants more ownership over their customer data on delivery and takeout orders. For the next 90 days, existing and prospective Sevenrooms customers can add the feature on at no extra cost. 

End-to-end platform Toast has eliminated software fees for restaurant customers for the next month and will provide those customers with free access to its digital ordering, marketing, and gift card programs for three months. 

Operations platform Zenput says it is “offering operators that are new to Zenput – at no charge or obligation through the end of June 2020 – the ability to use our platform to build-out, communicate, and ensure compliance with their COVID-19 processes.”

Online food ordering platform Zuppler is offering free setup and reduced pricing for restaurants and caterers who want to add online or Google ordering to their websites.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll know more about which products and services are most beneficial to restaurants trying to survive the current situation in which the industry finds itself. In the meantime, drop us a line if you know a company or product you think should be on this list.

Customize 2020: Loyalty Programs Are Not the Key to Better Customer Data for Restaurants

What does it mean to personalize the guest experience in the restaurant? At last week’s Customize event in NYC, I had a conversation with Scott Wu of Compass Digital and Joel Montaniel of Sevenrooms to find out what “personalization” means in the context of the restaurant business and how brands — especially the smaller, independent ones — can do more of it.  

In the restaurant biz, tech-driven personalization often has to do with making a guest feel like a regular patron even when they’re a casual visitor. There are tech tools out there now that can tell servers and managers a guest’s dietary preferences (“Lisa hates pickles”), special occasions (“It’s John’s birthday”) and even if they’re new to the neighborhood.

To get those things, you need data, which means you need customers to in some way or form opt-in to programs and hand over the kinds of personal information restaurants can use to create a more personable experience for guests.

You’d think the aforementioned loyalty programs would be the obvious answer, but Montaniel suggested otherwise “I think historically loyalty programs for hospitality has been a band-aid,” he said on the panel, adding that the reason these programs don’t work is because “they’re one size fits all.”

So if loyalty programs aren’t, in fact, the magic potion that will convince all customers to hand over personal data, what is? It could be a rethinking of the loyalty program itself, or it could be something completely behind the scenes customers don’t ever see. On the panel we chatted about possible solutions, the types of data restaurant owners and operators should be seeking, and how the personalization movement will impact smaller businesses. 

The Food Personalization Summit: Menu for Me - How Personalization Changes Food Service

Restaurants Will Soon Remember Your Dietary Restrictions and Birthday, Says SevenRooms CEO

There’s a lot to be said about becoming a restaurant regular: it usually means better service, personal touches, and an overall sense of community (ya know, if you tip well).

But what if you could effectively be a “regular” at every restaurant you step foot in, whether it’s around the corner from your house or on the opposite coast? That’s what BoH restaurant tech SevenRooms is trying to make a reality. The company lets restaurants track customer data to access guest information for more personalized service.

SevenRooms has its eye squarely on the future of dining, which is why we’re so excited to have its CEO, Joel Montaniel, speak at Customize at the end of this month. As a little amuse bouche we asked Montaniel a few questions about how he thinks the rise of personalization will change the way we eat out. Hint: Get ready for servers to remember your dietary restrictions, birthday, and favorite dessert.

Check out the Q&A below, then grab your tickets (discount code SPOON15 for 15 percent off!) to hear him speak in person on February 27th.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Tell us a little bit about what SevenRooms does.
From neighborhood restaurants to international, multi-concept hospitality groups, SevenRooms is a hospitality platform that helps operators unlock the full revenue potential of guest data. Combining operations, marketing and guest engagement tools into one front-of-house solution, the platform helps operators to maximize profits, build brand loyalty and enable personalized guest experiences. 

As restaurants become more automated, how do you think foodservice can maintain a personalized touch to keep customer loyalty?
In a recent study, SevenRooms found that 1 in 5 diners (20 percent) want to book a reservation at a restaurant that could create a personalized menu for them – clearly showcasing that the foodservice industry must take advantage of automated personalization to help deliver these expectations and build loyalty.

At SevenRooms, we see the operations arm of restaurants continuously becoming more intertwined as technology is integrated, making processes more seamless as the power of guest data is unleashed. Through direct integrations with POS systems and other technology partners, we can create complete guest profiles including dining preferences, allergies, order history and more. The restaurant industry is centered on human interaction; and by helping restaurants use technology to understand who their guest is and what they want, we can empower operators to have the most personalized customer interactions possible.

In addition to enabling these seamless, memorable experiences, technology can also help personalize guest marketing to draw them back in. Robust historical data helps restaurants more accurately market to diners, ensuring they’re able to reach the right guests, at the right time, with the right message. For example, if a diner has never ordered wine at a restaurant, it likely wouldn’t make sense to invite them to an exclusive vineyard tasting event.

Embracing technology provides restaurants with the ability to elevate experiences by creating and promoting specific events and perks that speak to their guests’ interests, solely by tapping into data collected across the guest journey.

Why do you think that the personalization trend has been on the rise lately? What about this particular time has given it opportunity to grow?
With the advancement of technology, consumers now expect more from their daily interactions, whether it’s suggested shoes for purchase on Amazon, songs to listen to on Spotify or shows to watch on Netflix. Hospitality is no different. According to recent research, when staying at a hotel with multiple properties, 29 percent of Americans expect their preferences and guest profile to be easily communicated between properties.

This clearly showcases that in the hospitality industry, it’s paramount to personalize the guest experience, exceeding expectations and ensuring the guest feels special in the process. For example, when a regular who happens to be vegetarian is seated, the waiter should have the new vegetarian pasta special on hand to recommend with the diner’s favorite white wine. If it’s a guest’s birthday, a complimentary glass of champagne can really go the extra mile to turn a casual dinner into a loyal guest.

From hotels to restaurants and nightlife venues, guests appreciate and desire personalization, especially at places they’ve visited before, with over half of Americans saying that a waiter/waitress simply remembering them from a previous visit would make their experience more memorable. The data, now available through technology, has afforded venues the opportunity to create these personalized experiences and fine tune their service based on customer preferences, in turn giving the trend more room to grow.

How do you see personalization evolving with shifting restaurant setups, new technology, and an increased consumer demand on convenience?
We’ve seen significant disruption in the restaurant industry in the last few years — especially when it comes to increased delivery options and a rise in consumer expectations both inside and outside the restaurant. Convenience is king — and consumers want faster, more seamless choices. But as consumers increasingly demand this convenience, we are also seeing them expect much more personalization out of their experiences when they choose to dine-in a restaurant.  

A quarter of Americans admit they wouldn’t return to a restaurant if their dining experience wasn’t memorable or special, so restaurants must continue to evolve how they deliver personalized experiences.

The future of this will come with new voice and wearable technology. Today, operators use tablet and computer interfaces to access guest information — from reservation times, to whether or not they’re celebrating a special occasion or an allergy. However, by harnessing new voice technology, SevenRooms users will, instead, be able to voice queries like “Alexa, who’s at Table 12?” to find out robust data on the guest — learning that it’s a birthday party for a regular diner whose favorite dessert is the vegan chocolate mousse.

This enables the in-service team to create a new guest touchpoint that will boost loyalty — having the GM touch the table to deliver birthday wishes, and offering a complimentary dessert — all without having to visit the host stand to find out the information. This seamless personalization experience will only continue to grow as the status quo for guests across the hospitality industry. 

Will super-personalized menus really become the norm for restaurants? Come here Montaniel speak at Customize on February 27 to get his take — use code SPOON15 for 15 percent off tickets!

TouchBistro Launches a Reservations and Guest-Management Platform for Restaurants

POS provider TouchBistro this week launched a reservation and guest management platform for restaurants that will compete with SevenRooms, Toast, and others.

Dubbed TouchBistro Reservations, the new platform integrates with TouchBistro’s existing POS system and offers restaurants better communication between the front and back of house, more channels for booking tables, and better data on customer preferences.

While Reservations works as a standalone app, when restaurants integrate it with TouchBistro’s POS, it creates a real-time connection between the front-of-house reservations system and the back-of-house POS. For example, when a server sends an order to the kitchen, the system not only tells the kitchen to start making the food, but also alerts the front of house of that table’s status. Same goes for when the food is served or a table pays a bill. Real-time status updates such as these make it easier for, say, the host to more accurately gauge wait times for other guests. The system also provides the kind of real-time data that’s become increasingly important for restaurants to have in order to better personalize the dining experience for customers: dietary preferences, customer spend, and even when a customer is a first-time guest at the restaurant.

Reservations also allows participating restaurant to accept bookings via Google Search and Maps, their own website, or TouchBistro’s own restaurant discovery app.

Reservations enters some crowded waters in terms of competition among guest-management platforms. NYC-based SevenRooms’ front-of-house-focused platform also offers deeper insights into customer data, and the company is currently testing a voice-tech layer s via Amazon Alexa. Toast’s platform — a mix of its own tech as well as numerous integrations with third-party partners — manages both front and back of house and includes hardware components. Square, Omnivore, and Resy are just a few more companies bringing various solutions to market to handle various aspects of restaurant guest management.

TouchBistro’s differentiation is the connection it provides between the front and back of house. As more tech enters restaurants, businesses increasingly look to solutions that make their operations more efficient without burdening staff with clunky devices or non-intuitive software. Having that seamless communication between what’s going on in the kitchen and dining room will be crucial going forward.