TECH: Improving Your Guests’ Experience & Staff’s Service with Tabletop Technology
We ask the impossible of our waitstaff on a nightly basis. From greeting to departure, each party will interact with their server more than a dozen times. But how many of those visits can be automated, freeing up the staff for the more personal aspects of the job? Tabletop technology can improve both your staff’s service and your guests’ overall experience. Everything from allergy info, higher sales, bigger tips and quicker guest turnover.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Freddie Would’ve Approved
Your staff and guests are probably more talented than you thought. Sometimes those talents comes out in… interesting ways. Take, for example, this video of guests “playing” Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” on maple syrup bottles. It’s silly fun but sometimes that’s exactly what your guests need. Watch the video here.
Heal the World, Can You?
Can technology help solve the world’s biggest and most pressing challenges, e.g. poverty, hunger and climate change? According to the “Digital Society Index”, a report recently published by the Dentsu Aegis Network and Oxford Economics, consumers are rather skeptical about that, with only 42% of the 20,000 respondents from 10 countries agreeing that digital technology can help solve the biggest problems of our time. What do you think?
Beer Crisis
We’re already seeing the effects of climate change start to take its toll on the world, and a new study published in Nature Plants questions the future of beer. Specifically, an increase in temperature and extreme weather could cause a shortage of barley. This would cause beer consumption to drop about 16% globally (a year’s worth of beer consumed in the US), and for prices to double, on average. The future’s grim.
FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY
Why it matters to you: Create scarcity and urgency with special menu items for the holidays.
Restaurant marketers are always thinking about ways to refresh their message and improve their value proposition. One way major chain operators do that is by offering a limited-time only menu. Think McRib or the Arby’s Venison sandwich and you are getting the picture. Speaking of pictures, this gallery shows a plethora of fun ideas for menu items that look and taste great, but that are being run as limited-time offers to entice guests to visit.
This means more than just running an occasional special. To make this work, you must create both a seasonal connection that supports its relevance and an urgency for guests to visit so they can enjoy the new offering. Now is a great time to be prepping and promoting a seasonal menu for the holidays. With football traffic, you can notify so much more of your regular guest traffic about your special item or menu. Try something completely different than your current menu. For example, if you don’t do pizza, create a few simple pies and run them just from Thanksgiving until New Year’s Eve. It will energize your guests and get them wanting more for the New Year.
[Source: NationsRestaurantNews]
Ex-Machina [Movie Trailer]
Why it matters to you: Artificial Intelligence is coming to a restaurant near you, will it be ready?
Back in 2003, when SportsTV Guide began operations, it was apparent that technology was already a pervasive discussion in our industry. Fast forward to the present and that discussion has become even more ubiquitous and, as it turns out, esoteric. In fact, it’s so esoteric that we now have to consider the role that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will play in our future operations. As this blog points out, AI is already delivering results in agriculture and food supply management. It is only a matter of time before the enormous data trail created by our industry is inexorably connected to its capabilities.
Our industry has been substantially unchanged for thousands of years. One person who works hard can create an atmosphere and products that will succeed with consumers. With AI, the changes we might see will be so powerful we can’t even project them. Machine learning in the form of artificial intelligence is already impacting our businesses through some of the data managed by industry technology providers. The question remains: how it will impact our operations and business model? We don’t profess and answer, but we do know we all need to pay a little more attention to the debate, lest we find out too late our industry changed and we weren’t prepared.
[Source: Fortune]
