MARKETING: Six Tips for Creating Restaurant Customer Personas
Do you know why your guests choose you over your competitors? Or why a regular you used to see at least once a week stopped coming in? If you said no to either or both, you’re missing out on the valuable insights that customer personas can provide. These aren’t just marketing gimmicks or buzzwords we’re talking about. Customer personas can unify your business and help you and your staff develop a strong understanding of who your guests really are. So, here’s how to get it done.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Fired for TikTok Mac & Cheese
A Panera Bread employee was fired from their job after posting a TikTok video of how Panera’s mac and cheese is packaged and prepared. You can watch the video here, but in short: they dunk a pre-packaged bag of pasta and sauce into boiling water. Apparently, this is a bit shocking to some. Panera defended their prep process, but still fired the employee – though they wouldn’t comment on why they fired her.
Who Dems are Supporting in 2020
The polling averages from Real Clear Politics show Senator Elizabeth Warren pulling just a hair above former Vice President Joe Biden. Warren has steadily improved her standings in the polls, rising from an average of 18% of voters backing her in early September to 26.6% just a month later. Former Vice President Joe Biden has fallen about three points over the past month, while Senator Bernie Sanders has similarly experienced a three percent drop in his numbers.
Beer Recipe Theft
Anheuser-Busch is claiming MillerCoors partook in corporate espionage by stealing A-B’s beer recipes and trade secrets. The two brewer companies have been in a heated legal battle since March, when MillerCoors filed a lawsuit against A-B for false and misleading ads relating to MillerCoors use of corn syrup in beer production. This complaint by A-B ups the ante a bit. A-B says two former employees (now working for MillerCoors) “shared confidential trade secrets” and “sought information from current employees” of A-B.
IT’S ABOUT THE CHILDREN
Why it matter to you: Reliable childcare is a challenge for employees in our industry
Our industry has always been a place where single parents struggle to arrange childcare so they can work until the wee hours of the night. Also, consider how many of your staff work nights for you while their spouse works days just to ensure their children are safe. With those two thoughts in mind, we want to tell you about Camilla Marcus, owner of west~bourne in New York, and her efforts to provide free, flexible, and proximate childcare.
Marcus partner with Vivvi --a childcare start-up that aims a more flexible, employer-sponsored daycare -- and convinced them to extend hours to 2 a.m. From there, the restaurant accessed some federal and state programs to reduce the cost to just $50/day. Marcus has determined that price is worth it to ensure her best staff are able to work with the peace of mind that their children are being care for as they do.
Of all the benefits we have reviewed over the years, this is by far the most ambitious. It’s also among the most humane. Sure, paid time off is another example of caring for hourly workers, but by providing them reliable childcare, you deliver value to them that transcends having a cold. In fact, the commitment Marcus is showing to her staff will both attract better quality folks that have struggled with childcare arrangements, but also send a message to her team that their families matter as well. So often in the restaurant business, we spend more time with our team at work than our own immediate families. Marcus seems to be taking that relationship to heart by providing a safety and security heretofore unheard of in our industry. We sure hope she can sustain it and certainly we can all learn from it.
[Source: Eater]
THE EYE IN THE SKY
Why it matter to you: Should cameras in your restaurant be used to surveille your team?
Speaking of looking out for employees, an Outback Steakhouse franchisee is engaging in a test to use their existing security cameras to observe staff members as they go about their jobs. They are partnering with a company called Presto Vision to utilize a computer vision approach to managing employee performance. Using existing security cameras, the machine learning software reviews actions like table visits and ticket times and then delivers the manager metrics at the end of shift concerning the efficiency of their staff. Presto Vision will monitor factors like how crowded the lobby is and how many customers decide to leave rather than wait for a table. The idea is that not only can you get feedback on employee performance, but a manager could also be alerted when the lobby enters a critical situation to ensure they support their staff.
There is no doubt this is an important ethical concern for both managers and employees. It’s unlikely that staff will welcome this over the shoulder look at everything they do. Managers may like the data on performance and the chance to address problems before they go critical, but how will they feel when it’s turned on them by their own supervisor? There is no doubt a tool that allows you to render staff interaction shift by shift will help improve restaurant performance. However, this can also be abused, is intrusive and, frankly, a highly ethically questionable. Where do the cameras end? Bathrooms? Break area? Your office? No, not every technology should be implemented and this particular one should only be engaged after we have all had a chance to better understand its implications on our humanity.
[Source: Wired]
