Developing A Restaurant Tech Strategy

June 26, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Food Tech Connect will be hosting a series of classes on June 28th in NYC on how to save money on technology in a restaurant. The first class in the series will touch upon how to choose the POS system best suited for your restaurant, how to budget for your restaurant IT and how to drive more traffic and keep customers coming back. Overall the class will teach how to create a tech strategy that is straight forward and that will save you time and money. Mike Dulle, who leads the Restaurant & Bar Initiative at ShopKeep POS, will be leading this first 90 minute class.

Here are a few of the steps that will be covered in the class:

  1. Operational Setup: tech to purchase (Hardware & Network), website creation, POS
  2. Workforce Management: employee scheduling, payroll
  3. Demand Generation: reservations, local business listings, menu management, yelp
  4. Customer Retention: loyalty, email marketing, social media

The second class in the series is taught by Felicia Stingone, former Senior Managing Director of Brand and Marketing for Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group. The class focuses on different marketing strategies and how to really leverage and build your brand.

Here are a few takeaways from the class:

  • Learn about the marketing strategies restaurant powerhouses use to grow their business
  • Get an inside look at how to start to leverage “brand” to scale a business, from opening more doors or new concepts to publishing books and launching products
  • Walk away with insights and practical tactics that you can use to shape a brand strategy and develop a marketing plan to help grow your business.

The last part of the series is a panel led by the founders of Culintro, Easy Pairings and Culinary Agents. The panel discussion will focus on how to streamline hiring processes and which technologies can help make this process easier. It will also share tips on how to empower employees to succeed and give an insight into how these three startups are working to improve and simplify the hiring process.

The series welcomes already established brands as well as startups and anything in between. The course will take place on June 28th in NYC but will also become available online on Aug 6. To read more about the event click here

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Mobile Payment Solutions Explained

June 9, 2014 by Leave a Comment

This past Thursday, our team at Tarapaige Group attended a Webinar event about mobile payments hosted by LevelUp and QSR magazine. Lysa Chen, Marketing Director of Chop’t and Michael Hagan, COO of LevelUp, shared their insights into how to avoid mistakes big brands are making, how to drive revenue, and how to achieve a successful customer adoption.

A few mistakes big brands are making in their implementation of mobile payment apps is that they are creating the app off of a loadable gift card model. What this means is that although the app is free in the app store, the customer is then being asked to invest in the brand via the price tag for their gift card. The redemption methods are also confusing as the customer must open the app, log in, load the gift card which has a numerical code and then give this code to the cashier. If after this whole process the cashier is not aware or trained, it will result in a very frustrated customer. It is important that the staff is trained and that the app provide more value than a gift card or than simply swiping a credit or debit card.

Lysa Chen stressed upon the power of promotion for a successful implementation. She suggested creating campaigns for app adaption such as loyalty programs and a way to earn and redeem rewards. She recommended a “spend x get y” loyalty program to drive revenue as opposed to a “10th visit get a free item” approach because this limits the potential of the additional spend.  Chop’t also launched an acquisition contest to celebrate the app whereby every transaction made by the customer  using the mobile app was automatically entered to win $100. Another one of Chop’t’s best practices was to distribute FAQ flyers to the customers and have the staff in the queue engaging with the guests directly to promote the app.

Most importantly, when implementing a mobile payment system the emphasis should be put on the ease of use in the digital experience and improving overall efficiency. The goal is to add as much value to the app as possible and to apply campaigns based on the insights received on customer behavior. Lysa Chen and Michael Hagaan drove these points home in what was a very informative and helpful Webinar event.

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Advancement of Mobile Payments in the Restaurant Industry

June 5, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Starbucks was the first to adopt mobile payments back in 2011, and now other brands are quickly getting on board. As mobile payments become increasingly more available, customers will begin to expect the service, so brands are now navigating through their options on how to launch their own mobile payment systems. At a panel held last week by the National Restaurant Association, brand representatives stated that mobile payments are moving toward the mass adoption stage and are no longer in the early stages.

Mobile payments offer the benefit of providing an insight into consumer’s purchasing behaviors and this information in turn can be used to influence such behaviors in order to better engage with the customer. Mobile payments also mean lower interchange rates and more secure payments. Restaurant brands will need to explore different technologies that can help facilitate payments at the point-of-sale and decide which will be a good fit.

Here are just a few of these types of technologies:

  • NFC
  • QR code presentment
  • QR code scan
  • Single use number
  • iBeacon technology

To read more about the benefits of mobile and the technologies, click here

 

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz, Local Market Buzz, Trending Now Tagged With: ,

Fast Casual Packaging Webinar presented by Borax Paper – May 27th

May 15, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Join Borax and Genpak for this 30 minute Webinar on the growing brand usage of Packaging for your fast casual concept. Join on May 27th 11am – 11:30 and learn about…
• The different types of take-out packaging and how to choose the right solution for your concept
• Tips for choosing the best type of packaging to motivate the sales process
• How environmental and state legislations will have an affect on available packaging options
• An insider’s perspective to the potential ban on polystytrene and alternative materials to keep the government off your back. BORAX PAPER WEBINAR PACKAGING SIGNUP

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“Secret” Menus, or Not-So-Secret Menus…

December 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Mark Wilson, contributing writer at Fast Co. Design, detailed the ins and outs of “secret” menus at restaurants including Chipotle, Starbucks and In-N-Out Burger. Chipotle’s “Quesarito,” Starbucks’ 170,000 customizable beverage permutations and In-N-Out’s “animal-style” fries are a few of the secret (or not-so-secret) menu options that add to these restaurants’ mystique and allure.

“I think of it as the customer’s the brand manager,” Chris Arnold, Chipotle’s Communication Director says. “The experience of the public is something different for everyone, like an iPod in a way. How many billions and billions of iPods are in circulation, and yet no two [playlists] are alike. You buy a burrito, I buy a burrito. We pay the same thing for it, and they’re two very different things.”

Read about Wilson’s comically relentless quest to order the arcane “Quesarito” at Chipotle, amongst his other classified culinary discoveries.

Filed Under: Heard on The Street, Operations, Trending Now Tagged With: , , , , ,

10 Food Terms that Have Lost Meaning

December 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Huffington Post compiled a list of food terms that have become void of meaning. This is in large part from commercial companies throwing around terms for marketing purposes without considering their actual meanings— like the word “natural” which has no formally recognized definition. It’s also because these adjectives have become omnipresent in general, so consumers have stopped questioning their significance. The list includes:

  1. Artisan/Artisanal
  2. Local
  3. Natural
  4. Farm-To-Table
  5. Authentic
  6. Gourmet
  7. New American
  8. Modern
  9. Fusion
  10. Sustainable
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Chef John Besh’s Latest Venture: The BeshBox

November 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Acclaimed New Orleans born-and-bred Chef John Besh recently added one more concept to his ever-growing brand: The BeshBox. Subscribers can find everything from edible delicacies to kitchen tools to signature washcloths. In response to what triggered him to develop his newest project, Chef Besh claimed, “It’s all part of the same thing, trying to make people happy through food and making the world a better place. That’s my line, and I’m sticking to it.”

One BeshBox is priced at $55; three are $160 and six months are $330.

As for the benefits of The BeshBox, Besh reveals, “I always thought if it’s handled properly, it would be such an asset. It’s not just a small gift every month. It starts to stock pantries and spice racks, and you can have the recipe cards all together. This thing can, and will, continue to grow and evolve.”

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McDonald’s Nixes Dollar Menu

November 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment

In recent times, McDonald’s once very successful Dollar Menu has been hurting business. McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson explained the benefits of the new “Dollar Menu & More,” explaining that the menu “gives customers a value ladder of sorts, so that based upon their discretionary spending, they have multiple offers at McDonald’s.”

In conclusion, $1 items will remain, but the focus has shifted to $2 and $5 items. Many wonder why the “Dollar Menu & More” isn’t just called “the menu”.

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz Tagged With: , ,

Gourmet Menus Leads to Increased Sales

November 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment

In the fast casual world, the pressure to keep up with the competition is increasing with the introduction of high-end options. A basic ham-and-cheese sandwich is no longer enough to satisfy the masses; customers now prefer gourmet options.

Fortunately, the gourmet trend in fast-casual restaurants doesn’t have to break the bank. A little goes a long way in this case, and product branding has more of an impact than the quantity of the product actually used.

Flatburger, for example, recently introduced the Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard Mushroom Swiss Flatburger. The key ingredients: mayonnaise, Grey Poupon and sautéed mushrooms, are not expensive. In fact, Kraft produces the Grey Poupon mustard that Flatburger uses. However, branding the sandwich with “Grey Poupon” in the title leaves the customer with the impression that they are investing in a “gourmet” product, which is ultimately what they prefer.

Small steps like rebranding products to include “gourmet” names may lead to increased sales.

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz, Trending Now Tagged With: , , ,

Global Brand Simplicity

November 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Less is more.

New York-based global branding firm, Siegel + Gale, concluded the seemingly obvious, according to their 2013 Global Brand Simplicity Index. The firm found that when consumers perceive a business as simple, they’re more likely to return or spend money there.

Noteworthy findings:

  • 30% of people are willing to pay more for simplified experiences.
  • Restaurant customers in the U.S. would pay up to 4% more if the dining-out experience was simpler
  • 75% of consumers are more likely to recommend a brand that provides simpler experiences and communications.

Currently, McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut are among the frontrunners for most-simplified restaurant experiences as perceived by consumers.

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz, Trending Now Tagged With: , ,
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