Monday, April 05, 2010

Restaurant 2.0 - New way to build customer relationships for a restaurant Biz



In one of my previous post,I did discuss about customer 2.0, celebrity 2.0, markets 2.0. There is a radical shift in every possible interaction that we are having in our daily routine, be it our work place, leisure, entertainment etc. If the interaction isn't remarkable, chances are that the business could be on the downward movement. 


Businesses are trying to re-look at the current relationship management strategy. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) 2.0 is all about evolving from its traditional focus on optimizing customer-facing transactional processes to include the strategies and technologies to develop collaborative connections  and strengthen the relationship with the new age social customers. In this post,wish to take up an unorthodox business category and  attempt to bring in the 2.0 perspective. Restaurant!!!


This category is of high intrigue because:
  • Restaurants do not have any data on consumer preferences. Every visit by a customer is treated as new visit
  • Customers have no way to remember the order preferences during their last visit hence one's ability to try new things could be limited
  • Consumer feedback about the restaurant is always on the overall experience and not necessarily about individual food items. Consumers do not tend to remember taste of the food beyond a day. Minimal scope to give or get feedback about specific food items at that instance
  • In a busy restaurant, one ends up waiting for a long time to place an order. This leads to delay in service hence negative experience
  • Consumers reviews are increasingly popular and is one of the determining factors for go/no-go decisions to visit a restaurant
  • The restaurant management is always on the lookout for cost save initiatives
In a competitive environment, restaurants are looking at new ways of differentiating themselves beyond just quality, variety ,presentation of food and restaurant ambiance. Valet parking, toddler seats and other complimentary services have now become 'me too' services. Today's tech savvy consumer is expecting each and every interaction to be remarkable.


What should a restaurant biz team do to improve customer loyalty and relationship?


Enter Restaurant 2.0


I will try and attempt to provide a point of experience (PoE) solution which will help solve all the issues aforesaid for an upmarket restaurant. The solution will provide:
  •  A remarkable experience for the customer as he will be able to  get reviews, real-time feedback ,recommendations using social media before making his choice
  • Tons of information for the Restaurant marketer which will help  provide personalized service/campaigns to encourage repeat visits, improve ticket size and improve other relevant business metrics.
Walk through of the remarkable experience for the customer at the restaurant
  • Customer enters a restaurant for lunch/dinner
  • Each dining table will have a touch pad computer instead of a physical menu card
  • Customer will log-in to his/family page or if it is his first visit then he will have to register
  • The home page will have the menu. The page will also showcase other recommendations like top chosen food item for the month, restaurant's specific recommendations for the customer, user review about each food item, food preference of the customer the last time he visited the restaurant and other related information
  • If the customer chooses to do a broadcast search on social media,he will have access to Facebook friends, fans page or any other social network to get real time opinions/suggestions 
  • The consumer can place the order through the touch pad without waiting for any human intervention
  • Once the food is served,the customer will have a choice to give real-time feedback about each food item ordered
  • Provide feedback on overall experience after finishing the lunch/dinner
  • Since the touchpad is connected to internet, the customer can pay the bill online which will possibly result in minimal service delays
This will truly be a remarkable experience for the customer and a good starting point for  strong collaborative connections & strengthening of  relationship between the new age social customer and the restaurant which is the whole proposition of CRM 2.0

I am sure skeptics will complain about the absence of human interaction with the customer while placing the order for food. The personalized home page will more than compensate for the human interaction. But am a convinced with Robert Cialdini's insight  " Civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about it". This insight explains the possibility for lesser inertia for change to this new technology intervention at a dinner table.


Looking to get a much more personalized service the next time I visit a restaurant... Possibly the Restaurant 2.0 way!!!

7 comments:

Abhishek Ahuja said...

Amazing article Rajesh. I am thinking aloud, a customer on most of the ocassions has already decided on the reataurant that he will be visiting. Before going to the restaurant physically, the customer can online search for the menu, get suggestions on whats best at that restaurant through social networking or Chef's suggestions kind of things, place the order, inform about the probable number of people visiting, approx time the customer will be arriving at the restaurant etc and when the customer arrives at the table real time serving happens. Another possible scenario if the customer is a frequent one, then he can see when all he had gone to the resto & what all he had. Kind of maintaining customer database which normally all big hotels do as part of CRM.

Anonymous said...

Good thought, Rajesh. I feel your idea would work.

BTW, I recently read about 'Cold Stone Creamery of Tempe' an ice shop like Baskin-Robbins, but offering a totally different experience. Check it out when you have time.

Rajesh Rangarajan said...

@Abhishek The thought of using CRM can create limitless possibilities. Your ideas are good and can be tried

@srivaths Thanks... Will read it

Anonymous said...

The cultural shift from joint family to nuclear family with husband and wife working, the service industry has got huge opportunity to make the unorganized services to organized. So, it becomes natural that experience of the consumer should be on high than mere service delivery. Your article exactly captures what a new age customer expects. Classic examples come to my mind are choosing our favoutire seats while booking our movie tickets. Even the same model is adapted by travels like KPN where people can book the window seats to enjoy the journey. Even restaurants can allow consumers to block their favoutire seats according to the occasion and mood and the consumer is always ready to pay premium for the experience.

Rajesh Rangarajan said...

@ Ramani,Thats a good thought

Srivaths said...

Rajesh,

check this link. A UK restaurant is executing ...
http://www.reuters.com/news/video/story?videoId=69643172&videoChannel=6

Ashwin said...

Rajesh:

First time here..Like your blog in general. Gives space to reflect on my pet (peeve)topic of services marketing.

I have some reservations about technology providing intrusive service. Often times consumers dont know what they miss by using technology.

1. In a harsh physical environment like a restaurant where your hands are not clean always, touchpads are not good to use!

2. Eating out has an element of surprise and discovery. Throwing an online process around it, takes the fun away from the moment (of being there and slowing down). Would you rather talk to the other person on food preferences or glued to a social food discovery process in facebook and rechecking it for real time updates when you are already hungry or kids are impatient?

3. RoI in most cases would be unjustifiable (Good service always has a cost and sometimes it cannot be passed on)

Parts of the idea are relevant (as the comments point out). But service standardization and technology intervention in a core experiential activity takes the fun out!

- Ashwin
www.ashwinramasamy.com