Technology is an extremely vast and rapidly changing industry, and it is quickly transforming the ways in which restaurants do business. The proliferation of the smartphone has impacted every facet of the industry, from behind the scenes advances that improve efficiency and profit margins, to smartphone applications for consumers. The relationship that restaurants have with their patrons is changing at the same pace as tech, and in order to stay relevant, restaurants need to identify these emerging trends, and start participating (as much as possible) in order to reach every customer possible.
There is a new smartphone app available, called "
Cover". Essentially, Cover saves a users credit card information, and then allows them to use the application to pay their bill at participating restaurants. The entire idea is that restaurants operate more efficiently by not having servers process payments, and consumers save time by not waiting for a bill. The other upside is that splitting the bill between friends becomes dead simple, so long as everyone in your party uses the application. With new applications such as Cover cropping up every day, it is clear that restaurants need to pay close attention to the technology scene, and be ready to adapt very swiftly to the latest consumer trends.
Recently, a group of friends and I decided to go out for dinner. While deciding on a restaurant, I opened my Yelp application on my smartphone and began searching through reviews for some various local establishments. We decided on a fairly new, trendy restaurant in our downtown area, based on the great initial reviews it had received. The other determining factor was OpenTable. The restaurant we chose uses the software for booking, which meant I could see that they had a table for 6 available at 7:30, and all I had to do was press a button on the restaurant's Yelp page. I booked the reservation, and pulled up the app "Uber" on my smartphone, which allowed me to schedule a car service to pick us up. Once we arrived and were seated, my friend "checked us in" at the restaurant on Facebook, then on Foursquare. Luckily, this tech savvy establishment also regularly updates their Foursquare listing, and we received a free appetizer for using the app to "check in". Our server then promptly brought us menus, which were actually computer tablets with a digitized list of dishes, complete with enticing photographs of lush wines and decadent chocolate deserts. During dinner, I posted a photograph of their well thought out menu to Twitter, and sent a Snapchat photo of my martini to a close friend across town. Just before we finished with dinner, I pulled up Yelp again, this time to find an open café, and once we were ready to go, I queued up walking directions on Google Maps. After the evening was over, I sipped a cup of tea and wrote a Yelp review for the restaurant on my tablet.
The purpose of that long winded story is to demonstrate that a rapidly increasing number of customers are using mobile technologies everywhere, for every step it takes them to reach your business. True, not everyone lives on their smartphone, but chances are high that a good portion of your customer base has gone digital. The fact that the restaurant I visited puts forth such a strong effort to have an online presence directly impacted my decision to visit, and their continued use of technology within the restaurant played a big part in why I will eat there again (the food was also fantastic, which helps). We've detailed before as to how consumer centric services such as Yelp can become major assists for restaurants (See:
Simple Social Media Tools for your Restaurant). With the ever growing list of services available - Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Foursquare, Instagram, Google +, Tumblr, Wordpress, Yelp, Urbanspoon, Zagat, OpenTable and now, Cover - it may seem like a daunting task to manage an online presence. However, these are what make up the core of the restaurant landscape from the perspective of consumers, and online engagement with your customers is a smart way to keep people interested in what you have to offer.
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