How The Diners Are Taking On Digital Trend
How The Diners Are Taking On Digital Trend

Digital trend is evolving and of course it affects both restaurants and the consumers. According to reports, seventy nine per cent diners feel that guest experience does improve if there is technology, forty two per cent would like to get their bills digitally and not as a printed paper receipt. There is also an interesting fact that consumer looks out for i.e., an online table reservation. A huge percentage is changing across the globe over technology and bringing a revolution in restaurant industry. It is an upcoming trend; the more you allow people to access digitally, the more they’ll come to you.

The foodservice industry is poised to outpace the economy for the 12th consecutive year with sales expected to reach $632 billion, a 3.5 per cent increase over 2011, according to the National Restaurant Association. And restaurants will reinvest a lot of this money in technology that gives them an edge.

Consumer Behaviour

Has someone ever wondered about what a consumer actually does before walking in to a restaurant? Consumer scouts for the best experience out there. Definition for the best restaurant is vague. Some cares about food when others want to have phenomenal service experience.

“Consumer’s behaviour has changed drastically over the past few years. It is such a hard work for the restaurateurs to beat the competition now days. Earlier, restaurant at a good location was enough to attract footfall but now they must deliver good food plus best service. And of course, being aggressively active on social media would do the magic. Gone are the days when customers were only limited to food but they need more now,” says Piyush Jain, Co- founder at Limetray. Customers now are able to discover the restaurants in much easier way as compared to before where the channels had entire control over what content they would want to show the customers.

Technical Impact on F&B Industry

Consumer is the king and pleasing him is not a piece of the cake. “Technology is helping restaurateurs to form their own database to connect with consumers and improvise in a better way. It is no less than a boon when operations and process are getting more complex. Also consumers are happy with technology coming in as it is more convenient,” avers Sameer Khadepaun, CEO & Co- founder at Mobikon Tech. Earlier, there was a need to educate the customer that why do they need a software but these days people are tech savvy so there’s no need to educate them on these basic grounds. People are aware that they need a system to run their business. It’s just to decide which system they want.

Engaging Consumers

“As a restaurateur, one must spend huge share of money on ideas to attract footfall at restaurants. But irony is restaurateurs stop doing anything once there is footfall. They need to build relation with them as hospitality industry is all about relations. That is where technology comes in; it helps in maintaining the database. It’s not about sending sms or e-mails daily but to create an amazing engagement cycle based on customer’s spend and interest. Restaurateurs have to basically create a complete ecosystem of engagement rather than doing a mass scale engagement,” adds Sameer.

 
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