Integrating
technology and food marketing is second nature for technology companies the ilk
of Facebook. What is a surprise to most
foodservice industry veterans is the rate of customer adoption of these new
avenues of foodservice distribution according to Tacoma, WA based Foodservice
Solutions® Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson.
Table
service restaurants the ilk of TGI Fridays is letting customers
pay the bill with Amazon accounts all the while US based pizza chain
restaurants are in a every expanding battel for pizza technology leadership.
Restaurant
industry competition is getting increasingly aggressive about technology, ever
sector seemingly has enlist either Facebook or Amazon in their race to make it easier
for customers to order and pay for their food fast and seamlessly.
Recently TGI Fridays
began letting customers pay their bill using their Amazon accounts. All the
while the pizza sector chains are locked
in an escalating battle to adopt new ordering methods -- a contest that
involves chat bots, voice-activated devices and social networks.
Brandon Rhoten, Papa John’s chief marketing
officer, recently went so far as to declare itself an “e-commerce company” this
month after delivering surprisingly strong results. “We’re much more close, I
would argue, to Amazon than we are to a brick-and-mortar restaurant”.
When it seems as if
Millennials the most coveted base of consumers for food marketers are living on
their phones technology becomes even more important. The fact is 69% of
consumer’s look-up restaurant locations, menus, and pricing at least once a
month according to B. Hudson Reihle of
the National Restaurant Association.
Papa John’s Rhoten noted that “An
online ad, for instance, can be turned into an order with a few clicks. Most
other restaurant chains are still figuring out how to get customers to do that”,
..It’s a “fundamental shift that most in the category haven’t taken advantage
of,”
Papa John’s began
accepting orders on Facebook in June, and the feature was an instant hit:
Hundreds of orders flowed in during the first few hours. In all forms, digital
orders now make up over 60 percent of Papa John’s sales. It must be noted that
our own Grocerant Guru® was helping Cybermeals sign Papa John’s as
the first national US chain restaurant to have online ordering.
Now
both Domino’s and Pizza Hut, are experimenting with chat bots. Chat bots are a platform that let users maker
orders via Facebook Messenger and Twitter Inc.’s service. Through conversation,
the bot finds out whether you want to order one of your favorites or see the
latest deals. Shake Shack Inc. unveiled a similar chat-bot program
in August as part of a push for more online orders.
TGI Fridays has
become the first restaurant chain to let people pay with their Amazon accounts
-- a new wrinkle in the convenience wars. Rather than fumbling with wallets and
finding credit cards, customers use the Amazon app on their phones it’s fast
familiar, and friendly.
One company still
outshines all others when it comes to technology that company is Starbucks. The Starbucks app has become so popular that
it’s creating new traffic patterns. Customers bypass the registers and bunch
up around
the pickup area of cafes, creating slowdowns and hassles. The coffee giant has
been working to fix the problem this year.
What’s
next? Voice-activated devices are the
new frontier with Amazon and Google in a battle with new star-up solutions
searching for a way to capture some attention.
Our own Grocerant Guru® believes that voice ordering of groceries,
restaurant meals and anything Togo will become the new path to purchase.
Are you ready for
some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday
that tomorrow? Visit www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information
or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success
does leave clues and we just may the clue you need to propel your continued
success.
