Multichannel communication: the restaurant owner’s challenge?
Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2024 10:44 am
In 2015, and after several years of decline, the out-of-home catering sector should finally return to growth. This breath of fresh air arrives in a sector that is undergoing major changes. New formats are emerging and consumer behavior is changing.
The importance of the Internet in general and social networks in particular are increasingly influencing the attendance and turnover of restaurateurs.
To build and preserve their image, they must not give up their rightful place in these new communication spaces.
Catering, a sector that is evolving
Restaurant-1.jpgThe restaurant sector has seen its attendance drop my database by just over 1% each year since 2010. This insignificant figure nevertheless represents some 100 million fewer consumers annually. This is one of the effects of the international financial crisis that hit the French economy hard. Restaurant owners have had to adapt quickly to this unfavourable context , but also to the arrival of new unexpected competitors and innovative concepts.
Because local shops also offer ready-to-eat products , and brands like Coffee Shops or Fast Casual continue to expand at a rapid pace. The Paul brand is expanding into cities with fewer than 40,000 inhabitants and Starbucks-type franchises are invading cultural spaces and train station concourses.
Independent restaurants have had to adapt their offerings by reducing their margins, creating “anti-crisis” menus or programming happy hour offers. Despite this, the traditional brasserie is finding it increasingly difficult to compete with fast food players who now account for 37% of the sector and continue to grow strongly.
The new consumer
Restaurant owners are discovering that the landscape has changed and that the character sitting at the center of their table is also very different from the one they have always known. In fact, no retailer knows as well how much time customers spend on their smartphones, tablets or laptops while they are at the table .
Restaurant-3.jpg
In 2014, a prestigious New York restaurant commissioned a study from an audit firm to understand the reasons for growing customer dissatisfaction with slow service. And indeed, a video analysis showed that ten years earlier, customers spent an average of 1 hour and 5 minutes at the table, a figure that had now risen to 1 hour and 55 minutes.
A detailed analysis showed that the consumer waited an average of 21 minutes before opening the menu (compared to 8 minutes in 2004). In the meantime, he took photos of the restaurant that he posted on his Facebook account or he chatted for almost 5 minutes with the waiter to find out how to access the WiFi.
Once the meal was served, consumers spent another 3 minutes taking a photo of their meal (directed to Facebook!), others continued working on their computer while chatting with a colleague via Skype and finally 25% of customers sent their meal back because it was cold. Too busy with their terminals, they also took 20 minutes longer than in 2004 to pay the bill.
Anecdotally, more than 50% of customer groups asked the server to take their photo , and 2 out of 10 customers walking through the restaurant collided with another consumer because they were texting on their smartphone.
Take control of your communication
Restaurant-2.jpgThanks to a transformation in social behaviors, restaurateurs discovered that their "physical" importance was being swept away by the constant exchanges of an invisible world that was grabbing their consumers. Present around their customers and on their plate, they were absent from their smartphone and could no longer capture their attention.
To revive this relationship and assert an identity, restaurateurs must clearly develop a web marketing strategy. Ideally, they must be present on social networks, they must develop their own content (video, photo, message, etc.) and they must communicate on the Net.
The pinnacle of this strategy is sending emails , SMS or MMS to customers to inform them of a new menu, a promotion or just to remind those who have not come for a while. Thanks to our multichannel marketing program , this strategy can be implemented quickly using standard formats designed specifically for the restaurant sector. Easy to handle, our program is also a very economical solution in terms of time and money.
Eventually, the restaurant will discover that the reason its customers are taking so long to sit down is because they are surfing the restaurant's Facebook or Twitter account or looking for the personalized invitation and QR Code that will allow them to benefit from an exclusive promotional discount.
Follow your customers in the 2.0 era and communicate with them via digital tools.
The importance of the Internet in general and social networks in particular are increasingly influencing the attendance and turnover of restaurateurs.
To build and preserve their image, they must not give up their rightful place in these new communication spaces.
Catering, a sector that is evolving
Restaurant-1.jpgThe restaurant sector has seen its attendance drop my database by just over 1% each year since 2010. This insignificant figure nevertheless represents some 100 million fewer consumers annually. This is one of the effects of the international financial crisis that hit the French economy hard. Restaurant owners have had to adapt quickly to this unfavourable context , but also to the arrival of new unexpected competitors and innovative concepts.
Because local shops also offer ready-to-eat products , and brands like Coffee Shops or Fast Casual continue to expand at a rapid pace. The Paul brand is expanding into cities with fewer than 40,000 inhabitants and Starbucks-type franchises are invading cultural spaces and train station concourses.
Independent restaurants have had to adapt their offerings by reducing their margins, creating “anti-crisis” menus or programming happy hour offers. Despite this, the traditional brasserie is finding it increasingly difficult to compete with fast food players who now account for 37% of the sector and continue to grow strongly.
The new consumer
Restaurant owners are discovering that the landscape has changed and that the character sitting at the center of their table is also very different from the one they have always known. In fact, no retailer knows as well how much time customers spend on their smartphones, tablets or laptops while they are at the table .
Restaurant-3.jpg
In 2014, a prestigious New York restaurant commissioned a study from an audit firm to understand the reasons for growing customer dissatisfaction with slow service. And indeed, a video analysis showed that ten years earlier, customers spent an average of 1 hour and 5 minutes at the table, a figure that had now risen to 1 hour and 55 minutes.
A detailed analysis showed that the consumer waited an average of 21 minutes before opening the menu (compared to 8 minutes in 2004). In the meantime, he took photos of the restaurant that he posted on his Facebook account or he chatted for almost 5 minutes with the waiter to find out how to access the WiFi.
Once the meal was served, consumers spent another 3 minutes taking a photo of their meal (directed to Facebook!), others continued working on their computer while chatting with a colleague via Skype and finally 25% of customers sent their meal back because it was cold. Too busy with their terminals, they also took 20 minutes longer than in 2004 to pay the bill.
Anecdotally, more than 50% of customer groups asked the server to take their photo , and 2 out of 10 customers walking through the restaurant collided with another consumer because they were texting on their smartphone.
Take control of your communication
Restaurant-2.jpgThanks to a transformation in social behaviors, restaurateurs discovered that their "physical" importance was being swept away by the constant exchanges of an invisible world that was grabbing their consumers. Present around their customers and on their plate, they were absent from their smartphone and could no longer capture their attention.
To revive this relationship and assert an identity, restaurateurs must clearly develop a web marketing strategy. Ideally, they must be present on social networks, they must develop their own content (video, photo, message, etc.) and they must communicate on the Net.
The pinnacle of this strategy is sending emails , SMS or MMS to customers to inform them of a new menu, a promotion or just to remind those who have not come for a while. Thanks to our multichannel marketing program , this strategy can be implemented quickly using standard formats designed specifically for the restaurant sector. Easy to handle, our program is also a very economical solution in terms of time and money.
Eventually, the restaurant will discover that the reason its customers are taking so long to sit down is because they are surfing the restaurant's Facebook or Twitter account or looking for the personalized invitation and QR Code that will allow them to benefit from an exclusive promotional discount.
Follow your customers in the 2.0 era and communicate with them via digital tools.