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Creating experiences for your customers that they will remember can strengthen the bond they feel with your restaurant and brand. According to ATN Event Staffing, “Seventy-seven percent of marketers use experiential marketing as a vital part of a brand’s advertising strategies.” Experiential marketing can lead to an increase in customer loyalty and help you better

While many consumers frequent restaurants and dine-in, there’s also a growing number of people turning to third-party food delivery apps to dine at home. And while on the surface third-party delivery can be an excellent complement to your business and help you acquire new customers and drive incremental revenue, the hidden threat is less obvious.

Meet Oath Pizza. Oath started out in 2015, in a 400-square-foot store in Nantucket, MA. In a world where pizza can be found nearly anywhere and everywhere, the founders knew they needed to stand out amidst all the other pies in town. To do so, they created a crust that’s seared in avocado oil that

The traditional dining out experience has changed. Consumers are trading tables and waitstaff for living room couches and to-go boxes. Fueling the change is a stream of third-party delivery apps that give consumers the ability to fulfill their every craving with a few swipes on their phone. The online ordering craze is even shaping brick-and-mortar

Fast-casual restaurants certainly have their own unique needs when it comes to online marketing. Since your objective is to reach a certain type of audience, you may learn toward certain digital marketing strategies. If you’re a fast-casual restaurant, here are five proven marketing strategies that will help you meet your core objectives. Explore Your Options

Whether you’ve got one, or multiple, locations for your fast casual restaurant, you’ve got competition for the hearts, minds, and appetites of consumers seeking a fast meal. In this post, we’ve assembled 26 ways to help your fast casual restaurant thrive…not just survive. Digital Domination With so much happening outside your brick-and-mortar walls, and with

In today’s delivery-driven environment, your restaurant can offer delivery without having to do it on your own.  And in a fast-paced industry where offering such conveniences is essential, third-party delivery systems provide a huge relief for restaurants. The only caveat is that these services can come at a high price, especially when margins are already

Using targeted offers in your marketing strategy is a no-brainer. They allow you to create campaigns based on specific customer data that can increase customer engagement and create a customer who is likely to visit and spend more resulting in a higher customer lifetime value and increases to your bottom line. Think about it. Rather

While pizzerias are wildly popular around the world, they face a myriad of challenges decreased foot traffic, to hits to margin due to third-party delivery dependencies. But you can face these challenges head-on and use them to get a bigger slice of the revenue pie as the more you know who your customers are, the

It’s a global problem with an impact that makes waves far beyond your bottom line: food waste. And today, where consumers want to align themselves with socially-conscious businesses across the board that embrace their own values, along with the access to insights and information about the impact of industry waste, simply turning a blind eye

Are the average of ten to fourteen marketing systems, each with their own unique, perhaps niche, function becoming too much to handle in your restaurant marketing tech stack? While many restaurant marketing roles have become ‘all about the stack’, the truth is, your marketing stack might be hurting your customer experience. Consolidating a marketing tech

Targeted and segmented campaigns can drive or change customer behavior. For example, if you are opening a new pizzeria, you can build a segmented list of customers who live within a 10-mile radius from the new location and send them a personalized campaign with information and a discount during the grand opening. The more data

It’s no secret that the labor market can put pressure on brick and mortars. Unfortunately, the pinch isn’t letting up just yet. CNBC reports that some 20 states are forecasted to raise their minimum wages in 2019. The raise will surely put added pressure on restaurants’ bottom lines in an already competitive industry. Additionally, it’s

Having more than one restaurant location presents its own unique challenges. One of the greatest is maintaining consistency across every location. The best way to ensure that your various restaurant locations maintain a regular output is to set clear benchmarks within an umbrella standard that they can adhere to. If not, online ratings and reviews

Knowledge is power. And, so is data. Staying on top of everything from industry trends to insights means empowering yourself to chart your course forward and grow your restaurant business in 2019 and beyond. In this post, we’ve captured relevant industry stats that we think every restaurant operator will find worth knowing. Industry Trends Want

It only takes one. One customer with one negative experience who sends out one Tweet, post, Snap, or story to tarnish a reputation. Or, take down a business completely. From resorts whose reputation tanked in the wake of one disgruntled guest, to restaurants who can’t seem to grow their client base because of a couple

The stats for restaurant online ordering certainly aren’t slowing down, in fact, 86% of consumers are using off-premise services at least monthly and companies are finding new, unique ways to re-shape the food ordering process. Because of this, third-party food ordering companies and start-ups have emerged in recent years, fighting for their share of the

Word-of-mouth marketing is the most influential form of marketing to date. If a friend or family member raves about a particular restaurant, bar, or eatery, you’re most likely to respond with “I’ll have to try it!” That being said, sparking word of mouth marketing for your restaurant and reaping its benefits relies heavily on creating

Just about everything we do these days is online, from mobile banking to purchasing to signing contracts. Sharing sensitive information, such as your credit card data to a trustworthy, online entity can be safe, efficient, and convenient. With the emergence of encryption and other cyber-security measures, the information we give to a myriad of technology

Targeted offers are the perfect way to reach the right customer at the right time, especially when it comes to driving traffic. Each customer has their own behavioral patterns and merchants can use customer data to send targeted offers that directly increase foot traffic during a specific time or part of the week. Day-part and week-part offers

  Restaurants have long struggled with the wax and wane of discretionary consumer spending which directly impacts how often people eat out. What if you had a predictable ROI model for foot traffic that would enable you to shorten the time between consumer visits and bring your very best customers back again and again? Data

Is that the sound of happy restaurant owners dancing on the tables we hear? For the first time since August 2015, restaurants posted a 2% increase in sales store sales growth according to NRN.com. In this post, we’ll examine some of the factors that influenced the increase and how restaurants can keep that growth going

The technology era has allowed information sharing to sky-rocket. More than ever, people are sharing details about their social lives including where they are, who they’re with, and what they’re doing. Today’s connected consumers want to have an emotional connection with the places they eat, drink, and work and many of them want to share

Food delivery is in high demand. Eighty-six percent of consumers are now using delivery services on a regular basis, according to research from Technomic. Customers can order almost anything with just a few taps on their smartphones. It’s fast and convenient, but is it costing restaurants their customers? Delivery has a dark side. There are additional expenses

As the first snowflakes of winter begin to fall outside our windows we are reminded: Winter is Coming. And we all know what that means. Winter weather can have a major impact on foot traffic and revenue. With fewer people venturing out in the cold and more people using delivery service or hunkering down to Netflix and

Dewey’s Pizza has been the place to go for pizza in Cincinnati, OH since 1998.  The popular pizza joint has been growing ever since and now has 25 locations in Dayton, Cleveland, Columbus, St. Louis, and Kansas City. Dewey’s fans love the open kitchen where they can watch their hand-tossed pizza being made with gourmet ingredients,

Customer loyalty is important to any business, but it’s especially essential to a restaurant, where loyal customers are the bread and butter (or in this case the dough and sauce) of the business. Pinthouse Pizza, a brewery, and pizzeria based in Austin, serves up delicious fare and rewards the customers who help them grow their

Is your restaurant losing customers? Well, you’re not the only one experiencing the pain. According to research by TDn2K, October restaurant traffic declined 2.2%, an 80-basis-point drop from the previous month. Interestingly enough, the same report states same-store sales increased by 0.8 percent. However, this rise in sales is largely due to restaurants rising prices, not from

Every business wants glowing reviews from customers, but that’s not always reality. These days’ customers make their feelings known on public review sites like Yelp. Merchants feel like they have two options: spend countless hours trying to manage their reputation online or ignore the site altogether, hoping it’s a passing trend like slap bracelets or

As most businesses grow they reach the stage of adding new locations. Opening a new location is exciting and comes with a myriad of to-dos and logistics to handle. Often, business owners forgot that they need to engage their existing customers and attract new customers when they open a new location. In this post, we’ll share

Pizza marketing is full of unique challenges and obstacles for pizza restaurant operators. Options for pizza have gone through the roof, from crusts to styles, ingredients, and oven types. Add in delivery, take-out, eat-in, food trucks, robot made pizza and nearly every other option and you begin to understand why you need a solid pizza

The pizza market continues to grow, and the big players continue to innovate: From Pizza Hut doubling down on mobile ordering growth, to Dominos going to “zero-click” ordering, everyone is trying to leverage technology to better serve their customers while standing out from the crowd. To succeed in this environment, Here are the top five pizza marketing strategies

At the recent Citi Emerging Restaurant Forum in NYC, Citi Managing Director Brian Anton kicked things off with a review of some of the major trends the bank has observed across the industry. First and foremost, is a major shift in the drivers of restaurant valuations — traffic is King. Gone are the days of

¨When choosing a favorite restaurant, customers look for an inviting atmosphere, delicious food, and excellent service. While having these qualities at your restaurant is crucial to maintaining a steady flow of customers, data is a must when it comes to increasing foot traffic and ROI. How can you make sure “off hours” still draw customers in, and

Customers expect great food, excellent service, and affordable prices from full-service restaurants — but even if you have all three of these things, there’s no guarantee that your restaurant will be successful and that you will drive revenue growth. Customer loyalty and engagement is crucial when it comes to increasing your revenue — the more

Full-service restaurant marketing is evolving by the minute. Today’s restaurants need sophisticated, data-backed channels to connect with guests, keep them returning, and get new faces coming in the door. Digital marketing is a fantastic way to get more out of your marketing spend and capture data-driven insights about your guests. Restaurant guests are increasingly using

Blazin’ Rewards loyalty program: hit or miss? Buffalo Wild Wings, known affectionately as “B-Dubs,” rolled out a pilot loyalty program in select markets across the US. “Blazin’ Rewards” awards points to customers for anything from eating at Buffalo Wild Wings to checking in with their friends. From their website:  “[the program] exists to reward you for doing what you already

Fast & Cheap is gaining ground over Fine Dining In the age of instant gratification, “Fast Casual” is the hottest restaurant genre: just last year, Fast Casual dining grew 10.4% (a staggering $3.4 billion increase), making it the fastest-growing segment of the entire restaurant industry. These fast casual brands invest heavily in savvy digital marketing techniques to keep