Restaurant digitization is on-the-rise across the country. While increased virtual ordering and marketing experiences are becoming an expectation among customers, restaurant employees are also being positively impacted by the efficiency and organization of digital technology improvements in their workspaces. As discussed in last week’s blog post, digital improvements focused on employee experience will directly affect the customer experience, and National Restaurant Consultants (NRC) owner and principal, Richard Weil said, “Many larger restaurant groups are recognizing the employee experience as essential to good customer service,” as it applies specifically to technology.
Social Hospitality calls this the Digital Revolution of the restaurant industry, and claims, “Virtual restaurants have revolutionized the dining landscape, emerging as dynamic culinary ventures. They’ve seamlessly blended convenience with innovation, successfully complementing the traditional physical restaurant. They’re the logical next step from physical restaurants that deliver. Restaurant technology remains at the heart of this transformation, redefining how we experience food.”
One recent example of a restaurant embracing new digital simplicity is Walk-On’s roll-out of a new app. “We spent a lot of time bringing this to life. I am obsessed with guest experience and so making sure that it was a seamless process was crucial,” Walk-On’s CEO Chris Porcelli said. In a recent Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN) article by Joanna Fontazzi, says “The new app not only has ease of use and frictionless navigation as a primary feature, but also adds a tiered, points-based rewards system that modernizes the Walk-On’s loyalty experience. The app also offers personalized limited-time offers and game-day promotions catered toward individual guest habits.”
This improved customer interface directly impacts on the employee experience as well. The app has “the ability to sync the app experience with what’s going on in-stores,” making a streamlined experience for both guest and staff.
In order to achieve this simple but smooth integration, Porcelli said that Walk-On’s decided to start from scratch rather than revamp any existing technologies they had in place. ““There’s a lot of technology out there that likes to sell you on all of these add-ons, but from my experience, we don’t want to just do this facelift and then a couple of years from now, have to redo it all over again,” he said.
And this is part of a larger strategy as Walk-On’s plans to expand to several more locations; with the new app in-place ahead of time, they were able to design it to accommodate this growth.
“As technology continues to advance, and especially in the foodservice industry, operators need to be keenly aware that it is still not a replacement for hospitality,” writes Richard Weil, principal and owner of National Restaurant Consultants. “Guests are still seeking the basic needs from employees: welcoming the guests, smiling at them, talking to them, and thanking them. Technology is a tool that operators must continue to embrace, but recognize the balance of technology and continued hospitality.”