Cameras are coming
Get ready to see a lot more cameras in restaurants. As chains look to fine-tune operations, they are installing cameras that can gather data and help ensure that employees are executing.
Some restaurants owned by franchisee Sizzling Platter are using cameras to assess whether employees are assembling products correctly and identify potential training moments, for instance.
“It’s starting to seep in a lot more,” said Jim Balis, Sizzling Platter’s board leader. He noted that the technology has come a long way in recent years.
‘The worst thing you can do is have good marketing’
If an engaging marketing campaign brings someone into your restaurant, and they have a bad experience, that marketing was wasted, said George Felix, CMO of Chili’s.
“The mantra we have on our team is, ‘Marketing brings them in, and operations brings them back,’” Felix, whose marketing efforts have helped turn around the casual-dining chain, said Tuesday. “And so that’s a partnership that we take very seriously.”
All of the flashy advertising or social media relevancy will only lead to angry customers if the restaurant’s roof is leaky, the tables are wobbly and there aren’t enough servers.
“All facets of the operations need to be working and working well for us to be able to accommodate the traffic,” Felix said.
A contrarian view on data
It’s conventional wisdom in the industry that customer data is valuable and worth fighting for. Jim Bitticks, president and COO of Dave’s Hot Chicken, has the opposite view.
“Data shmata,” he said during a panel discussion. He’s not convinced that collecting reams of customer info and using it to send out emails with special offers is worth the investment.
Dave’s prefers a more organic approach to marketing. It drives a lot of attention—and traffic—through social media, particularly TikTok, where it has more than 3 million followers. That strategy has made it one of the fastest-growing chains in the industry, including 57% sales growth last year, per Technomic.
It doesn’t really need to market to customers one on one, Bitticks said, because they’re coming in anyway. For now, at least.
Meet customers where they are
It’s not a new phrase, but it has popped up again and again at this week’s event, and in a few different contexts.
It often refers to ordering channels. Restaurants today need to give customers multiple ways to order, from third-party aggregators to native web ordering, phone ordering and kiosks, because consumers don’t all order the same way every time.
“Customers don’t think in channels, they think in cravings, and it’s really our job to meet them where they are,” said Olivia Bartus, senior client partner with Uber.
But the idea could also refer to price points, exemplified by the popularity of barbell pricing strategies in restaurants. Chili’s Grill and Bar, for instance, offers a sliding scale of margaritas, from $6 all the way up to $16—and has more than doubled its sales in the $10 range.
“Not every consumer wants a $6 margarita,” said Kevin Hochman, CEO of Chili’s owner Brinker International. “Just meet the consumer where they are.”
The bottom line: When consumers get picky, restaurants need to give them options.
AI as a review responder
Restaurant operators are using AI to respond to customer comments and reviews and save employees time. In the “Franchisees Leading with Innovation” panel, Robin Robison, president of emerging brands for Thrive Restaurant Group and a large Applebee’s franchisee, reported that AI generates a response based on a review, and a team member can personalize or edit it.
Erik Knolt, CEO of TikiTaco, does the same with his smaller, three-unit chain. At the innovation session, “Future of Food: Innovating for Tomorrow’s Consumer,” he explained that AI generates the response, and a team member edits it. This allows them to respond immediately.
Another takeaway from Knolt: He increased revenue per-square-foot in one of his restaurants by partnering with a local hospital. TikiTaco now creates Taco Tuesday every week for the hospital employees, feeding several hundred more customers per week.
Stepping out of a menu comfort zone
When tapping into trends to keep menus relevant, it’s important to stay true to your brand, said Bitticks of Dave’s Hot Chicken. But sometimes it’s not a bad idea to step outside your comfort zone.
Last year, Dave’s Hot Chicken introduced fried cauliflower on the menu, dubbed Dave’s NOT Chicken. It was the idea of co-founder Arman Oganesyan, who first proposed it to Bitticks and others on the executive team. At the time, Bitticks said, he thought it would be "weird." So, the idea was put off to one side.
Then he saw a post or article that Chick-fil-A was testing a cauliflower thing. “We literally had it up and running in a week. And we ended up rolling it out less than one year later,” he said.
It was tested, put into a few markets and data was collected. “We found that 80% of the guests that were coming in had never come to Dave’s before, but were coming for cauliflower, and 60% of them were women, and we skew more for guys. So, it was one of those moments where, this is kind of like a no brainer.”
The veggie ended up becoming a significant sales booster. Now it’s on the menu on a seasonal basis, like McDonald’s did the McRib.
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