The Future or Right Now?

With the age of the smart phones, tablets and the mobile Internet, how will you get your patrons to post and share good experiences about your restaurant? How will you monitor for and respond to any negative feedback? Without telling you, will you know if Danny at table 8 is posting on Facebook that his steak is too well done? How about Jessica in the lounge tweeting her friends to meet her at your establishment? Could you quickly handle the influx of more patrons?

Technology is becoming more intertwined with our everyday lives and communication is becoming easy and instant.

Now, how about taking it a few steps further:

The Menu. Every restaurant has one. How has is changed in the past 5, 10, 50 years?

Why not rethink the menu and how orders are placed? Give your patrons an electronic copy of your menu on an Internet enabled tablet. Have them sign up as an user on the menu. This will give you access to their information in order to create better demographic data and give them customized menu offerings.

What a great dinner! Have your patrons in real time rate their meals and service. This would quickly enable your patrons to post reviews, comments and more about your establishment on social media networks and review sites. Enable and encourage reviews but make sure you reward them!

Got Deals? Having a slow dinner or lunch service? Utilize your social media fans and followers in order to fill your establishment on a slow night by offering a discount or offering. You can even let them know that there are no wait times. Who would not want to know that there are no or limited wait times? How about offering your clients free dessert with a meal purchase if they check-in at your location, give you a great review or send a referral.

Technology and Social Media will start moving the hospitality industry forward… It is just limited to our imagination.