Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the study of building computer systems that take initial human inputs and learns to perform functions autonomously over a period of time. The concept of AI applies to any process that involves decision making and working based on data. In the restaurant industry, AI, coupled with integrated data analysis, aids the process of making your restaurant more customer-centric. Using customer data, your restaurant managers can make better decisions in terms of marketing campaigns or taking a customer’s order. Without proper data, a restaurateur is unable to make strategic business decisions. According to a study on the growth rate of the F&B industry due to the incorporation of Artificial intelligence tools, the CAGR is expected to grow at a rate of over 65.3% during the period, 2019-2024.
AI And Data Become The Core Of Revolutionising The Restaurant Industry!
Data is everywhere! Without proper data, you’re just a restaurateur with an opinion. As a restaurateur, you must always talk with numbers and analytics. The magnitude of competition in the restaurant industry demands the use of powerful AI tools and integrated data at your restaurant. Here are some tools that you can incorporate at your restaurant that customers fancy!
- Robotics
- Smart Kiosks
- Chatbots
- Food Service Apps
While there is scope for tremendous growth in the F&B industry, here are some advantages that the present AI tools offer. Make sure you make the best use of them!
Better Marketing Campaigns
Personalization is crucial for the customers of today. Everything from their cup of coffee to discount coupons offers brands the opportunity to give customers a better experience overall. Since customers are currently quite aware of the marketing techniques of several restaurants, your restaurant must offer them something that they are interested in. It could be different for different people, and only analyzing your customer data can help you identify emerging trends.
According to reports, 76% of the customers get upset whenever their name is misspelled or not used in marketing campaigns such as emails and SMS. Around 20% of the customers are willing to pay more for a personalized product or service. (Source: Deloitte)
Using customer data and Artificial Intelligence helps you create campaigns that are tailor-made for your customers. AI tools enable you to collect real-time data about different customers and staff members. You can track the customer engagement statistics for your website, the micro-moments of losing them, and what makes them click through the pages of your website. Moreover, following your customers, feedback in real-time helps you identify areas where you lag behind in your operations, and rectify them right then and there.
Better Scheduling Of Your Restaurant Staff
A typical restaurant can have employees working on different shifts, based on staffing needs. There could be people working on an hourly basis, or others completing a 10-hour shift. It is both troublesome and time-consuming to manage their work shifts, keep track of their performances, and forecast staffing requirements without the help of technology.
Thus, AI helps you understand whether the performance of the employees on shift meets your expectations. Based on historical data, you can optimize staff availability during busy hours, provide incentives for upselling and ensure that Back of the House functions is performed smoothly. Such streamlined management not only keeps your staff happy but also your customers!
Better Customer Engagement
Interacting with your customers and ensuring that their overall experience is excellent, every time they visit your restaurant should be your first parameter to measure success. Introducing a chatbot on your website, or Facebook chat helps your customers to narrow down their choices and place their orders faster.
According to Bhavesh Dhupar, founder of Smugglr, a chatbot company, incorporating a chatbot or a voice bot into your restaurant business helps your sales grow anywhere between 15-25%, depending on where you place the bot! It focuses on increasing customer engagement and guides them effectively.
Tweak Your Loyalty Strategy With AI Tools!
Loyal customers spend way more than a newly acquired customer. AI can help you in various ways to ensure that loyal customers are rewarded. By directly incorporating a loyalty program, you can keep a record of the number of visits of each customer, ticket values, and loyalty points they have earned, and the ways they burn them!
Apart from loyalty programs, there are many more AI tools that you can add to your loyalty strategy to make your restaurant irresistible!
For instance, many restaurants in India have started to incorporate robots as waiters into their business. One such example is the Uruka restaurant in Guwahati, Assam, where they have brought in a humanoid robot named Palki to wait tables, and it is gaining extreme attention.
Restaurant owner, Karishma Begum, says, “Families enjoy the novelty of being served by the robot.” Her husband has designed the robot, and she now plans to introduce three other robots.
Delivery Mapping
The food that you send out to be delivered to your customer is an opportunity to gain a loyal customer. If your kitchen takes extra care while packaging and delivering, you might earn a loyal customer without even having to meet him. To achieve the same, you need to ensure that the food reaches the customer in time, at the proper temperature, and in the appropriate condition. Restaurant AI tools can help you throughout the process.
When the order floats in, the central restaurant management system takes a note of it and passes it to the kitchen. While the food is prepared, a delivery executive is appointed to your order. It is done so that the food does not turn cold before being delivered. When the food delivery executive picks up the food from your restaurant, he/she can be tracked down until the food is given to the customer.
Shape Trends Instead Of Following Them
Last, but not least, a significant advantage that AI offers for your restaurant is the prediction of future trends based on consumption today. With the right AI and data, restaurateurs can easily add up and decide on the shipment, survey, outlet demographics, and so on.
Indeed, AI is a powerful tool that helps to integrate data from multiple sources and analyze it to make better data-driven decisions. Especially when it comes to your customers, AI can help you understand them better. Personalized orders and recommendations tend to improve the overall customer experience.
