Restaurants & Dining
China’s food delivery market leader Ele.me has already secured the backing of Alibaba. Now it looks to close out the competition by buying Baidu’s platform.
Restaurant owners worldwide are investing more in customer loyalty programs. Diners sign up, but don’t really show loyalty to the restaurant.
Among US internet users who regularly go to casual, fast-casual and quick-service restaurants, 40% say they would like to hear from restaurants regularly. And by far the more desired type of marketing message was the discount.
Restaurant owners are eager to implement new technologies, according to April 2016 research—even ones that don’t actually exist yet. At the top of the list are predictive ordering and automatic demand-based price adjustments.
Dialing for delivery is still the most common way to order takeaway food in the UK. However, logging on and ordering digitally is becoming increasingly common, and much of this digital behavior is being driven by mobile.
More US customers are placing orders at fast-food and fast-casual restaurants by using technology this year than in 2015. According to research, guest-facing digital offerings such as in-store tablet ordering saw double-digit growth.
A survey finds that millennial grocery buyers are far more likely than older shoppers to have tried meal kits.
Most US internet users order food via a smartphone or tablet and pick it up on-the-go, according to an August 2016 survey from restaurant management software company <a href="http://pos.toasttab.com/" target="blank">Toast</a>. Among those who do, it’s typically a monthly occurrence.
Restaurant executives are continually turning to technology to improve overall efficiency, and according to June 2016 research, they are not only adopting customer-facing technologies such as loyalty programs and personalized offers, but also those in the back end, like predictive analytics and the internet of things (IoT).
Smartphones are a key part of the dining experience for many internet users, even before they head to a restaurant. According to April 2016 research, about half of diners use their device to find a restaurant location or browse a menu.
Many restaurants are looking to provide tech-enabled options this year, and according to January 2016 research, most US restaurant IT decision-makers plan to invest in technology to improve operational efficiency.
Many diners have still not encountered in-restaurant tech, but that will likely change as more restaurants provide tech-enabled options. And many plan to this year, according to an October 2015 survey.