As a hospitality venue, you are in the business of facilitating the “Celebration of Life” and while how we celebrate together has changed momentarily, the essence of our pubs forming a deep layer in the fabric of our society hasn’t diminished.

The current crisis has caused a massive shift in consumer expectation and how customers can still have a valued hospitality experience. There’s been a significant change in the dine-in experience to contactless and the addition of pick-up and delivery revenue streams for pubs. Contactless everything has not only fueled the acceptance of the new way, but has become an expectation of the guest.

Mobile-first is no longer left to the Millennials; across most generations, mobile-first has become key in communication and enhancing a users experience.

• Reservation made online, via their mobile.
• Guest Registers via QR code as they enter the venue, via their mobile.
• On arrival, they are greeted by a host who explains the new ordering process.
• Guests scan a QR code to view a visual menu and order – via their mobile.
• Payment is processed without swiping, signing or queueing – via their mobile.
• A guest might download the venue’s Customer Loyalty App and become a member – via their mobile.

In a parallel experience, something new for pubs and hotels.

• Another guest is ordering online to pick-up their chicken parma from the drive-through bottle shop or get it delivered – via their mobile phone.

In both instances

• The guest might take pictures of their experience and post to social media.
• Customer feedback is collected, providing a 360-degree view of their experience.
• Data is collected – customers, ordering patterns, dietary preferences, promotion uptake, geographical area.

With the new customer journey comes many changes and positive ones for the venue.

• Allow staff to host guests in an unrushed manner, build a relationship and rapport with the guests rather than putting all their efforts into tasks such as order taking and payment processing.
• Guests enjoy the social aspect of their dining experience rather than queueing at bars and bistros. They have the opportunity to order from anywhere in your venue, providing seamless management of beer gardens or outdoor areas that may be visually hard to manage.
• Guests guide their own experience. They review a visual menu and order in their own time, not waiting for the waiter.
• Guests are more responsive to upselling suggestions from visual menu prompts. Ordering premium beverages over a house brand is greatly influenced by brand identification in visual menus. Guests when queuing would order a vodka and soda over the bar, however, with mobile ordering they are more likely to order a premium branded beverage.
• Guests’ first impression of ordering and the last impression of payment are two critical points in the old dining experience, payment alone can take up to 10 minutes. Self-ordering removes these delays seamlessly.
• Self-Ordering can reduce overall operating costs and increase spend per head between 20 – 30%.
• With the collection of data comes the ability to actively engage with customers. Suggestive order, push notifications at the right time, and on the right products, all add to improving the customers’ experience and improved sales.

These benefits present an excellent opportunity for the venue to transform its customer experience by actively pursuing the implementation of self-ordering technology.

So, what’s needed to ignite the transformation and commence implementation?

• Engage a solution to manage online ordering and self-ordering for dine-in.
• Revisit your menu offering. Develop detailed product descriptions and images of your dishes.
• Focus on your best sellers and theme the menu for more accessible selection.
• Place QR codes on your tables and bars for easy ordering.
• Train staff on presenting the new guest experience.
• Train staff on how to be a host and build relationships and rapport to deliver a great customer experience.

At Bepoz Vectron, we have developed and deployed our Customer Engagement solution over the last three years. Our focus was not limited to ordering but also tying together loyalty, venue promotions and marketing and tight integration with POS. Today our Customer Engagement Suite is matured, tightly integrated with our POS and Gaming Loyalty systems.

Over the last four decades, Bepoz has played a crucial role in transitioning Australian Pubs from traditional Cash Registers to Sophisticated real-time POS, Inventory Management, Loyalty and Venue Management Systems. Today we stand ready to partner once again in assisting venues in their Transformational journey and play our part in that shared mission of facilitating “The Celebration of Life”.