Restaurant and Hospitality News – July 9, 2014
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
This week, new technology from Visa is allowing Tim Horton’s fans to earn loyalty points when they use their cards. A recent Hackathon also sought to find new solutions to some pressing operator challenges, and restaurant owners now can leverage all of that in-restaurant experience data to help steer business decisions and improve revenue flow. Denny’s and Atari are partnering in a new promotion that revives classic video games with a mobile twist, and a 5-star Swiss property claims top spot among European hotels for incremental RevPAR percentage from upselling, after implementing a new Front Desk Upselling program.
New Visa Technology Allows Fans to Earn Loyalty Points from Tim Horton’s
CIBC and Tim Horton’s today announced the launch of their CIBC Tim Horton’s Double Double Visa Card, leveraging a two-button technology that combines a CIBC Visa credit card with a Tim Card. According to a news release, cardholders who press the CIBC Visa button on the front of the Double Double card to pay for any purchase will have 1 percent of each dollar spent converted into Tim Cash rewards. Then, with the touch of the Tim Horton’s Tim Card button, cardholders can redeem their Tim Cash for their orders.
Industry Hackathon Presents Answers to Operator Challenges
Hack//Dining NYC, a weekend-long hackathon saw almost two hundred participants respond to four challenges in the food system today. Pitches included an online interface for university students to provide feedback on their dining hall offerings; an interactive form localized at the county or city regulatory level that generates a list of requirements for restaurants, food trucks, and other dining facilities to be in compliance with local, state, and federal laws; an app and rewards program that empowers the consumer to "right size" their order; and an all-encompassing online personal trainer and nutritionist with a nutritional dashboard, digital weigh-ins, before and after selfies, and the option for employer reward systems to incentivize your success.
Platform Leverages In-Restaurant Experience Data to Steer Business Decisions
This article from FSR looks at how a new company centralizes experience data, regardless of source or format, connecting it with technology to surface critical customer stories, and then channeling timely, actionable insights to managers to drive targeted decisions across the entire enterprise. Leveraging these online customer reviews with their unprecedented immediacy presents brands with tremendous challenges in gathering feedback across multiple channels in the moment, and respond quickly and intelligently, but if it is done correctly, the rewards can be substantial.
Denny's and Atari Partner to Rejuvenate Classic Arcade Games
Denny's and Atari have partnered to revive some favorite classic arcade games with some new twists. Inspired by Denny's new "Greatest Hits Remixed" menu, which has a selection of the diner's iconic dishes all with a new culinary spin, three of Atari's most famous games, Asteroids, Centipede, and Breakout, have been remixed as "Hashteroids," "Centipup," and "Take-Out." The games feature diner elements, such as flying hash browns and syrup bottle shooters, and all three games are available on the Denny's mobile app for iPhone and Android devices.
TSA Solutions Maximizes Revenue, Guest Satisfaction and Employee Performance at La Réserve Genève Hotel & Spa
A 5-star Swiss property claims top spot among European hotels for incremental RevPAR percentage from upselling, after implementing TSA Solutions’ Front Desk Upselling program, according to Hotel Management. Initially implemented as a means to maximize Revenue Generation Index (RGI) and profitability, the program also had the longer-term benefits of an enhanced reputation, due to the property's augmented ability to ensure that each of their guests experiences complete satisfaction throughout the duration of their stay. With front desk teams adequately trained to identify and match guests' needs at check in with the optimal premium products, the property benefits from an improved image and additional revenues that otherwise may have been missed.
Restaurant and Hospitality IT Talking Points:
Restaurants continued to be among the leaders in job growth in June, and job growth is expected to remain solid during the second half of the year, as restaurants continue to benefit from an improving economy and stronger consumer sentiment, according to NRA’s Chief Economist Bruce Grindy. Preliminary figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the national economy added a net 288,000 jobs in June on a seasonally-adjusted basis, the fifth consecutive month with gains of at least 200,000 jobs.