Focus on the customer experience at the point of sale
January 18 2022
A great customer experience is the foundation of any successful restaurant. It's what sets you apart from the plethora of competitors and what keeps your customers coming back.
While for some customers, going to a restaurant means convenience or pleasure, for others it's an opportunity to simply enjoy a moment with friends or family. Therefore, your restaurant needs to provide service with the customer and their comfort in mind, while incorporating new trends.
Augmented Reality for Sensory Experiences
Augmented reality has been growing in many industries, helping them get the most out of their business while spending fewer resources. Hotels and restaurants are segments with vast potential for augmented or virtual reality: they can take advantage of it especially to improve customer engagement.
Provide an unforgettable customer experience
Because your customers hate waiting in restaurants, augmented reality is a great way to incorporate interactive tabletop games. This way, they give the illusion of a shorter wait time, similar to coloring pages for kids.
Other, more forward-thinking restaurants offer to take things to the next level by immersing their diners in another world while their food is being prepared, using a VR headset.
Interact with your customers
Today, a customer wants to know everything about a dish. Beyond its name, the ingredients, the nutritional content, or even the origin of the meat: all this information is highly expected. But it is impossible to display it on a traditional menu. An augmented reality-based menu can help, prompting the guest to browse all the information about a dish as they select it.
Fast Casual, a trend that has become a benchmark business model
Fast Casual restaurant concepts, translated as "fast casual," offer the convenience of fast food without the full service of a fine dining restaurant. Fast Casual is characterized by a more inviting seating environment, often tied to the ability to compose your own meal. The menu consists of higher quality ingredients than can be found in most fast food establishments.
What are the typical characteristics of Fast Casual?
In broad strokes, a Fast Casual restaurant is characterized by limited or self-service, with both eat-in and take-out available but no Drive-through. Typically, the average price is lower than a fine dining restaurant, the food is prepared to order with more complex flavors, and finally its décor is upscale, unique or very elaborate.
What differentiates the customer experience at Fast Casual restaurants?
The customer experience at a Fast Casual restaurant is significantly different from that of other concepts. Customers enjoy waiting in line in a pleasant setting and take time to choose their meal. They order at the counter from the cashier, who then composes the customer's meal at their request. Once the order is settled, the guest can enjoy their meal at the table in the restaurant, or take it away.
Open Kitchens, a rewarding culinary experience
Open kitchens, or "Open Kitchens" in English, have become the stars of recent years. A concept that goes hand in hand with one of the biggest trends: transparency. This trend has made its way into restaurants, where an open kitchen allows customers to see how their meal is being prepared. A great way to increase customer satisfaction, and give them an out-of-this-world experience.
Open kitchens provide trust and transparency
An open kitchen means that the restaurateur trusts their staff to follow best practices in hygiene, cleanliness and food preparation in their kitchen. By trusting your staff to work in full view of customers, they in turn trust your restaurant.
In addition, transparency allows customers to see exactly how their meal is prepared. The perfect opportunity to showcase your chefs' expertise and highlight the quality of your dishes.
An entertainment vehicle, for a successful customer experience
With the great popularity of shows like "Top Chef" or "Cauchemar en Cuisine," an open kitchen allows you to capitalize on the entertainment factor of the cooking process. It adds spice and excitement to your guests' meals, allowing chefs to engage customers with a passion for cooking.
It's not just about seeing the meal being prepared: hearing the sizzle of the pan and smelling the smells of the oven awakens the senses, allowing for a full sensory experience in your restaurant.
