How tech can give the restaurant industry a boost
MarketForce Information has released its聽聽of casual-dining brands, based on input from more than 9,216 consumers. There鈥檚 a lot of interesting data鈥攊ncluding the naming of Cheddar鈥檚 Scratch Kitchen as these consumers鈥� favorite鈥攁nd while none of it relates directly to burger-menu restaurants, which weren鈥檛 included, there is some information that might be useful to BurgerBusiness.com readers.
I generally undercover technology issues, so I鈥檒l draw attention to findings in that area. MarketForce鈥檚 study finds 41% of consumers polled say they have downloaded a restaurant mobile app for their smartphone or tablet. The gender difference is minimal: 42% of women have downloaded an app, compared with 41% of men. App usage is fairly consistent (43% to 47%) for consumers ages 18 to 54.
Whataburger and Shake Shack (mobile ordering in limited markets) are among the burger brands that have launched mobile apps in the past month. And McDonald鈥檚 latest app, the McRib Finder, helps consumers find stores where McRib is offered.
What do consumers do with restaurant apps? View menus (69%), read reviews (47%) and find locations (46%) are the top ways. Yelp is the top reviewer, downloaded by 54% of consumers polled. Trip Advisor (35%) and OpenTable follow.
The study finds 37% say they have used a tablet at a casual-dining restaurant. Reviews are mixed. Just 26% agree or strongly agree (top box on a 1-5 scale) that tablets 鈥渉elp ensure correct orders are received.鈥� Fewer鈥�20% top box鈥攕ay the tablets 鈥渕ake the overall dining experience more enjoyable.鈥� That鈥檚 not even one out of five.
And here鈥檚 where I jump to another part of the study, because it鈥檚 possible to overthink restaurant operations; possible to overly rely on technology simply because the technology exists. Casual dining has been slumping for years. Where customers give the category poor marks are areas of simple execution and of responsiveness to customer needs. Only 16% of respondents gave casual-dining chans agree/strongly agree scores for 鈥淲as more of an experience that just a meal transaction.鈥�
Just 28% gave top box agreement that service was fast; the same percentage agreed/strongly agreed that the meal was good value for the money. Only 22% were satisfied with the number of healthy-food choices.
As you know far better than I, it鈥檚 the operational basics that elevate meals and improve satisfaction.
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