Corner Bakery Online

We all know that a company’s web site can make or break our business with them. The more user friendly a website is the more people will go back. Many businesses know this and work to make their website better than the rest. Corner Bakery is one business that is fixing their website to make it how the user wants. With the new features that they offer are making not only using the website easier, but also makes the experience in their restaurants better.

Corner Bakery’s new website has added new features alongside the old. You now have the ability to pre order your food and even set up catering. With these new services people will have the convenience to get their food from Corner Bakery with almost no wait in the restaurant. They have also added a searchable menu, a filter so you can leave out what you can’t eat and even a shuffle so you can have some random meal. Then for the people that count their calories they have added something new for you as well. The calorie counter lets you put a meal together and will show you the calorie count for the meal. The last thing that they added is a store locater. You can now find the closest Corner Bakery to you.

 

Painful wait be gone!

I am sure that we have all been to a restaurant for dinner and have seen massive crowds off people waiting for a table. We go inside to get our name on a wait list and then they give you the thing that will let you know when your table is ready. Then they let you know what they think your wait time will be. Some times that makes you want to leave and find another place to eat. Well with the new apps that may be a thing of the past. Lately the new thing at some restaurants is an app that when given you some information like your group size and your name, it will then give you a more accurate wait time.  When your table is ready, a text will be sent to your phone. With restaurants like Texas Road House and Famous Dave’s becoming some of the new users to apps like these ones, the trend will be spreading to other places in the near future.

Some of the benefits to the newly trending apps are shorter and more accurate wait times, less stress on the staff, and the ability to text the restaurant back if you are running late for your reservation, but this last one is a special feature on some of the apps. Places also have the ability to add you right in to a rewards program and even send you reminders about making reservations. For example, have you made a reservation for mother’s day?  

While there are lots of free apps that can provide some of the services that is part of the problem, they only provide some of the services. It is suggested that you spend the money and pay for the apps and even get the premium versions so that you can customize most if not all of the system to make it as easy for your staff as you want. Also with some of the premium versions will come with a manager’s version. That will allow the manager of the restaurant to see all of the statistics about wait times and anything else that the system is set up to keep track of. They can see them from another part of the restaurant or for sum even on you mobile device.   

Marketing Made Easy

One of the problems in business is trying to figure out how to market and who to market to. With this new company you no longer have to worry about how you need to market your business. Swipely is a company that will look at your credit card sales and show you how to market correctly to people. Swipely knows what then are doing too, managing over $1 billion in sales in 29 states in their first year of business. The past four months they have doubled sales and in the last four quarters they have averaged 100% compound quarterly growth rate. But they have not done this alone. The have teamed up with some of the best names in POS systems, Micros, Aloha and POSitouch.

So the way that Swipely helps manage marketing is by looking at the trends of your credit card sales. They can find your new customers, your VIP’s, and even just your weekend customers. It can send promotions to your customers and even keep track of what is going on in your own business. Along with what it provides it even has a built in loyalty program for your customers. The system will then send them their rewards.

Swipely will help with:

1.       Make your business more money by understanding trends across millions of people so you can provide better service and offers

2.       Help you spend your money for marketing by showing marketing companies how to best impact offline business

3.       Save time each week by managing their online reputation across Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yelp, OpenTable and other social sites

4.       And increase repeat business by offering Branded loyalty rewards programs

Swipely is changing the marketing sector of businesses and something that I would support.

Smart Security

We all know that the room keys at hotels can cause problems for us. They blend in with credit cards so then I kink I lose my key or they lose the magnetic charge so I can’t get into my room. Well, with the new generation of security systems comes the new door lock for guest rooms in hotels. The new system no longer involves magnetic key cards. RFID or radio frequency identification is the next solution to security problems. RFID has a whole new approach to security with a list of new features.

One of the best and maybe the most important thing for security is the ability to monitor what key is going into the room and at what time they go into the room. This will allow hotel management to if and when a master key opens the door. They can even see how long the door was open for. Management can now see who has a master key and what they are doing with it. When the Mandarin Oriental Miami upgraded their locks on the guest rooms, they received a 98.8 out of 100 points in a safe and sound security audit. The locks record every key that opens them, forced entry’s, and just about anything that goes on with the door. The system also has the ability to block and allow access to keys. But do not worry; the lock can be remotely accessed by the hotel.

The RFID security system also has future plans for how it can help run hotel operations as well as improve security even more then it has. Customers will be able to get their key ahead of time and when they get to the hotel just run on up to their rooms. Even a text message from the hotel with a password will gain you access to your room.  They will also be able to shut off all locks so that nobody can enters the rooms with just the push of a button.

Barhappy

For this week I am looking at a new app and website called barhappy. Barhappy is fairly new with only about 115,000users and is made to help enhance the bar experience for the customers. Being that they are still new they only have some major cities (see list below). Barhappy is a place that you can go to and find the best bar for what you are looking to do. For example, if you want to find a bar that will have the next UFC fight on, all you need to do is select the city that you are in and will provide a map with a variety of places. You can find something to do with lists form live music, to singles bars, to just a bar to relax at with your friends.  They also have a members program. When you sign up, you can then suggest new bars and neighborhoods. You can even pan events on the website or app. When you do these things you earn rewards. You can also gain rewards by checking in at bars and leaving reviews.

This site is something that I am a big fan of. It makes it easy for my friends and me to find what we want to do and where we want to do it. We no longer have to argue about what we want to do. While I do not have the app, because I don’t have an iPhone the website is super easy to use and very user friendly. Barhappy is a sit that I like to use often and I am happy to share with everyone.

 

City list for barhappy

New York City

Austin

Dallas

Los Angeles

Chicago

Denver

Boston

Washington D.C.

Miami

Minneapolis-St. Paul

New Orleans

Philadelphia

San Diego

San Francisco

Seattle

Las Vegas

Jersey Shore

Hamptons

Table side P.O.S.

For my first topic I wanted to talk about table side ordering tablets. While it is a technology that has been around for a few years we still do not see them in many places. So if you do not know what I am talking about that is ok. The table side ordering system is a tablet that is on the table that you can see the menus on, order your food from, and pay the bill when you are done. In 2013 Hospitality Technology did a study and they found that about 10 percent of restaurants offered this table side system.  The number is expected to jump to 24 percent by 2015. The table side system is giving more control to the customer and most of the customers are in favor of the new technology.

                Some people still dislike the system. They want the personal service of the wait staff. To help this system ease into the world, some restaurants are using the system as an add-on to the wait staff. One good example is Chilies restaurant. They have the host or hostess inform the customers that the new table side system is there to help them control their experience and not to replace the server. Another good example is Blazing Onion Burger Co. they are a restaurant in Seattle that also use the new technology. They have a pager system that if the guest has a question, they will page the whole staff. Then the staff member that is closest to the guest can respond within thirty seconds.

                Some of the best benefits to the systems are the increased profits and table turnover, the rate at which the table can move for guest to guest. The system allows places to upload pictures of desserts and other foods. Chilies have seen an increase of 40 percent in dessert sales. As for the table turn over, places have seen table turns increase by an average of 4 minutes. While this may not sound like a big improvement, over the course the night that will have a big impact on the restaurants profits. The speed of service can also be greatly increased. The Hotel Tavern, a restaurant in North Carolina, the server can enter the order at the table and send it right to the kitchen or bar. Also the managers can void a transaction or other functions tableside. That means no lines at the register to get orders in.  Then let’s not forget about paying. You no longer have to worry about your credit card and what happens to it while it is away from the table. That may help relax some people.  

What it’s all about

Hello all,

My name is Frank and I am a student at Lakeland College. I am studying hospitality management with a minor in communications. One of the projects that I am doing for my minor is a blog that we maintain for the semester. At Technolodging my post will be about the technology that has, is, and will change the hospitality industry. My post form tomorrow on will happen every Saturday at two pm. I look forward to the comments that will come up and do the best that I can to respond to them, also if you would like to email me with questions, comments, or concerns I will respond in a timely manner. Hospitality is something that people experience all of the time and the technology is a big part of it.

From your friend and blogger,

 

Frank L.