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"On Demand" in the restaurant world?
April '07
For the last 15 years 'the day job' has
been in the technology world. Computer
technology and the corporate customer.

Like any industry there are fashions and
trends but these are essentially
wrapped around an unchanging core
need - how to get ahead and stay ahead.

Since the dawn of entrepreneurship,
technology has played a fundamental
part in feeding the need: from a
revolutionary breakthrough to the more
endemic, evolving and re-modelling of
the metaphorical wheel.

Today, corporate businesses scratch
their heads about "customer
relationship management." Indeed they
puzzle over the bigger picture of how to
manage their perceived "on demand"
business needs.

So what are these things? And what
does technology do that is so clever and
helpful?

Every business has customers. Without
customers there is no business. A
business produces a product or service,
markets to customers and then services
those customers.

There exist a few useful truths (in the
corporate world) - its around 10 times
more easy to sell to an existing
customer than find a new one and a
completely satisfied customer is around
80% more likely to do business with you
again than a customer that is 'just
satisfied'.

First step - get as many completely
satisfied customers as possible.

Customer relationship management
tries to do just that - at the basic level
capture all information about needs and
preferences and ensure that there is a
single point of reference for all
combined dealings with the customer.

So for example - you have three
separate products from your bank; a
mortgage, home insurance and a
current account. Customer relationship
management dictates that it would not
matter if I were discussing a new
product (a loan), phoning up to complain
about bank charges, receiving a mail
shot about a credit card, or completing
an online application for a business
account - all the information about me
would be at the centralised fingertips of
the bank: Enabling the servicing of my
needs effectively and efficiently and,
importantly, selling me something more.

Does your bank provide this level of
service? Guess not. Like me, you repeat
and correct your personal information
many times depending on who you are
talking to in the bank and frustrating
'glass walls' exist between different
product departments.

Still, 'customer relationship
management' remains the goal.

This is not to be critical of banks. Banks
are very big companies and have
diversified their offerings slowly over
time - each area of the business
developing in its own silo. To bring
these together into a single picture of the
customer is a major challenge and with
the aid of technology they are
undoubtedly making significant
progress.

The birth of the internet took this
opportunity and challenge a stage
further. The customer now wants to do
business whenever and wherever they
want. Twenty fours hours a day, seven
days a week, anywhere in the world.

A few years ago, www.amazon.com were
probably the first to do some very clever
customer relationship management in this
space. "Hello Simon, here is your
personalised home page of purchases and
interests and here are a list of things other
people bought who have the same interests
as you". Brilliant. One click shopping.
Brilliant.

So how about applying some of this smart
technology to the restaurant world?

Diego Masciaga, Restaurant Director at The
Waterside Inn suggests that staff continuity is
very important. "If someone comes in who is
a regular customer and we ask for their
name at the door that is not so good." True.
The strength of the brand lives with the
personnel. And in the service industry this will
never change. People buy people. I have not
visited a single restaurant where this is not
true. And les arts de tables will always be
critical to success. However, regardless of
Michelin Stars the restaurant world as a
whole is missing the customer relationship
management opportunity.

www.toptable.co.uk and www.lastminute.com
are well established sites that market
promotions restaurants wish to offer
customers. Very good in so far as they go.

Should I log onto a restaurant website (and
yes I should have to register) the site should
interactively 'know me'. When I telephone to
book they should tell me whether my favourite
table is available or whether there is an
alternative that is well lit and has chairs with
arms. They should know my typical wine
budget so that the sommelier never creates
unintentioned embarrassment. They should
know when and what type of promotion to
send me. They should know which dining
times typically suit me best. And importantly
for the restaurant, what their typical gross
profit will be from my visit and how much they
make from me over a year.

Further there are wider missed opportunities
- The likes of Gordon Ramsay and Nigel
Platts Martin own many high quality
restaurants that deliver across the top to
middle market of the Michelin spectrum.
Surely if I visit La Trompette regularly, then a
mail shot or a loyalty reward from Chez Bruce
would attract my custom.

The loyalty card concept has been one of the
longer standing byproducts of the search for
delivering customer relationship
management coupled with customer
satisfaction. The 21st Century green shield
stamps. Perhaps these still do not go far
enough; I don't want to log on to know what
the store is promoting to all, I want to log on
to know what the store is promoting
especially in line with my purchasing habits.

While retail stores have become experts at
delivering the schemes (in so far as they go),
why not restaurants?

Should I visit Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital
Road three times in a year then I get a free
bottle of champagne next time I visit Claridges
or if I visit The Glasshouse twice in a month
then I get a two for one offer at The Square.

And what about capturing and encouraging
'referrals' - refer three customers to one of
our restaurants and have a bottle of
champagne on your next visit. From private
golf clubs, to Sky TV to 3 Mobile this is well
understood concept and practice. But not as
yet with restaurants.

Unlike banks, that have responded to their
evolving needs with technology, restaurants
can really grasp the nettle. A relatively blank
technology canvas. The likes of Gordon
Ramsay and Nigel Platts Martin should know
exactly how much I spend on their
restaurants a year and everything about how I
go about it. They should reward or
encourage me accordingly.

I know this is one area with which my bank is
all to familiar