Webinar Recap- Tech Will Be The Way Forward For Restaurants
In this webinar, we dive into 3 secrets about hospitality today- there's an easy way to help your servers be more efficient, guests will do the work for you, and there is an easy button.
GoTab was built from the ground up to help operators grow profit. Our CEO, Tim McLaughlin, started GoTab after successfully exiting an e-commerce agency and then running his own breweries. He saw the opportunity to introduce e-commerce into the dining experience in a way that helps operators increase their profit without sacrificing service.
Since then, GoTab operators have increased sales by as much as 100%, reduced operating costs by up to 30%, and increased profit by as much as 300%. How are they doing it?
In three ways:
Reducing labor costs;
Reducing their cost of goods (through more efficient operations);
Giving their guests more control, which leads to increased sales.
The Elephant In The Room
Although they got a lot of businesses through the pandemic, there’s a segment of the hospitality industry that believes mobile order & pay-at-table solutions take away from the experience. They think people don’t want to order on their phones. They think service is about people not technology - and we agree, but also believe they offer a way to help people be more effective in the service experience.
Other common misconceptions include:
People don't want to order on their phones
Guests will feel ignored
Staff will feel replaced
Change isn't necessary, plus it still hurts sales
The Biggest Pain In Today's Hospitality Business
Everyone is talking about labor, and inflation, but some of the most critical issues in hospitality are in the actual experience of delivering and receiving service. The average server is spending too much time on transactional tasks - taking orders, splitting checks, correcting orders, communicating with the kitchen, etc. In those scenarios, guests become frustrated, and what does that look like?
"I'm enjoying my conversation with friends and family. Wait... the server's shift is ending so I need to close out the tab".
"I'm ready to go... wait, I can't leave until I get the server's attention".
"I'm dining with my friends and we asked for a split check. Wait... I gotta pull out the calculator because the server brought one check".
These are just a few of the issues guests experience when servers are spending all their time on transactions! So what would it look like if operators empowered their guests to place orders for themselves? Operators who empower their guests make more money. They get first party ordering information and they get to upsell on every order!
In this webinar, we give you the tools to overcome some of these misconceptions and dive into 3 secrets about hospitality today:
There’s an easy way to help your servers be more efficient
Situated “in the heart of it all, yet tranquil enough to make you feel away from it all too,” The Limelight Hotel Snowmass offers 99 hotel rooms and 11 residences, as well as footsteps-to-gondola access in winter and summer — right in the middle of Snowmass Base Village.
The Situation
Especially over the last few years, the Limelight Hotels IT team had witnessed a significant shift to contactless technology in the hospitality industry. After evaluating friction points in the guest journey, aligning with modern technology platforms in their restaurant was determined to be an effective way to offer elevated contactless dining experiences to their guests while also evolving their technology platforms to continue to support long-term company goals. Limelight Hotel partnered with GoTab to provide an enhanced on-demand dining experience on par with the brand’s reputation for exceptional guest service.
The Solution
Reducing Staff Touch Points Without Sacrificing Guest Experience
Guests are now able to begin a tab from their room or the property’s restaurant by scanning a QR code, texting a link to friends or family members on the ski slope to add in their orders, then meeting up together at the patio or lodge to enjoy their meal and après ski festivities without interruption. By streamlining tasks like inputting orders and processing payments, this eliminates friction for hotel staff and allows them to focus on delivering renowned guest service for a memorable experience. Since partnering with GoTab, Limelight Snowmass has consistently seen higher check averages and sales.
“We found the Point of Sale platforms we were looking at offered the guest and staff limited opportunities to further reduce touch points or improve the traditional restaurant experience. The GoTab platform enabled the guest to take an active role over the flow of their experience while simultaneously reducing touch points and further streamlining restaurant operations.”Nick Giglio, Manager of Hotel IT Operations, The Little Nell Hotel Group
According to the Limelight Hotels team, some of the other platforms that were evaluated were either missing some of the pieces they were looking for, had weak customer support models, or had little willingness to develop integrations to existing hotel platforms already in place. To that end, GoTab integrated with cloud-based platform, Infor. Together, GoTab and Infor are providing dynamic solutions to support central, efficient service across hotel amenities and deliver exceptional guest experiences.
“Previously, guests would call down to the restaurant to begin an order from their room or while they were out enjoying the ski slopes. Using GoTab, guests can now place orders from anywhere on the resort, giving them the on-demand service they want without interrupting their day. GoTab empowers us to give control to the guest, reducing touch points and streamlining overall restaurant operations, making Limelight Hotel the resort of choice for Snowmass.”Nick Giglio, Manager of Hotel IT Operations, The Little Nell Hotel Group
Since introducing GoTab, The Limelight Hotel has seen a consistent level of upsells and items sold per check resulting in additional revenue capture. They have been able to maintain service levels in their restaurants during periods when there was reduced staffing available without significantly diminishing the guest experience.
The Benefits
Eliminate Phone Orders – Take Orders from the Slopes. Guests can start a tab from their room or on the mountain without interrupting the flow of their day.
Future-Proofed Technologies – Delivering elevated contactless ordering via integration with the Infor hotel management platform.
Eliminating Friction in the Guest Journey – Maintaining service levels during periods of reduced staff without diminishing the guest experience.
Eliminating Friction in the Guest Journey – Maintaining service levels during periods of reduced staff without diminishing the guest experience.
Eliminating Friction in the Guest Journey – Maintaining service levels during periods of reduced staff without diminishing the guest experience.
Eliminating Friction in the Guest Journey – Maintaining service levels during periods of reduced staff without diminishing the guest experience.
Eliminating Friction in the Guest Journey – Maintaining service levels during periods of reduced staff without diminishing the guest experience.
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