The investment comes after Eat has seated more than 3.5 million customers, generating over $250 million worth of orders for restaurants to date in Bahrain and UAE alone.

In the past 5 years the restaurant technology landscape has seen significant expansion and diversification with great effect of the business of running restaurants. On the back of huge growth in cloud and mobile technology, as well as the global adoption of consumer tech in general, operators are embracing, and seeing the value in, technology at almost all levels of the stack in both guest experience (B2C), and operations (B2B).

This infographic aims to provide anyone with interest in the restaurant industry, a complete snapshot of the restaurant technology stack in 2018.
 
The move to digitization in the entire restaurant value chain has ushered in a new era for operators where customer data sits at the heart of decision making. Today, increasingly sophisticated reservation systems are replacing pen and paper and providing access to entirely new reservation markets. On premise POS systems are giving way to synced tablets offering data sharing APIs, and the dramatic rise of on-demand delivery is causing some restaurants to re-think their entire revenue strategy.

For a person going out to eat, placing a reservation at a restaurant comes with a fairly simple set of expectations. The reservation is made for a particular time, and when the prospective diner turns up at the restaurant at that time, she expects to get a table and dinner.

Whilst in today's connected and on-demand digital world, the customer has an increasing choice in the ways they can make reservations - phone calls, through the restaurant owns website, reservation platforms etc etc, the basic idea of a restaurant reservation remains the same.

For the customer, aside from some small differences in the user experience, (and maybe some incentives) it doesn't make too much difference how the booking is made, the end result and expectation is the largely similar.

For restaurant operators however, reservations are not so simple.

Whilst the idea of reservations has always meant they are free for the customer, this is not the case for the restaurant itself. The way a reservation is made can have a direct impact on margins, effect staffing levels and/or productivity, and alter the likelihood that customer will be retained and become a loyal guest.

Because of this, having a sophisticated understanding of how the new restaurant reservations landscape impacts operations, marketing and especially margins, is a key piece in the restaurant revenue puzzle.   

Think about reservations in terms of channel's

To get a clearer pictures of how reservations effect a restaurant it's useful to think of them in terms of 'channels'. A channel is a term used in digital marketing circles to describe the different ways a company has available to reach current and potential customers. At a high level marketers often talk about channels in terms of "owned, earned and paid channels."  

You can see what this looks like in the image below. Within the owned, earned and paid channels there yet more channels and tactics to reach your customers. So for instance, in the paid channel a company could used many different types of advertising to reach their potential customers.

Your menu helps you to present your food in an appealing way. As part of the overall dining experience, the information in your menu should be easy to digest and the quality, look and feel should be in line with your restaurant’s branding and reflect positively on the quality of food that you serve.

How much time do you spend on your menu card design? Your menu isn’t just there to make your food look appealing, it needs to align with your brand, reassure your guests they’re in the right place and set expectations for the type of dining experience they’re about to enjoy.  Color, typography, imagery and layout are all important.

A great floor plan makes your restaurant look inviting to diners, helps keep your service running smoothly and takes account of all the important logistics and regulations. All things considered, your floor plan has a huge impact on the dining experience and can also be a significant component in determining your set up, and running costs.

Many restaurants keep email running in the background but perhaps don’t afford it as much time and consideration as they should.

Review websites can produce mixed feelings in restaurant owners. Sites such as Tripadvisor, Yelp and Zomato give consumers a platform to express feedback, which they don’t always mention while they’re in a restaurant. And in some cases, you may feel you come unfairly under fire.  

If a potential customer went looking for your restaurant on the Internet, how easy would it be for them to find you? Search engine optimization is an incredibly important part of restaurant marketing. It helps to channel customers to information about your business and will hopefully play a part in helping them to make a booking with you or walk through your doors.

Restaurant branding is something you need to consider before opening your doors or launching any marketing to promote your restaurant. Get it right and all elements of your marketing campaigns and even how you run your restaurant and train your staff will become far more intuitive.