Archive for Research
August 3, 2006 at 10:37 am
· Filed under Customer Feedback, Free, Magazines, POS, Research
excerpt:
“Now in its third year, the POS Scoreboard offers the industry’s only ranking of the top foodservice point-of-sale software companies based on company size, number of installations and user satisfaction.
…How do POS software systems compare in the opinion of foodservice operators? The user satisfaction scores offer charts and analyses of how systems fared in the criteria deemed most important by the operators themselves.”
source: “2006 POS Scoreboard – Rating Top POS Systems” (Hospitality Technology, 2006) [pdf, free registration req.]
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July 25, 2006 at 9:54 am
· Filed under Article, Free, International, Research, knowledge
This section of Australia’s Restaurant & Catering association web site offers free restaurant technology articles and a free 70 page technology roadmap report.
Report: Technology Roadmap for the Restaurant & Catering Industry:
Restaurant & Catering Australia has, with funding support from Ausindustry, has developed a TECHNOLOGY Roadmap for the restaurant and catering industry. This Roadmap has considered, through consultations throughout Australia, the needs of restaurateurs and caterers and has arrived at eleven recommendations as to the way forward to achieve greater take up of technology.
Sample Summaries of Articles:
March/April 2005 – SALE AWAY – A POS system is a valuable tool to keep orders charged, stock counted and customers satisfied
May/June 2005 – CALL TO ORDER – The must have accessory by the wait staff is electronic order pads but are these handheld units as functional as mounted terminals?
May/June 2005 – UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE – An Auckland restaurant has found that an out-of-date website can be very expensive.
link: Restaurant & Catering Australia’s Technology Update (scroll down for articles and report)
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June 20, 2006 at 12:35 pm
· Filed under Customer Service, Free, Research, Waitstaff
excerpt:
"The depth and range of self-service solutions in the hospitality industry has grown over the last year. Consumers are more interested and motivated to use self-service kiosks and both hotel and restaurant operators are making significant strides in respect to rolling out solutions. While self-service solutions still have limited availability in hotels and even fewer restaurants, the number of roll outs planned will increase markedly over the next four years.
…While it may not be surprising, it is still significant that the companies driving self-service represent the largest hotel and restaurant companies and that large hotel companies are also playing an important role in driving self-service at their restaurant locations as well. These large operators are poised to play a significant role in shaping the pace and range of self-service solutions in hospitality."
source: "Hospitality Industry Self-Service Technology Study – Redefining Customer Service" (Hospitality Technology, 2006) [pdf, free registration required]
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May 22, 2006 at 2:03 pm
· Filed under Marketing, Research, Web 2.0
excerpt:
"Jennifer Jones of Marketing Voices interviews Phil Gomes, Vice President for Edelman’s Me2revolution group, the largest independent public relations agency in the world. Jennifer talks with Phil about the intersection of corporate communications and social media. They discuss what social media is best today and how blogs, and podcasts can build stronger brands."
source: "Marketing Voices – Building Stronger Brands with Blogs, Podcasts, and Wikis" by Jennifer Jones (Marketing Voices, May 8, 2006)
Your restaurant is a brand. When customers see the name on a menu, a sign, or an ad, you are trying to build a stronger brand. Your restaurant "brand" is also you and your staff, and creating a connection between your restaurant brand and customers in social media (aka Web 2.0) can be a delicate matter.
For information on this developing trend of social media marketing and public relations, Advertising Age has released a 2006 Interactive Marketing & Media Fact Pack (pdf format).
excerpt:
"Marketers are "definately spending on:
- adding RSS feeds (40%)
- in-house blogs (35%)
- ads on third party blogs/blog networks (30%)
- video ads (27%)
- ads in RSS feeds (21%)
- mobile/wireless (20%)
- in-house podcasts (18%)
- sponsoring podcasts (14%)
- product placements in video games (10%)"
source: "Interactive Marketing & Media Fact Pack 2006" (Advertising Age, April 17,2006) (via FKCBlog)
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May 12, 2006 at 5:53 am
· Filed under Free, Information Management, Research, Tools
Rollyo.com allows you to create a customized search engine using web sites you specify. I have created a Rollyo search engine using only restaurant industry web sites (click here). To see the usefulness of Rollyo, I just recently did a search for "outdoor dining" using google and the customized rollyo search engine.
Google search results for "outdoor dining"
Rollyo search results for "outdoor dining"
For a restaurant owner, the Rollyo search results link to much more relevant information which saves time and lets you spend more time reading then looking through search results. You can focus your sources on vendors, specific regions, or select magazines, as well as mix and match.
Go to Rollyo.com to create your own search engine and use your own sources.
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May 8, 2006 at 7:04 am
· Filed under Free, Research, knowledge
Hospitality Technology magazine is an industry specific publication that offers free subscriptions and content in order to provide access to the specialized field of hospitality technology. The web site offers many attractive, free features such as a newsletter, magazine archive, and research reports. A free registration is required to access some web content.
While keeping in mind the objective of the magazine, this magazine helps give restaurant owners a sense of developing foodservice technology trends. Their latest research report is titled: “Hospitality Technology’s 8th Annual Restaurant Technology Study – Delivering Restaurant Efficiency”.
You can download this free report from Hospitality Technology’s main page, click here. To access their archived research reports, click here.
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