There can be a lot of fear mongering in the news when it comes to new technology and its potential for replacing people in the workplace, or removing the human touch consumers expect from businesses like restaurants . While automation is replacing more repetitive tasks in restaurants, it’s more common for technology to recreate the kinds of work restaurants do — and help them make experiences feel more personal for guests, not less. You can do this in ways beyond mining guest data to send targeted promotions. Case in point: Ford Fry, the founder of Rocket Farm Restaurants, recently told Entrepreneur that he has gone from not knowing what Instagram was to hiring a team dedicated to the restaurant group’s online presence. That has involved tasks like curating Spotify playlists that embody the restaurant brand and are played for visitors to the restaurant’s dining rooms and website. Whether you have a dedicated team managing your online presence or not, how can you use tech tools to boost the connections you make with guests — and the connections they can make with each other? If you have a business profile on Google and your staff regularly spends time responding to guest questions submitted via the search engine, a new automated tool may help save you some time. Search Engine Journal reports that business profiles on Google can now set automated responses to specific questions – kind of like a customer service chatbot on a website. Further, you can add links to these responses to provide online visitors with the information they need. Just go to “my business” in your Google browser, then click customers, messages, menu, message settings and finally manage frequently asked questions to add questions and responses to your profile. Digital restaurant orders continue to be high, making your restaurant’s online presence especially important. That extends to what people are saying about you online, but when restaurants are strapped for staff, responding to every review with a professional, sensitive, well-thought-out answer can feel like one task too many. If that’s the case for you, artificial intelligence may be able to provide some relief. In a recent report from Pymnts.com, Paytronix CEO Andrew Robbins said smart use of AI can help expedite and automate the process of responding to reviews. Much like an extension of how AI is used in drive-thrus and customer service call centers, AI may be able to process the words used in a review and craft an appropriate response – with minimal time and involvement from you. |
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March 2024
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