7 Ways to Manage Restaurant Data Wisely

Data allows restaurant professionals to reach customers, translating into managerial improvements, increased sales, successful marketing, and better insights. 

In 2021, data acquisition is an opportunity for agile restaurants. However, it is a threat for restaurants that are slow to change. Many restaurant professionals appreciate data analytics but have difficulties acquiring data. The data acquisition difficulties are ironic, considering the available wealth of data for restaurants.

Data acquisition is essential to capitalize on:

• Loyalty programs

• Online reviews

• Customer feedback

• Promotions

Restaurant professionals need to manage data wisely by:

1. Taking customer data seriously. Research and keep up with the latest data laws and trends. More than 60 jurisdictions across the world have enacted or proposed new data and privacy protection laws. “Privacy-first products are likely to follow this trend,” says Bart Willemsen, Vice President Analyst, Gartner. “To increase customer trust, executive leaders need to build a holistic and adaptive privacy program across the organization, and be proactive instead of responding to each jurisdictional challenge.”
2. Ethically gather information. Educate customers on how you plan on using their data. “The more information a buyer has, the better able they are to make a good choice for themselves,” explained Alice Stevens, senior content strategist at BestCompany.com. But consumer education doesn’t mean only providing biased information for self-promotion. “It’s essential that marketers provide consumers with accurate and objective information. If you don’t, you run the risk of dealing with an unsatisfied customer who may leave a bad review.”
3. Deciding what you really need. Only collect customer data that you deem as mutually beneficial. Of course, at the very least, restaurants should focus on collecting names and email addresses. They can also collect additional information like birth dates, ZIP codes, and phone numbers for more targeted messaging. However, if a restaurant does not plan on doing anything with the data they acquire, it has little benefit to the customer. Restaurants should only collect the data that they plan on using for mutually beneficial promotions.
4. Investing in a CRM. Combine your WiFi marketing and CRM in one place with Bloom Intelligence. A survey of Toast customers found that off-premise dining experiences, which were at 15% before the pandemic, are up to 70% now. Restaurants are able to achieve more data about their customers than ever before. A restaurant CRM like Bloom Intelligence helps restaurants keep their data safe, organized, and accessible.
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5. Making sure your data is clean and organized. Work with data providers that keep data clean and organized. When customers request to receive all of the data that a restaurant has acquired from them, it should be easy to provide. Providing data upon request is essential in many different data laws.
6. Training your team. Make sure that your team understands how to handle customer data. If a customer requests access to their data, team members should also understand how to provide it to the guest. 
7. Thinking about access. Provide customer access to their data if they request to do so. Restaurant CRMs like Bloom Intelligence make customer data easy-to-access, which is essential for data compliance.

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