In the second quarter of 2021, Dine Brands, parent of casual dining restaurants Applebee’s and IHOP, saw sales rise dramatically year over year, with both brands more than doubling their same-restaurant sales. In fact, Applebee’s also rose 10.5 percent on a two-year basis, beating the chain’s pre-pandemic performance, though IHOP’s sales have still not fully recovered, the company announced on Thursday (Aug. 5).
After experiencing major losses throughout the early months of the pandemic, the company’s restaurants are once again profitable. Of course, this did not happen automatically: The recovery was helped enormously by the company’s investments in technology.
“By the end of the year, approximately 75 percent of our digital technology tools will be modernized or new,” Dine Brands CEO John Peyton told analysts on a call.
Below are the six digital upgrades that the company has made to attract today’s digitally connected consumers, along with one more that’s on its way, as described by Peyton.
Improved Data Analytics
The company has begun using a new customer relationship management (CRM) platform to improve its offers and marketing with customer data. Peyton describes this as “the backbone for our loyalty programs,” allowing the company to present customers with a more personalized digital experience.
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Better Mobile and Web Tools To Drive Ecommerce
Peyton noted “upgrades to our apps and our websites” that make the online experience more intuitive and quicker, while feeding the CRM with better data. Apparently, these upgrades are working — Applebee’s off-premise sales grew 8 percent, and IHOP’s grew 6 percent over Q2 2020, when quarantined customers flocked to digital ordering.
In fact, where both Applebee’s and IHOP were once extremely table service-focused brands, off-premise orders now account for a significant portion of each brand’s sales — 30 percent of Applebee’s and 26 percent of IHOP’s — even as customers return to restaurants.
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Tech-Enabled Timing For Pickup Orders
The company has also added geo-sensing tools for restaurants to see when customers will arrive to collect their carside or in-restaurant pickup orders.
Automating the Voice Order
Peyton noted that around 150 of the roughly 1,700 Applebee’s locations have begun using the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) voice ordering platform to take orders that come in through the call center.
Equipping Waitstaff With Digital Tech
In 500 locations, waitstaff is now taking orders with handheld devices that have been found to increase table turnover and increase the number of drinks that customers order.
Easy Digital Payments
Dine Brands added a pay-and-go feature so that customers can “pay at the table using their own device,” which allows them to get out of the restaurant quicker and frees up the table for the next customer, as well as a “digital wallet that allows guests to redeem offers and coupons from their phone,” integrating the in-restaurant experience with the digital.
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More In-Restaurant Tech to Come
In the months to come, IHOP will implement a new point of sale (POS) and kitchen display system (KDS), enabling more seamless communication between the front of house, back of house and off-premise order channels, building toward the brand’s omnichannel future.
