Restaurant Roundup: Wing Boss Goes Brick-and-Mortar, New F&B Subscription Services Launch

The ghost kitchens that emerged during the first year of the pandemic are reevaluating their relationship to physical space now that many consumers have shifted from delivery ordering back to other channels. On Thursday (Sept. 16), Dickey’s Barbecue Pit’s virtual-native Wing Boss Brand opened the doors of its first brick-and-mortar location in Addison, Texas.

The location includes a dining room, a full-service bar, and TV screens for customers to watch sports games. It is also available, like the ghost kitchen locations, on third-party delivery apps.

“We’re excited to bring the Wing Boss brand to life with its first brick-and-mortar location,” Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants, said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to grow this brand and deliver on our promise of superior pit-smoked wings!”

PYMNTS data from the 2021 Restaurant Readiness Index, created in collaboration with Paytronix, find that orders requiring consumers to interact with restaurants’ physical locations still make up the bulk of restaurants’ sales. Indoor dining, outdoor dining, pickup, and mobile order-ahead collectively account for 63% of all restaurants’ sales.

“Ultimately, consumers need to be able to ‘touch’ a digital concept for it to last … so consumers can explore [and] be adventurous,” Sam Nazarian, founder and chief executive officer of food technology platform and restaurant company C3, told PYMNTS in a recent interview, adding that “after a year of social distancing and isolation,” consumers want an experience that “feels much more personalized and authentic.”

Related news: C3 CEO: Omnichannel Food Hall Creates Physical Touchpoints For Virtual Brands

Del Taco Launches New Loyalty App

Del Taco, a quick-service Mexican food restaurant with 602 locations across the United States, announced Thursday (Sept. 16) the launch of its new loyalty app, Del Yeah! Rewards, which offers tiered rewards with escalating numbers of points per dollar spent. Additionally, the chain is incentivizing people to join the program with free coffee with a purchase every morning for all members.

“Each time the app is utilized, our guest is investing their hard-earned money and time in Del Taco and for that, we want to thank them by gifting them food and exclusive experiences the more time they spend with us,” Del Taco Vice President of Marketing Technology Erin Levzow said in a statement. “Alongside personalization, convenience was another major factor that we wanted to touch on, so we’ve made it easy to meet the guest where they are whether that’s delivery through the Del Yeah! Rewards App, in-store, drive-thru and more.”

Data from the August 2021 edition of PYMNTS’ Delivering on Restaurant Rewards report, also created in collaboration with Paytronix, finds that 72% of loyalty program users would like to earn rewards for the amount they spend, 69% for their number of visits, and 48% for the number of products they purchase. Additionally, 78% would like to earn complimentary food and 66% would like to receive customized coupons or discounts.

Restaurants that implement these offerings are far more likely to succeed in today’s competitive market. Restaurant Readiness Index data found that 92% of top-performing restaurants offer loyalty programs, compared to 65% of middle performers and just 21% of bottom performers.

As  Paytronix Chief Executive Andrew Robbins said in an interview with PYMNTS, “People like digital experiences, they understand them and now they’re craving more of them.”

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Taco Bell Launches Taco-a-Day Subscription

In related news, category leader Taco Bell announced Monday (Sept. 13) a subscription service that, for a flat monthly rate, allows consumers to one taco each day for 30 days, available only through the chain’s app.

Though a number of major restaurant chains have launched coffee subscriptions (see below), this taco subscription stands out in its extension of the model to include food items. The chain is testing the model at 17 locations in Tuscon, Arizona. Consumers can purchase one of these subscriptions until late November.

Throughout 2021, Taco Bell has been creative with its digital innovations, not only investing in its mobile and web platforms, but also trying out new restaurant concepts that integrate digital technologies into its physical spaces.

“So much has changed in even the past two years, [and] it’s exciting to think of what can continue to evolve,” Taco Bell President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Grams told PYMNTS in an interview. “As we look ahead, we’re excited by the challenge to reduce our restaurant footprint in concepts of the future, to better cater to our customers’ evolving needs.”

Read more: Taco Bell Restaurants Will Keep Getting Smaller, Says COO

Pret a Manger Coffee Subscription Arrives in NYC and DC

London-based sandwich and coffee shop chain Pret a Manger’s United States division has launched its new Pret Coffee Subscription in New York City and Washington, D.C., following a trial of its Coffee Pass, which launched in the U.S. in September of 2020 and ended in the summer of 2021.

The new program offers up to five hot beverages a day for a monthly fee, with a lower-priced option including only coffee and tea, and a higher-priced version featuring espresso drinks and other more complicated items. The chain has had a coffee subscription service live in the U.K. since last year, and the chain’s CEO told the Guardian at the time that the program gained 16,500 subscribers in its first day.

Competitor Panera Bread announced its own coffee subscription back in February 2020, and the program was a great success.

“The coffee-subscription program is selling like gangbusters,” Robbins told Karen Webster, noting that the chain saw frequency jump by more than 200 percent for customers that subscribed, and subscription members were attaching high-margin goods like bagels, muffins and breakfast sandwiches to their coffee orders as well.

See also: Panera Coffee Subscriptions And The Future Of Restaurants