Restaurants Serve Up Machine Learning To Personalize Order, Payments Preferences

Consumers’ choices of which restaurants to patronize are based not only on their food cravings but on whether they can meet the diners’ desires for safety and convenience.

The pandemic has led many customers to replace indoor dining experiences with takeout and delivery purchases instead, and many have been turning to digital tools like websites, mobile apps and scannable QR codes posted in restaurants’ windows to help them easily place these orders.

Eateries are looking to cater to this shifting consumer demand and to spare their staff from close customer contact that could increase employees’ risk of catching the virus. These two motivations are driving restaurants to adopt various technologies to facilitate swift, remote customer interactions.

Millennial and Generation Z diners appear particularly swayed by such tools, wi th 61 percent saying that the ability to pay digitally is a key factor in influencing their restaurant choice. The high demand for such offerings is unlikely to abate post-pandemic, either, with 87 percent of consumers who had shifted to ordering online from restaurants during the public health crisis saying they expect to continue doing so once the pandemic ends.

Restaurants may therefore need to seriously consider their technology strategies. The March Digitizing Restaurant Payments Report examines how eateries are charting these digital adoptions and which tools are making a difference.

Around The Digital Restaurant Payment World

Consumers have become accustomed to takeout and delivery during the pandemic, with 53 percent of consumers saying in a study that these services are “essential” parts of their current lifestyles. Forty-six percent said they turned to digital tools to place these orders — a finding that underscores the importance of eateries offering compelling online and mobile options. Restaurants will need to cater to customers’ hunger for digital options and be sure to provide convenient experiences in these channels if they wish to stay relevant.

Many venues are actively taking up the charge and reaping the rewards. A study found eateries saying they expect 62 percent of their 2021 revenue to be generated from takeout and delivery orders, and many venues are adopting both front- and back-end technologies to facilitate their offering these services. Those digital tools include solutions designed to help eateries fulfill orders and gather data about customers’ ordering and payment preferences.

C onsumers’ shift to digital is a result of both their being drawn in by the convenience of these options and their shying away from the riskiness of on-site dining. Customers remain ambivalent about eating at restaurants in person, with comfort levels fluctuating recently. Forty-four percent of customers felt safe eating on-premise as of late January, a rate that rose to 51 percent by late February and then fell back to 44 percent in early March. Eateries may not be able to rely on a steady demand for table service, given this persistent wariness, and they therefore will need to ensure they have strong alternative ways to continue reaching customers.

Find more on these and the rest of the latest headlines in the Report.

Piada Italian Street Food On Keeping Pace With Changing Payment, Ordering Trends

Restaurants need to provide the right mix of ordering and payment options to win over customers, and the pandemic has driven widespread demand for robust digital options from consumers who are staying at home whenever possible to reduce their risks of catching COVID-19. Appealing to digital-focused shoppers requires powerful technology setups, according to Matt Harding, senior vice president of Culinary and Menu Innovation, at fast casual chain Piada Italian Street Food.

In this month’s Feature Story, Harding and Piada Director of Technology Jason Profitt discuss using a holistic in-house system to manage the chain’s various digital ordering channels and features. The two also detail how leveraging machine learning tools for analyzing customer data enables the chain to offer more personalized experiences.

Read the full story in the Report.

Deep Dive: Why Restaurants Are Putting Ordering, Payment Technologies On The Menu

Eateries are deploying a variety of tools as they seek to keep up with diners’ demands for seamless, contactless ordering and payment options. Shoppers appear to want such services regardless of whether they are making delivery and pickup orders or arriving on site for sit-down service. Restaurants have responded by deploying everything from self-serve ordering and payment kiosks to QR codes that consumers can scan on their phones for digital menus.

The Deep Dive explores consumers’ digital expectations and the restaurant technology strategies that are proving impactful.

Get the full scoop in the Report.

About The Report

The Digitizing Restaurant Payments Report, a PYMNTS and American Express collaboration, offers coverage of the most recent news and trends regarding restaurants’ digital ordering and payment transformations.