The restaurant business has become more challenging in recent years, especially for casual-dining. In the second quarter of this year, many chains saw flat or falling sales. Competition appears to be increasing, with many new fast-casual chains, grocery store restaurants and a larger number of independent restaurants in many markets. Stagnant incomes for many Americans makes eating out a luxury for many. Online shopping is reducing foot traffic at malls […]

The Presto System contains a number of features that make surveys more flexible and interactive. Leveraging these tools you can delve deeper, in different directions, than historic approaches often permitted. Let’s look at three of these capabilities. First, is our ability to ask contextual questions. This means that a subsequent question can be asked, depending on what answer was given to a prior question. For example, if a survey respondent […]

In an earlier blog post, we looked at EMV. A related topic of interest for restaurant operators is Encryption. Restaurants are one of the most common targets of payment data theft, and EMV and Encryption work together to mitigate this risk. EMV refers to the “Europay Mastercard Visa” standard. EMV contains security measures contained within the payment card itself. It is the card, and specifically the chip itself, that contains […]

One of the great advantages of using the Presto Smart Dining System for surveys is the ability to associate questions with Contextual Data. The system already knows key variables, such as order amount, tip amount, table number, menu selections, location, payment method, time of day, day of week, server, and other key pieces of information. Many operators, harking back to the lessons learned in a marketing or statistics class, or […]

The world has embraced consumer technology, and now it’s becoming more pervasive in restaurants. Some argue that this is negative and that hospitality will suffer. Actually, the reverse is true. Think of the challenges in providing hospitality to diners. In a perfect world, wait staff could spend all of their time with diners, attending to their every need. The reality is that wait staff spend most of their time in […]

Response rates for surveys are often low because they have too many questions. Surveys become a grueling exercise. As a result, many respondents quit before the survey is completed. When using the Presto System make it your goal to ask just 3-5 questions. Take note of survey completion rates for your customers, as you change the number of questions over time. You’ll soon know the “right number” of questions to […]

You’ve probably heard about EMV. But you may be wondering just exactly what it is, and how it applies to your restaurant organization. With that in mind let’s review some of the basics. EMV is an acronym that refers to “Europay Mastercard Visa”. These three payment processors created the standard in the 90s. Since then other companies have adopted the payment processing technology including American Express, Discover, JCB, and UnionPay, […]

Restaurants today face a more competitive and economically difficult environment.  In such times it becomes of great importance to be on top of consumer trends, and always thinking about ways to tackle challenges creatively. The recent introduction of Pokémon Go illustrates the point. In case you’ve been under a rock, Pokémon Go is the white-hot game (that runs on both Android and iPhone), introduced just two weeks ago, in which […]

I’m happy to share that the Presto Blog will become an even more important part of our discussions with our ecosystem of interested stakeholders, such as restaurant partners, integration partners, technology providers, team members, investors and advisors. There is an enormous number of developments in the restaurant industry surrounding new technologies.  Consequently, we believe that sharing updates on this blog will allow us to better address the volume of new […]

All of the 2016 Presidential candidates either support raising the national minimum wage to $15/hr or are “open to doing something” about the current $7.25/hr minimum wage, making restaurant operators across the nation cringe. “Restaurants operate on thin margins with low profits per employee and little room to absorb added costs. More than doubling the current minimum salary threshold for exempt employees, while automatically increasing salary levels, will harm restaurants […]

Gathering feedback from diners has always been a challenge. Only the most motivated bother to make the effort. As a result, restaurateurs have limited insights into what’s working in their business, and what’s not. Worse, surveys are frequently completed by diners who’ve had an unusually good or bad experience. This can lead to erroneous conclusions, and individuals or the restaurant might be unfairly singled out. Many just find it easier […]

The full-service restaurant industry is facing the winds of change in the labor market, from ever more stringent labor legislation to intense competition for top waitstaff in a 5% unemployment economy. Restaurant operators know that top service talent is sometimes hard to retain, but that great staff members significantly impact guest loyalty and overall satisfaction. Since servers are one of the most important assets in delivering a memorable dining experience, […]