How to navigate the switch from paper to digital menus
The company explains why digital menus help tap into a consumer’s ‘indecision of choice’.
(Editor's Note: The article was originally written by TabSquare. Click here to see the original article.)
Menus, as lists of prepared foods, date back to the Song dynasty in China over a thousand years ago. They disappeared, then reappeared again in the second half of the 18th century and have been with us since. They have become such an embedded part of how we dine that it’s easy to understand why it’s difficult for restaurant and cafe owners to move away from such a strong tradition.
This has been the case for many products that have been overtaken by modern technology. We can all easily rattle off a number of things that we grew up with that have been superseded. While we might feel nostalgic about the fact that they’ve gone, we all enjoy the benefits that their modern-day replacements bring.
This is the same for modern diners, who have high and increasing expectations when it comes to their eating out experience. Paper menus, which have been with us for hundreds of years, are increasingly being replaced by digital menus that give diners all the information they need instantly at their fingertips.
Having been in on the ground floor of digital ordering solutions since 2012, TabSquare understands how daunting it can be for any restaurant or cafe owner to replace traditional paper menus with a digital option. So, they make sure they are on hand to support these business owners as they move to digital menus and help optimise them for maximum profitability.
There are 3 ways that TabSquare makes the switch from a paper to a digital menu successful:
1. Easy menu set up and branding
- Restaurant owner completes an easy-to-use menu template.
- TabSquare supports restaurant owner to provide images and brand guidelines.
- TabSquare uploads the menu information and images and applies branding.
- Customer Success Partners review the digital menu with the client.
- Customisations, upsells, cross-sells and menu flow are optimised.
- Client reviews the menu twice before final sign off and go-live.
2. TabSquare's Customer Success Partners
Customer Success Partners provide valuable knowledge and expertise for clients during the menu set up and optimisation, including advice on best practice menu pairings. Based on their years of experience and knowledge of industry trends, the Customer Success Partners can provide advice on; optimum pairings, up-sell and cross-sell opportunities.
The collaboration includes face-to-face sessions and covers recommendations on item placement, upselling and cross-selling, and overall menu structure – all aimed at increasing revenue and improving the customer experience.
In the initial step, the client is walked through each part of the digital menu set up template and the Customer Success Partner provides advice on what is required to create the best possible menu to enhance the diners’ experience. This includes tailoring the menu template to suit a digital menu, as it provides a more immersive experience compared with a traditional printed menu. Once the client is happy, this is then sent to the TabSquare menu engineering team.
Once the first draft of the menu is received, Customer Success Partners go through it in fine detail, testing it and making sure it provides the optimum customer experience. This is then fed back to the client for their input.
Data consultancy is a service that the Customer Success Partners can provide, this allows clients to understand the data they receive. TabSquare’s solution obtains rich data unique to each restaurant, which provides valuable insights for fine-tuning a venue’s digital menu for best results.
3. The TabSquare Dashboard
Once the digital menu is active, the dashboard then uses transaction data to provide valuable insights into a venue’s performance, including comparisons over different time periods. Metrics include total sales, cross-selling, upselling, item mapping, category penetration and overall performance.
With these unique insights, venues are able to adapt their menu quickly and easily using actual customer buying trends. They are able to promote particular items with better margins, move slow-moving items, choose appropriate pairings for their dishes and advertise promotions.
(Download TabSquare's white paper to find out how to move your venue into the digital age.)
