Pizza and Technology

These days, to run a great pizza operation, you need to be up on the latest technology. So, just like you need a great pepperoni (like our new Liguria Bravo Gusto), you need a great integrated technology system.

Pizza operators, more than any other segment of the restaurant business, are at the forefront of technology.  Pizza has led in the areas of delivery, online ordering, advanced POS systems and a variety of social media to connect to their customers. 

Consider Domino’s, for instance, which has pioneered a number of technology programs to enhance its business and reinforce its relationship with its customers.  Domino’s may not make the best slice of pizza in the world, but it has mobile apps to cover over 90 percent of smartphones and generates more than 50 percent of its sales from digital ordering.

In order to compete in the pizza business, you need to be up to speed in the tech world in order to prosper in the real world. The newest service is Apple Pay. The tech giant’s new mobile easy-pay system will revolutionize how people buy.

People are in a hurry and technology makes it easier for consumers mobile orderto order their pizza. Smartphones and tablets have revolutionized the way people communicate with restaurants.  They hop online to check out menus, hours of service and promotions.  They tap into apps that provide discounts and rewards. Consumers are more likely to order online that at any time and that option continues to grow rapidly as a convenient, safe and fast way to get food.

Are you capitalizing on the new level of connection with your customers?  What should you do to keep up?  Here are a few areas to research and employ:

  1. Point of Sale – Make sure to select a system that’s flexible and capable of being integrated with your other technologies such as online ordering, self-serve kiosks, mobile ordering, and customer loyalty.
  1. Online Ordering – This is a given.  Look for a program designed for pizza that is capable to boost ticket averages. Make sure it interfaces with your POS.
  1. Go Mobile – Brand yourself with a mobile app that goes beyond your website.  Your online ordering provider should be able to give you a customized, branded mobile app for very little investment on your part.
  1. Email – This may sound old-fashioned, but collect the email addresses of all of your customers and then blast them with info on a regular but not annoying basis. This is a great way to send newsletters, promotions and information about events and openings.
  1. Social Media – Twitter may be the best way to build a following and create an ongoing conversation with your customers.  Customer complaints and accolades usually are tweeted these days.  Build a great Facebook page and tout your operation and its personality.  Interface both with your website, which should be dynamic, fun, informative …, and up to date. Use Instagram, Pinterest and other apps to convey information about your pizza operation.

Improving your technology may seem daunting but it really is not. Do your research on the subject.  Talk to your POS company, your friends in the business, online ordering company and the phone company for advice. Take the time and effort you put into selecting the ingredients for your pizza into choosing and using an integrated technology system.

You will be happy you did and your customers will appreciate it as much as they do that great tasting pepperoni.

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