2.7.2022
Brendan Sweeney is the CEO and co-founder of Pompeii, a leading provider of digital marketing, bargaining and advanced technologies, working with more than 6,000 independent restaurants and catering groups. With extensive experience in SaaS companies with significant growth in product development, user experience and marketing, Sweeney will lead efforts to provide troubleshooting technology and open the door to new revenue opportunities for restaurants. It can be found on international talk shows, industry podcasts and news outlets. Prior to joining Pompeii, Sweeney held senior production leadership roles for Commissions Inc. And CareerBuilder EMEA served.
The outbreak has affected restaurants, especially independent operators. WDo the hat factors in your view affect how much restaurants are adapting and living during the Covenant?
One of the factors that determines efficiency and performance is the need for restaurant change. Within ten weeks of the first locks, he felt a ten-year increase in the adoption of technology. Providers of pre-outsourced services quickly brought it to the online model. Others had to reorganize the work overnight.
With consumer confidence fluctuating, supply chain disruptions and major inefficiencies, we have consistently seen technology-enabled restaurants perform better and sometimes richer. For example, our customers B&B butchers’ and restaurants have been organizing online bookings for holidays and special events. They sold $ 43,000 online for Prime Rib, Yorkshire Pudding and Pican Cake in two days.
Nearly half (48%) of restaurant owners and operators reported that automated online and on-premises work increased sales, while others noted greater efficiency and improved hospitality. Silver Covers are hard to come by in Covide, but I think it helps restaurants realize that technology helps them work less and that it is not difficult to add new ingredients to the tech stack.
What inspired you to start popcorn five years ago?
The idea came as I was preparing a party for a former employer in Paris. I was comparing three world-class restaurants and they all used text-only PDF menus. “Why do they only use text to convey their product about the emotional business of taste, smell, sight and atmosphere?” Raised the question. PDFs are also difficult to use on mobile devices and are not useful in search engine optimization. The online menu is the most important and least used marketing tool for restaurants, and we want to help them improve their menu utility.
Popmin began with the conversion of static online menus into a dynamic and interactive menu that reflects the decision-making criteria that consumers expect when making any purchase. It automatically indicates that any updates for search engines like Google are readable. This will increase the traffic to the restaurant website and translate the interactive experience into higher customer conversions. This SEO-based approach has enabled Winking Lizard Tavern to double its home page traffic to more than 200,000, add 400+ reviews, and retain contact information for 1,800+ visitors in three months.
We basically see the menu as a smart e-panel with many calls. We hold guest preferences and contact information for restaurants to sell directly to you. This product is central to our product portfolio.
Popmenu Max has launched a new online and offline solution called Popmenu Max. What are the benefits?
Restaurants did not enter the business to become technologists. They are all on the receiving end of the heart and we want to make them focus on that. Popman Max is an all-in-one, visually appealing digital platform designed specifically for restaurants. Includes our core offerings – interactive menu, website design and hosting, online ordering and delivery, digital redesign, Google business profile integration – with new capabilities such as digital waiting list, AI-enabled phone answering and third-party shipping.
I will start with the sum of the orders first. One of the biggest headaches for restaurants is to order multiple tablets from a variety of third-party delivery sites. Failure to do so may result in errors and delays. With OrderNerd, we enable restaurants to manage all orders from one device and send the orders to a printer and strengthen reporting to the back office.
Another major headache, when you pick it up, is the fact that the owners of the restaurant are responding to the phone, in the midst of a lack of energy. Every missed call is a missed opportunity. Our AI technology can answer all the most common questions and send the caller link if you want to order or book a place. First, it records text messages so you can quickly see which calls you need to answer. Over the past 30 days, Dracut House of Pizza & Seafood has used this technology to answer nearly 1,800 calls.
With our waiting list, guests can use the QR code or the restaurant’s website to add themselves to the waiting list. When you do, you will receive a link to the menu to start thinking about your order and you will be invited to submit a review after the meal and follow your restaurant for further engagement opportunities. We have seen three to five team members using single area restaurant operations at peak hours. Our solution is to achieve the next zero load on the group.
Over the next quarter, we will be investing in bonding capabilities and programs such as loyalty and membership. With all of these features in place, we are really looking forward to what it does to automatically fill up how restaurants interact with their guest base that unites the customer’s view on one device.
Why do you think the restaurant industry is reluctant or slow to adopt new technologies?
One, restaurant management is one of the most difficult tasks in the world and finding time to implement new technologies and / or procedures is a unique challenge here. Two, I think a lot
Restaurants burned with technology. Historically, there have been no good tools for home front work, especially outside the physical walls of the restaurant. You will find many restaurants combining ten different point solutions. This means ten introductions, ten accounts, ten support channels, ten sources of information – in other words, expensive, inefficient and less than the required consumer experience.
We are very sorry for the restaurants. We are angry at the names of the restaurants that have been hit by the technologists and the forums that are not in line with the needs of the restaurant. For a long time, we have been provided with a vast array of tools that make technology feel complex and expensive, and we have deliberately built solutions with operators to change this dynamic. We’re always getting customer feedback. Tell us about your day, your month, your struggles, your challenges, your hopes. Our job is to create a simple, usable technology that fits the restaurant world, not the other way around. We know that technology is not universal or we will help you to stay comfortable.
What does the future hold for restaurant technology?
When the epidemic is behind us and when labor and supply pressures are reduced, the difference between getting and crushing is “How much do you know about your customer?” The more you get to know your customer, the better off you will be about serving and marketing. At the pop-up platform, we have all the customer profile data in one place (customer liked, ordered, reviewed, etc.) and we use that information to convert traffic into orders and seats. And every day, this is happening more and more using AI. For us, it is all about promoting hospitality and creative information.
We are on the verge of transforming a once-in-a-lifetime giant industry into a new one and it is all accelerating. Starting with an online order for each person, you will see more personalized customer experiences that await you as you enter your favorite drink and door. Restaurants will be looking at how to manage their digital storefront front end and how to engage guests by following the retail process. You will find additional forecasting technologies to help you manage everything from marketing to inventory management. And restaurants are looking at multi-point solutions to reduce costs and complexity and increase revenue and profitability.