How Call Centers are shaping the Future of Restaurant Industry

How Call Centers are shaping the Future of Restaurant Industry

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How Call Centers are shaping the Future of Restaurant Industry

Restaurant-Call-Center

If your primary wish involves getting your restaurant recognized as one that is known for valuing its guests among its competitors then it is extremely important that you start addressing your customers complaints, feedbacks, and doubts in a proactive manner.

However, achieving something like this is not at all easy, not since the booming current trend of ordering online food (with the help of various online order portals) that had transformed the hospitality industry into a digital entity. These online order portals have upped the game by great degrees, providing its users, not just amazing discount offers along with ensuring timely deliveries but also taking their feedbacks very seriously.

In order to fight off this tide of increased competition and tight margins, the restaurant industry is constantly on the lookout for solutions that can help bring down costs. This solution must be able to overcome these 4 main hurdles –

1)Rising labor costs

2)Increased food expenses

3)Meeting high expectations of customer service

4)Less than robust growth

Though these hurdles only seem to have bothered small and medium-sized restaurants till now as the largest food chains across the country are already availing services (such as catering, takeouts, and call-in-orders) from Restaurant Call Centers for quite some time now. But times are changing, and we are seeing off-track restaurant call centers also gaining popularity among fast casual, quick service and fine dining restaurants.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, a restaurant call center provides services that include outsourcing certain operational functions normally associated with the restaurant industry to 3rd party vendors located elsewhere.

Why your restaurant need a call center?

One fact that the restaurant staff understands very well is that the peak time when customers call to book a table for upcoming meals is usually the peak time when the staff is at its busiest (mostly during lunch and dinner time).

Handling the order taking process by yourself or a staff member at these hours means keeping one host waiting while attending other, or often times as is the case, leaving the phone unattended while helping customers with seating. This, needless to say, looks unprofessional and generally lead customers to call the next best option on their list.

And the end result? Your customer ends up getting his table booked at his ‘next best option’ and you end up with a missed revenue opportunity because you missed that call. You do understand it’s a lose-lose situation for everyone, right?

How can a restaurant call center help with reservation process?

Since childhood, we are familiar with the phrase, “the first impression is already half the battle won”. Well, its time to put it to good use.

a)It’s comparatively much lower in cost hiring call centers to help your restaurant instead of pouring lots of money and time while setting up an in-house team.

b)Call centers hire experts that undergo stringent training programs to provide a professional voice to your restaurant and thus help build better brand value.

c)Call centers offer top levels of security that helps to maintain the confidentiality in terms of conversation that any business had with its clients.

d)Since call centers are well-versed with customer dealing, chances of them making a mistake while taking order details and passing it on to the restaurant staff is non-existent.

e)If you manage to provide your customers a first-rate service experience, they also return the favor by preferring your establishment over others along with increasing the order size.

As we have seen in many businesses, a customer’s choice is determined by the company’s professional look (in this case, restaurant’s). So, providing a business phone number will only serve as an icing on the cake.

A Tip: Choose a number that’s easy-to-use, it’s even better if you choose one that represents your restaurant’s motto or its name.

So, is that all? Well no, there’s one last thing left.

How restaurant call centers handle customer feedback?

What do you think customers do at your restaurant after finishing their lunch or dinner? Do they go off to work, home or whatever place they intend to go? Well, yes of course. But after they posted comments on social media about how good or bad your service or the quality of your food really was. And believe me, the only thing that tarnishes the reputation of your restaurant worse than a negative feedback is your ignorance towards it.

Here too, a restaurant call center comes to your rescue by real-time monitoring what is being said about your business and responding immediately. If the comments are positive, call center agents will thank them share them further with your followers, if not, the agents will address the issue immediately and show that you care, thus keep the situation under control.

Conclusion:                                      

It doesn’t matter which industry you belong to, call centers offer perfect solutions that range from handling phone calls to social media support to managing multiple communication channels and as a result, can greatly elevate your restaurant’s performance and revenue collection.