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MARCH SUPPER CLUB

For the March installment of the ONOSYS Supper Club we stretched our culinary horizons and visited Ethiopian restaurant Empress Taytu.

Upon arrival we opted for a traditional setting, seated in a circle (for communal sharing) with a grass basket table under a straw roof hut. Then came a round of tej – Ethiopian honey wine and an order of lentil sambusa to start. For entrees we shared a vegetarian combination plate which included red and yellow lentil dishes, greens and spicy cabbage, as well as several meat dishes, including beef tips (cubes of beef marinated in an Ethiopian blend of spices).

Without a knife and fork in sight (yes, you eat with your hands!), each person gets their own basket of fresh injera (a traditional spongy pancake bread) to tear away, and “pinch” the different meat and veggies.

With large portions, bold flavors, and an authentic Ethiopian ambiance, Empress Taytu is a unique Cleveland dining experience definitely worth trying a time or two.

APRIL SUPPER CLUB

This month we decided to try something new and trendy and without a second thought – Hodge’s it was! The highly anticipated downtown eatery, owned by the same folks that operate the popular Hodge Podge/Dim and Dem Sum food trucks, totally lives up to the hype.

So you know you’re in for a treat when your drinks (more on that later) are served with complimentary cornbread. But that was just the beginning. For apps, our group shared the chicken liver toast, house-made pickled vegetables, gnudi (crispy artichoke with brown butter, parm, and parsley) and swedish meatballs (NOT the IKEA kind). Talk about tasty!

For entrees, a few went with the burger, one with the Hodge’s honey ribs, and another with the ribeye steak. Each meal was quickly devoured and the unanimous vote was that the food was delish!

The vibe and the service were great and the bar manager even stopped by to chat about our order of “Mohurtos.” In case you were wondering, this is the signature drink of ONOSYS project manager, Dave Hurt. A twist on the mojito, the “moHURTo” is a mix of tequila, mint, club soda, a little lime juice and simple syrup.  Sounds manly, right? (He paid me to include this blurb)

Okay, back to Hodge’s. Great spot, great food. Take a date and take your friends. You won’t regret it!

About ONOSYS Supper Club

Being in the restaurant industry, it’s no surprise that we love food. And the ONOSYS Supper Club is the perfect excuse to hang out as a group outside of the office while trying unique restaurants around town. Our goal is to dine off the beaten path, try fare from around the world, and discover – as a team – all of our city’s finest food gems.

Remember the old “Have it your way” advertising campaign from Burger King? I bet a large fry you do. The catchy jingle invited you to order a Whopper any which way you pleased. No mayo? Extra pickle? Your wish was their command.

Sure the big wigs at BK wanted to please your picky taste-buds. But more importantly than that, they were pioneers in the hot product strategy known as customization.

In a recent article from SmartBlog Food & Beverage, the author shares how customization can increase customer retention and average order value. It impacts how customers perceive their relationship with both a brand and its products. But it’s not a feature; like product quality or ease of use – customization is a FUNdamental dimension of the customer experience (see what I did there).

Think about it. We all have an innate desire to be creative, engaged and in control. Customization fulfills that. And when we’re engaged and in control during the buying process, we’re a satisfied customer. And when we’re satisfied, we’re likely to buy again and again.

A solid online ordering system is the crème de la crème of food customization.  It lets customers live out their inner control freak. Whether it’s building a salad, sandwich or pizza, the options and modifiers let them have it their way (even if their way is a combo of pineapple, spinach, and anchovy). And once they’ve created their perfect product, they can name it and save it for repeat consumption.

So how do you engage your customers with customization? Let us help you add value to your online ordering system with visual and gratifying customization.  Between our own customers’ dishes and a custom orange shoe obsession, I’d say we’re old pros at it. Besides, your ever so choosy customers will thank you for it.

Today is Tax Day, one of the most stressful days of the year for procrastinators nationwide.

Whether you’re scrambling to file, or you filed months ago and are looking to save the last few bucks of your refund, the marketing brains behind America’s restaurant chains know that we could all use a little help today.

Below is a list of restaurants that are attempting to drive traffic with special promotions by taping into the annual tax ritual:

• McCormick & Schmick’s are extending their happy hour from 3:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Tuesday, featuring drinks like “The Rummy Refund,” “The Bloody Mary Tax Code” and “The Uncle Sam.”

• Sonic Drive-In, are offering happy hour deals all day Tuesday. Sonic is inviting customers to “take their first deductions of the year” with half-priced fountain drinks and slushes throughout the day. Customers can create customized drink blends from an estimated 398,929 possible combinations at more than 3,500 locations across the country.

• Chili’s Grill & Bar is offering coupon-carrying guests a free appetizer or dessert with the purchase of an adult entrée Monday through Wednesday. The coupons are available to the chain’s Email Club members, Facebook fans and Twitter followers, and can be printed or displayed on a smart phone.

As consumers, we’re quite the big-mouths. If we have a great experience in a restaurant, we’re likely to tell somebody. If it’s poor – be it the service or food – we’re likely to tell five people, and then share it with the entire world wide web.

User reviews on social sites like Yelp and Foursquare have become trusted sources on which restaurants soar and sink (literally and/or figuratively). We care what other people think and we don’t hold back on adding our two-cents to the mix.

This new infographic from Keepingitkleen.Com shows us that foodie blogs and the ever increasing amount of social sites make us the new food critics. These statistics show, people trust what we’re dishin’ out:

• 90% of consumers trust peer reviews and 70% trust online reviews

• 89% of consumers use the internet to check out menus and researched a restaurant before dining there

• Yelpers have posted over 25mil local reviews and average 5.7 mil monthly visitors

So if a diner has dirty dishes, dingy bathrooms, and a disrespectful wait staff, there’s a good chance the voice of the people will shut them down before the health inspectors do.  You may not be putting the health grade in the window, but if you say a place is a pass or fail, you the diner, define the restaurant’s clout.

How often do you check restaurant reviews before choosing a new restaurant? How much sway does it have over where you dine? And operators, how do you handle folks that talk cyber-smack about your spot? Give us a piece of your ever-so-influential mind.

Most folks would say they frequent fast food spots because it’s quick, convenient, and with a drive-through, you don’t even have to get out of the car.

Now what if you could kick that convenience up a notch. What if you could sit-back, relax, and let the car fetch the food for you. Those smarty pants at Google are on the fast-track to making it happen.

A few years ago, Google developed cars that could drive themselves. Now, the New York Times reported that with their latest innovation, Google is teaching cars to navigate programmed routes, such as fast food restaurant drive-throughs.

In a post on Google Plus the company says that robotic cars have “now safely completed more than 200,000 miles of computer-led driving.” Google added that it wanted to demonstrate that a driverless car navigating new obstacles, like a drive-through, offered “a promising look at what this kind of technology may one day deliver for society if rigorous technical and safety standards can be met.”

In the YouTube video below, you can check-out the self-driving car in action, allowing Steve Mahan (a gentleman that has lost 95% of his vision) to safely and independently run errands like picking up dry-cleaning and fast-food. With the car, he’s experiencing being behind the wheel in a whole new way.

While Google has a lot of lobbying to do before it can set a battalion of robotic cars loose on city street, it’s pretty neat look at the future of autonomous technology and how it can benefit the folks that may need it most.

Last week we traveled to the quiet desert town of Las Vegas to attend and sponsor the Multi-Unit Restaurant Technology Conference (MURTEC).

The show brought together over 200 restaurant technology and operations folks for three fun-filled days exchanging ideas and best practices with industry peers.  While we think most trade shows are pretty neat, MURTEC is a must-attend event, not just because it’s in Sin City, but for the chance to network and share new technologies and trends with operators and vendors alike (and of course to host the annual ONOSYS dinner).

Both in conversation and in learning sessions, we heard from restaurant pros about specific ways they are aligning technology initiatives with business objectives. One standout session worth sharing came from our long standing friend, Paul Valle, CIO of Papa Gino’s.

In a case study presentation, Valle revealed how Papa Gino’s is driving sales with business analytics. By integrating its BI and customer relationship management efforts, and combining data from finance, marketing and operations, the restaurant brand is boosting average order amounts and improving operations.

The company captures metrics from across their enterprise – which includes POS, online ordering, loyalty and email marketing – and is able to provide customized reports based on business needs. For example, mangers get a daily score card that tracks sales and guest survey information. District managers get comparative data that allows them to see areas for improvement throughout their districts. And so on and so forth.

These insights have not only led to several “ah-ha” moments for the brand, but have had a significant impact on guest satisfaction. How is your restaurant brand leveraging business analytics to boost sales and improve customer service? Let us know here and learn more about Papa Gino’s efforts in this month’s Hospitality Technology cover story.

Check out how quick and easy it is to place an online order through the ONOSYS v4 platform! Featuring our client Boston Pizza’s brand spankin’ new website.

Once upon a time before online ordering, takeout was quite the hassle. For a ‘quick’ meal, you flipped through a phonebook to narrow restaurant choices, battled with busy phone lines, and quickly recited orders to rushed employees.

Then the ol’ mouse, keyboard and ONOSYS came along. With a few clicks and keystrokes, your favorite restaurant fare was now at your fingertips. Without hesitation, you embraced the ease and convenience of ordering whatever, whenever.

Now fast forward. What if it got even easier? What if you could leave the pointing and clicking behind and simply order with your eyes? To Tobii, an eye-tracking software company, the idea isn’t far-fetched. 

This year at the Consumer Electronics Show, Tobii (notice the spelling with two eyes), created quite the buzz. According to a NYT review, the system finds and learns where your eyes are by using a 10-second calibration procedure, in which you simply look at an orange dot as it jumps to four positions around the screen. Then you’re ready to give it a whirl.

On a PC running Windows 8, you can click toolbar buttons in Word, tile buttons and swipe through screens, all using your eyes. On websites, the system knows where your eyes are and how fast you are going, so it keeps your place centered on the screen, scrolling automatically as you go, even if you jump back to reread something.

While it may be years before this software is available to the masses, imagine ordering takeout via the web with just your gaze. Would you give it a try? Let us know if you think this piece of technology is worth keeping an eye on.

Have you checked out the features of our Facebook ordering application? Restaurants can allow customers to place food orders through their restaurant’s Facebook page without ever having to leave the social network’s site!

ONOSYS Facebook Ordering from ONOSYS on Vimeo.

When it comes to philanthropy, big change can come from simple idea. And thus is true for Telepizza, a pizza delivery company in Spain.

Noticing the potential of empty-handed drivers on their way back from delivering pizzas, a Telepizza employee suggested an effort that invited delivery customers in Madrid to donate unwanted books for delivery to the needy in Colombia. A joint effort between Telepizza, Spanish airline Iberia, and social network ideas4all, delivery drivers used the empty space in their vehicles to transport the books to the local Telepizza outlet. From there, they were sent via Iberia aircraft to Colombia, where NGO BuenaNota handled distribution.

So far, the Books for Colombia program has resulted in the distribution of books to in 120 libraries and schools throughout the country, potentially reaching more than 98,000 children and teenagers.

As this Springwise writer suggests, there is a great business lesson to be learned with this social cause. Every business-driven trip, whether to or fro, is an opportunity to give back – to do something more for your community – both locally and globally. How could your restaurant or company add a social benefit to the journeys it’s already making? What big change can come from your simple idea? Just a little food for thought for your Wednesday…