Is your restaurant customer looking for instant gratification?

Are you providing it?

This is the age of instant gratification.  I see. I want. I have.

Mobile phones now provide customers the ability to see reviews about your restaurants when they're a few weeks away. Thanks to the iPhone, your QSR can have its own application and customers can pay for their order before they even set foot in your storefront.  There are numerous similar applications on the Droid platform.

Our society, particularly generations X and Y, have grown up in an era of open information and of instant information.  People are now accustomed to instant gratification due to the advances in technology: overnight shipping online (even pick-up at stores within hours), instant download of songs that they hear (e.g., Shazam), and instant information on iPhones and mobile devices (Zagat review, News Apps, etc.). Users can now virtually check into places they visit and friends can follow their social schedule with Foursquare. It’s endless.

What are the implications for restaurants and what are the elements that your restaurant should tackle?

1.  Go with the flow

When customers are so accustomed to fast information and service, you can't be left behind.  Ensure that speed of service is a top priority at your QSR.  You're not only quick because you serve fast food but because you filter people through in minutes.  Training, well-tuned POS systems, and well designed traffic flow and queuing are critical in speeding up your customers’ experience without sacrificing quality

2. Adapt to the technology

Whether your brand is a multi-million dollar chain or a local independent restaurant, it's vital to keep up with technology and respond to it.  Start by embracing social media.  Social media is a way that you can connect with your customers directly in a fashion that is already engrained in their daily routine.  Facebook, Twitter, My Space, and now Foursquare are accounts that you should set up and maintain.  Facebook and Twitter allow you to set up accounts for free as of the date of this blog.  If you need tips, please click here to see our tutorial on Facebook.  Some aspects have changed within the last couple of months but the set up is basically the same as we've described it.

Mobile applications are a good way to get your name out there.  If you have repeat customers, keep them up to date with menu changes, specials, press releases, and featured posts.  This information can be incorporated into your application.  Companies like Mobilaurus build mobile apps for restaurants and restaurant chains.  There are several other companies as well that provide this service for a fee.

Mobile web browsing -- upgrading your website to have specific indexes and content for mobile devices --  is a good way to make viewing faster for users and content more manageable on smaller screens.  Note that with advances in mobile browsing and touch technology, this is not a feature that is necessary as it once was.

Mobile payment services also offer a convenient way for customers to pay for purchases and meals with an established account through a payment provider. This bypasses fumbling with credit cards and cash that may soon be a prehistoric occurrence.

3. Manage your image

There was once a day when customer could bad mouth your establishment to dozens of friends through word of mouth.  As a result of bad service, your patrons could carry their disgruntlement through their own network of friends and family.  These days, one customer can broadcast bad service to hundreds of their "friends" within minutes.

(Thanks a lot Facebook.) 

Setting aside time or resources to mining the web for media reports, web posts, and blog mentions is key to staying on top of your image.  Remember: your image can change in an instant and TV and radio are no longer the only media you should be monitoring.

Public relations firms assist restaurant companies with their Internet image and social media, in addition to the traditional media image.  “It is all about sparking relevant online conversations that relate and bridge back to your services, products and company.  Social media is the most current platform to help restaurants impact how and how much their fans will talk about them to potential customers," says James Singleton, community consultant at Communispace.

4. Be instant - establish an open connection with customers

We’ve listed below several ways you can provide easier access to your customers.  Social media sites, currently, are key to allowing customers to provide direct feedback and reminding customers that you are available to them 24/7.  A defining trait of a strong restaurant brand is always looking to improve not only internally but externally as it relates to the guest experience.

Web contact form - make sure there is an easy way for customers to submit feedback on your website.  Additionally, provide an email for customers that may want to free from a message on their own time and terms.

Social Media - Below are sites that might be optimized for easier access:

Facebook:  Allows your guests to become your biggest fans. By "liking" your QSR's page, they become fans and are privy to special offers and menu enhancements that you post. With updates to your customers' pages, Facebook allows you to become part of their daily "Facebook routine." According to Singleton of Communispace, this is also a vehicle where customers can use the site to build up brands through status updates.

LinkedIn: This site now has more than 65 million professional users. It is mainly a career and business networking site but also allows companies to set up informational pages and groups to communicate what they are all about.  It's a great way to network with and also recruit the professional/management set and you can also get tips and advice on how to run your restaurant better. 

Twitter: A site where 140-character texts is the name of the game … or rather, “tweeting” is. Update your followers on interesting items, articles, updates, events, etc. and also re-tweet interesting updates from others.

Foursquare: Like most sites, Foursquare users add each other, and can see where their friends are. As users visit these locations and check in, they earn rewards for visiting certain places, and they have the chance to interact with past and present visitors. Restaurants are one of the most checked-in locations on Foursquare, and a big part of it is because users can add feedback about menu items, customer service, and friends can organize a lunch plan using the service.

Ryan O'Hara is a strategic marketing manager for Kandessa Media Solutions and Rick Zambrano is founder of Kandessa Media.

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See also Using Social Media to the Max, Is Your QSR Foursquaring Yet?