Powerful Digital Presences Are Transforming Foodservice and Hospitality

Restaurants have always had one primary goal: providing the
optimal dining experience that will keep tables filled from open
to close. But, as the coronavirus forced restrictions on these
establishments, many were compelled to shift their services to
drive-thru, delivery and/or curbside operations, meaning an
online presence was necessary if they wanted to keep on cooking.


However, according to a 2019 MGH survey—prior to the pandemic—77%
of people routinely checked restaurant menus and/or reviews
online before they dined in or ordered takeout or delivery, with
68% responding that they were discouraged from visiting a
restaurant if unable to find the information they wanted
beforehand.


After all, there are usually plenty of other dining options to
consider. There’s no doubt that a tech-savvy approach toward
marketing a venue can make a world of difference—particularly for
those who haven’t been in business for long or struggling to keep
their tables full—and especially during uncertain times like
we’ve seen in 2020. So, what’s the answer? BentoBox!


What is BentoBox, you ask? Offering restaurants and hospitality a
mobile-first online presence with an operations platform built-in
to automate tasks such as updating menus and social media,
promoting private events, sharing press, selling gift cards and
more, BentoBox is proven to drive measurable gains in
reservations, revenue and brand recognition for hospitality
venues everywhere.


And, on this episode of MarketScale’s The Main Course, host
Barbara Castiglia sat down with BentoBox Co-Founder and CEO
Krystle Mobayeni to discuss how BentoBox works, its client base
and partnership with US Foods, the importance of a mobile-first
approach to restaurant website design, how COVID has impacted
both the industry and BentoBox’s business, and much, much more.


“As technology has become more important in the dining out
experience—definitely over the past decade, very much so over the
past year—restaurants were having to use these different third
parties (marketplaces) for the technology, and that was taking
away the relationship they had with their guests. These
horizontal platforms,” Mobayeni explained, “really fell short of
giving restaurants exactly what they needed online—the tools that
are very specific to what restaurants want to communicate,
whether it’s about events or menus or just updating images or
promotions. And so it was really a no-brainer for us to build a
platform that addressed this directly for restaurants, and then,
within that, give them the tools to be able to take control, be
able to make updates easily on their website, and then actually
be able to treat it as a digital storefront rather than just a
brochure.”


A New Episode is Served Up Every Tuesday!