— Loyalty programs

to combat third-party delivery companies & marketplaces

The incredible and rapid rise of thirdparty delivery and marketplaces has given more restaurants access to consumers they may not have previously had, but the cost is significant. It’s typical that a third-party delivery company owns the data, the relationship, the branding, and the quality of the experience, but this is a big problem for restaurants that have put a lot of effort into establishing their brand and building relationships with customers.

One way for hospitality chains to combat this is through loyalty programs where they can offer customers perks that third parties can’t or don’t. Perhaps the greatest example is one that dates back to 2008 when Starbucks introduced the star rewards program (you would even get a gold card mailed to you when you collected enough stars). Now, of course, it’s entirely app-driven and a hugely successful digital play by Starbucks to connect with their customers and really own the relationship. Others have taken notice, with McDonald’s launching MyMcDonald’s Rewards late in 2021.

This is a trend that we’ll definitely see grow over the next few years. It’s invaluable for brands to own the relationship (and the data) with their consumers, building brand loyalty and receiving near real-time feedback on what’s working through the available data.

As we all well know, social distancing, mask mandates, and general restrictions on gathering during the pandemic pushed hospitality brands into focusing their technology budgets and resources on off-premises channels. The goal was simple: to stay in business, or possibly even thrive, when the dining room is forced to be closed or, at best, halfcapacity. Now, as Canada has emerged from lockdowns and the pandemic itself, the focus for hospitality brands will be on supporting the return of full capacity on-premises and in-room dining.

Though lockdowns may feel a thing of the past, there are still a vast number of challenges, with labour shortages being right at the top of the list. There’s also new customer expectations and the rapid adoption of digital that occurred during the pandemic. Hospitality brands will need to find solutions that support these new expectations and that can help mitigate the extreme challenge of labour shortages. Digital menus, loyalty programs, and new self-pay technologies will play a huge role in mitigating these challenges moving forward as there are solutions that can alleviate staff burden and provide guests with an elevated experience that gives them the option to have control over their ordering and payment.

Change, challenges, and times of difficulty can have long-lasting impacts, as we’re seeing with the foodservice industry as it emerges from the pandemic. The rapid adoption of technological solutions in the Canadian foodservice industry has been breathtaking, and the three trends looked at here stand out as key in the short term and long term of the Canadian food service landscape.

Laurent May is the CEO of Ready, a fully integrated mobile self-ordering, payment and loyalty technology solution that’s defining the next generation of hospitality venues. He has over 20 years of product management expertise in the electronic payments space leading high-performance teams.