Your Digital Identity - 2016 Vol. 1 by Sysco Eastern Maryland

Your Digital Identity Technology & Social Media Trends for Restaurants

NRN predicts digital disruptions coming in 2016 www.nrn.com December 30, 2015

Article by Lisa Jennings

Restaurants no longer face a choice between operating as brick-andmortar retailers or having a digital presence. Today, it must be both. And the challenge ahead for any restaurant chain will be staying true to their brand, mission and values as they evolve with the times. Here are a few examples of food-focused digital innovation to come in the new year:

Restaurant companies will become tech companies If 2015 was the year when restaurant chains realized the gamechanging potential of their digital platforms, then 2016 will be the year operators take that game to the next level. Over the past year, restaurant chains have invested heavily in recruiting serious tech players into top management in chief information officer or chief technology officer roles. Starbucks Corp. hired a former Adobe executive Gerri MartinFlickinger. Chipotle Mexican Grill hired Starbucks’ former CIO Curt Garner. And countless other restaurant chains have announced the hiring of a first technology chief or vice president who will develop and implement new digital strategies that will fundamentally increase customer engagement, from RAVE Restaurant Group to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. These new hires will enable restaurant companies to move with the rapidly changing times and to better understand how restaurant diners consume technology. As a result, tech innovation will seem less a hastily tacked-on prosthesis and more a vital artery that supplies an entire operation.

Meal kits to influence delivery space Nibbling at both the restaurant and delivery markets are a growing number of meal-kit providers, which supply partially or ready-to-cook ingredients and an easy-to-follow recipe to create a chef-inspired meal at home.

Restaurants will recapture control of mobile ordering, payment and delivery The industry will watch carefully as Starbucks Corp. tests delivery with third-party player Postmates. Typically, delivery through such third-party players is available through the delivery firm’s website or mobile app, but Starbucks will integrate delivery seamlessly into its own app. Guests will be able to use their smart phones to order, pay ahead and get their meal delivered by Postmates. Some third-party players say consumers won’t want to download so many apps from their favorite restaurants, and that the digital market places offered by DoorDash or GrubHub, for example, offer consumers more efficient one-stop-shopping for their next meal. Others, however, contend that restaurant operators will want to keep control of their customers’ digital experience within their own apps or websites. Digital ordering provider Olo is working on the development of restaurant apps/websites that incorporate delivery as a feature. A new service called Dispatch allows guests to order and pay through the restaurant apps, then at checkout select a delivery option. Guests will then see a selection of delivery price quotes from local courier providers and to track their delivery selection in real time. ChowNow likewise is developing online ordering platforms to allow restaurant operators to control the ordering-to-payment-to-delivery process through their own branded apps or websites. In Chicago, San Francisco and New York, the software company is partnering with specially trained Uber drivers to offer delivery, and the service is expected to expand to more markets during 2016.

Blue Apron, HelloFresh, Plated and others are popping up across the country offering consumers the promise of a restaurant-quality meal they can make themselves without the fuss of shopping or the need for cooking skills. Typically meal kits are ordered online and delivered straight to consumers at a reasonable price. The trend is making players in the still-nascent delivery space nervous. Some argue that the meal-kit trend will be a flash in the pan and peter out. Others see restaurants getting into the game with their own meal-kit services delivered by the likes of Postmates or DoorDash. Holger Luedorf, Postmates’ senior vice president of business, said time will tell if the meal-kit trend will steal significant market share. “If customers want it and the business model is sustainable, it will stick around,” he said. “But these competitive pressures and other players will bring more innovation out of the overall industry. In the end, the ones that serve the best food will be the ones that survive.”

Clockwise from left: Postmates (founded in 2011) has expanded to deliver food, groceries, more. Mobile ordering is emerging as the fastest way for Starbucks customers to order ahead, pay, then pick up their purchases. Taco Bell launches delivery with DoorDash.

Facebook Reactions, the new Like button, will roll out globally www.mashable.com

January 27, 2015 Article by Samantha Murphy Kelly

Facebook users worldwide will soon have more options than the Like button to choose from when responding to posts on the site. Late last year, the company announced Facebook Reactions as a Like button alternative that comes in the form of six emoji with the following sentiments: angry, sad, wow, haha, yay and love. While the effort was first tested in Spain and Ireland, and then trickled out to Chile, the Philippines, Portugal and Colombia, Reactions is finally headed to the U.S. and the rest of the world in the "next few weeks," according to a Bloomberg report. The report notes that Facebook worked closely with sociologists to select images that carefully express certain emotions. In addition to offering reactions that may be more appropriate to use in certain situations — i.e. if a Facebook user's pet died, the Like button was the only option to express non-verbal emotion — the company wanted to provide images people would feel comfortable and eager to use.

While the report didn't detail when exactly the feature will roll out to everyone, Facebook chief product manager Chris Cox said the team has taken measures not to rush the process. “We roll things out very carefully,” he said. “And that comes from a lot of lessons learned.” Although Facebook users have long wished for a Dislike button (in contrast to the existing Like button), Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously expressed concern that the option conveys too much negativity. "Everyone feels like they can just push the Like button, and that's an important way to sympathize or empathize with someone," he said during a Q&A in 2014. "We need to ﬁgure out the right way to do it so it ends up being a force for good, not a force for bad."

By long-pressing over the bottom of a post on mobile (or hovering over it with your mouse on a desktop browser), a panel with six emoji options will pop up. A number related to how many times each emoji was selected for that speciﬁc post appears below it.

Facebook's Live-Streaming Tool is Now Available to All U.S. iPhone Users socialmediatoday.com

January 28, 2016

Article by Andrew Hutchinson

The live-streaming battle is about to heat up – Facebook, which first released their live-streaming tool ‘Live’ to only verified profiles is now opening the option up to all U.S. iPhone users, as of January 28. The process is pretty straight-forward, as noted by Facebook product manager Vadim Lavrusik: “To share live video, tap on Update Status then select the Live Video icon. You can write a quick description and choose the audience that you want to share with before going live. During your broadcast, you’ll see the number of live viewers, the names of friends who are tuning in and a real-time stream of comments. When you end your broadcast, it will be saved on your Timeline like any other video, which you can then delete or keep for your friends to watch later.” That last point is important – currently, Periscope videos only remain viewable (within Periscope at least) for 24 hours, then they’re gone. Via Facebook Live, your content will remain on your Facebook Page, like any other post, for all time. That capacity, too, may be part of the reasoning behind Facebook’s decision to slowly roll-out Live to all users – as with most product launches, the biggest demand and interest will be in the initial stages, so Facebook will likely see a big influx in demand for video services in those first weeks, which will die down, and reduce system demand, over time. As it does, that might then make it easier for Facebook to roll out Live to the next country, where they’ll see another spike in use, before leveling off. This could, theoretically, enable them to better manage the additional load and ensure smooth sailing over time. Live-streaming is the hot social media trend of the moment, with a heap of industry experts identifying it as one of the key trends they expect to see dominate the sector in 2016.

And while the option undoubtedly has potential, one of its key stumbling blocks so far has been reach, and in generating enough momentum to cross over into the mainstream consciousness. If live-streaming can do that, the value of the offering will increase exponentially – and you can imagine that such a crossover could happen. But how, exactly, that might occur is not yet clear. This is where Facebook may be holding some advantage – with the largest network (now up to 1.59 billion users) comes the greatest capacity to deliver audience reach, and thus, the best opportunity to generate more awareness of the offering. While Periscope has grown steadily over time (they reported that they’d reached 10 million users back in August), that pales in comparison to the size of Facebook’s network. Periscope’s recent announcement of increased integration with Twitter is a step in the right direction, but even then, Facebook’s audience potential is still much higher. The question, at this stage, is about which platform can bring the most attention and take live-streaming to the widest audience – because the bigger the audience, the more people (and brands) will be interested in using the offering. Periscope is currently the leader, but Facebook is circling, and they have wider plans for video content in the works that could change the game – including the development of a dedicated video platform and a possible TV/Facebook integration. Both, or either, could deliver significant benefits for live-streaming, and while Periscope still has a few options and plans up their sleeve, they may be out-matched if Facebook looks to take over. But of course, that’s ‘if’, as right now, Facebook’s still rolling out Live to the masses. And Periscope still has time to make some moves to keep their audience from moving across.

Social Media Trends 2016 huﬃngtonpost.com

January 5, 2016

Article by Layla Revis, Sr. VP - Global Digital & Social Strategy Director, Leo Burnett

Brands, agencies, and marketers working in digital media will tell you: innovation happens so rapidly that predicting future trends and reviewing trends from previous years can either be illuminating, or a subtle evolution, as platforms attempt to better monetize their offerings from the previous year's developments. For example, with the popularity of Millennials as a marketing focus, last year, brands became more interested in Snapchat, although Snapchat had already launched Stories and Discover back in 2013 and 2014. However, as a result of Snapchat's growing popularity among this target, as well as messaging trends around the world including apps like LINE, WhatsApp, WeChat, and Kik, we saw a larger movement from major platforms like Facebook and Instagram to develop enhanced messaging capabilities. In 2015, companies serving the industry like Union Metrics, Spredfast, and Sprinklr, continued to acquire, merge, and develop their offerings in an attempt to become all-in-one solutions more sophisticated in their ability to track, measure, and curate content. Looking to 2016, we expect to see improvements when it comes to the accuracy of measurement capabilities, the integration of tracking paid performance, and refining clunky or overwhelming U/X issues. Additionally, the following five trends will continue to drive best-in-class social media marketing. 1. SMALL(ER) DATA IS HERE When consumers are faced with significant lifestyle events like having a baby, getting married, or buying a house, they are more open to changing their purchasing habits. If you can determine when consumers are going through these life events and send the right advertisements at the right time, you have a higher chance of earning their loyalty. The ability to drill down into behavioral data allows brands to create social media content that targets people with more customized content when people are more likely to purchase their products. In turn, they become more likely to advocate for a brand. In fact, companies can realize 30% greater margin per eyeball when their marketing platforms are microtargeted by audience segments. Coca-Cola leveraged Twitter's Tailored Audiences to create personalized tweets using consumers first name in their Share-a-Coke campaign. The campaign increased Australia sales by 7% and U.S. sales by 3% (Twitter 2015). 2. LIVE BROADCASTING IS BECOMING THE NEW REAL-TIME With the steady increase in popularity of streaming apps such as Snapchat and Periscope, and more up-to-date stories available via Twitter Moments, the importance of in-the-moment content has increased. Now a consumer is a reporter, a content curator, and a distribution platform of everyday or culturally relevant events. A recent Comscore report found that with 32.9% penetration, Snapchat is the third most popular social app among 18-34 yearolds. Users are actively seeking Super Live, always new content, and brands are seeing results. iHeartRadio generated 340MM views, while Cosmopolitan Magazine received 3MM a day via their Discover.

3. THE PASSIONATE CONSUMER IS THE NEW INFLUENCER User Generated Content is the new content pipeline, creating an emerging generation of influencers. Thanks to social media, everyday consumers have built an undeniable follower base, giving them stronger voices and the ability to impact public opinion and sales. In fact, consumers engage with 11.4 pieces of content prior to making a purchase, making user generated content even more powerful than before. Curated content is also more engaging. Posts with curated content links generate 33% more clicks than original content links. 4. GIFS AND IMMERSIVE VIDEO ARE DRIVING FORCES OF ENGAGEMENT Young consumers are obsessed with micro-video and gifs as a form of expression. The popularity of gifs and cinemagraphs has translated to increased engagement. Cinemagraphs alone get 60% more engagement than static images. As a result, legacy social platforms like Facebook, Google, and Twitter are all fighting for more video and integrating gif content. With Facebook and Google adding 360 degree video capabilities and VR content on the horizon, expect to see a deeper dive into more immersive moving content, and the opportunities for social engagement within them to follow. 5. MESSAGING APPS AND EMOJIS JUST KEEP GROWING Messaging Apps now have the same user-base as the top 4 social platforms (Entrepreneur, 2015). Providing quicker, simpler, and more engaging opportunities for consumers to connect with friends, now, users can send a friend money, send love (or Kim Kardashian's backside) with emojis/stickers, purchase products, get 1:1 customer help, make a call, and even host group chats within these messaging apps. Due to its in-app ease, user base, integrated payment functionality, WeChat contributes to $1.76bn in lifestyle spending in China. This year, Facebook Messenger also added Gif Apps to create more interactive expression. The Gif option is available to over 700 million monthly active users. As always, none of this is meaningful without possessing the 'test and learn' mindset that the platforms themselves also possess. Although social commerce has been a predicted trend for a few years, successful platform integration ebbs and flows, depending on the behavior of consumers. Websites and apps like Liketoknow.it and Like2b.uy that integrate with Instagram appear to be taking off, particularly when it comes to fashion influencer integration, while Twitter continues to still be in the testing phase with the Buy Now button. Another interesting trend to watch may be the virtual assistant space. Although it's nothing new when it comes to bots that help you navigate through life (e.g. Siri, Cortana, Mona), Facebook is experimenting with "M", the human side of a "chatbot" to help consumers with personalized needs, similar to a concierge. 2016 should be an interesting year for the evolution of social and, who knows? Perhaps we'll even have a new breakout social star or offering.

LATE-BREAKING NEWS AND STATISTICS Twitter introduces new hashtag ad format. These “conversational ads” can be seen as promoted tweets that will include call to action buttons with several custom hashtags an advertiser can create for their campaign. Jan. 16 – smallbiztrends.com A smartphone was shipped for 1 of every 5 people alive in 2015. Manufacturers shipped nearly 1.5 billion smartphones to the world's 7.4 billion inhabitants in 2015 as consumers opted to replace older devices with newer LTE-equipped models or those with larger displays. Jan. 28 – appleinsider.com More sharing happens on mobile. Two-times more sharing occurs on mobile than desktop. 71 percent of American social media users use mobile versions of social apps, with 76 percent of Twitter users preferring the mobile version of the network. While Facebook still attracts many desktop users, 1.1 billion users now prefer mobile. If twice as many shares occur on mobile, it makes sense that marketers should spend more time targeting mobile social media to increase their reach. Jan. 8 – socialnomics.net

7 Major Changes for Facebook in 2016 www.forbes.com December 30, 2015 Article by Jayson DeMers Google, Apple, and Amazon tend to attract the most attention in terms of technological innovations. Apple’s strides in personal assistant technology, Google’s self-updating search algorithm, and Amazon’s drone delivery plans all made major headlines this year, but there’s another tech company—one almost everyone uses— that’s pushing the limits of technology and redeﬁning consumer expectations just as much: Facebook.

4. Advertising Changes. Facebook’s advertising platform hasn’t stopped changing since it ﬁrst emerged more than a decade ago. The platform saw a number of updates in 2015, including a “call now” button, carousel-style ads, and mobile ad management. Following in Pinterest’s successful footsteps, it’s likely that Facebook will include more social/e-commerce hybrid functions for its businesses, and an even more robust ad management platform.

A decade ago, you wouldn’t have expected a social media site to be a leader in digital innovation, but Facebook remains one of the most dynamic tech companies around today—and its strides are aﬀecting businesses and marketers everywhere. If you’re an entrepreneur, a marketer, or even just a social media junkie, get ready for these seven changes Facebook is bringing to the world:

5. Organic Visibility. Organic visibility has dropped on Facebook consistently over the years. While Facebook’s oﬃcial response to this objective decrease is to improve overall user experience by only showing the most relevant content, it’s not hard to read between the lines. Lower organic reach means more pressure for businesses to use paid advertising options, which means more revenue for Facebook. Count on seeing even greater decreases in organic visibility, and consider reﬁning your Facebook marketing strategy.

1. Virtual Reality. It’s no secret that Facebook acquired Oculus, the leading competitor in the recent resurgence of virtual reality (VR) technology, earlier this year. Oculus Rift is one of the hottest anticipated gadgets of 2016, and with Facebook backing the device (and company), you can bet the social platform will do everything it can to push VR on consumers. That means including more VRenabled content and interactions on the Facebook platform, such as 360 panoramas, and rewarding users and businesses who contribute such content for the masses. Will VR technology stick around for good this time? If Oculus delivers, it probably will, and Facebook is counting on it. 2. Instant Articles. Facebook actually released Instant Articles earlier in 2015, but only to a limited selection of publishers. Designed to keep users in the app for as long as possible and maximize exposure for publishers who might otherwise lose traffic to social media tire kickers, Instant Articles was theoretically a mutually beneficial feature that served as a win for everyone; readers get faster content, publishers get more readers, and Facebook gets more users to stick around. The only problem is many publishers felt Instant Articles wasn’t robust enough, and the advertising options didn’t make up for the lack of inbound traffic. You can bet Facebook will be redesigning and modifying its Instant Articles model in 2016—possibly including an even wider circle of publishers. 3. Facebook M. With digital assistants like Siri and Cortana already hardened in the mainstream, Facebook is hoping to get a piece of the action with Facebook M, a Messenger-based digital assistant. There’s one major difference; while most digital assistants are formally and completely digital (machine learning algorithms), Facebook M is actually a digital/human hybrid—it uses an algorithm similar to those of Siri and Cortana (but with a blend of features unique to Facebook), but also relies on a team of human assistants operating in the background to handle more complex or ambiguous tasks. Whether it’s a massive success or colossal failure, Facebook is bringing variety to the digital assistant scene.

Social Media Predictions

6. Customer Service. Facebook is making a big push for its Messenger app, particularly for businesses. Already, businesses can harness the power and convenience of Facebook Messenger to reach certain members of their audiences or respond to inbound inquiries, but this functionality is somewhat limited for now. With Facebook’s emphasis remaining ﬁrm, it’s almost certain that more functions will roll out for Messenger as a customer service platform. For B2C businesses, this could be extremely valuable. 7. Greater Video Emphasis. It’s no secret that users are craving more and more video content. Apps like Periscope and Meerkat are surging in popularity, and mainstream apps like Facebook and Twitter have already included auto-playing videos in news feeds. Facebook also recently announced plans to release a live streaming video function, which will grant Periscope-like functionality to users and businesses. It’s clear that Facebook plans to prioritize video content heavily, which means it could see a major boost in organic visibility, and users and businesses alike will probably see more tools designed to make the video capture and upload process even easier. Some of these changes might be hits, and others might be failures. Some of them are already here and some of them might be delayed another year. What’s important is the pace and degree to which Facebook is incorporating updates; the app is becoming far more than just a social media platform, and marketers who take note of this early and respond to those changes stand to beneﬁt far more than the latecomers. Stay up-to-date on the latest developments, and keep your strategy ready to change at a moment’s notice.

momentology.com

I think paid social is pretty much a must-do at this point, especially for Facebook. You won’t get much visibility otherwise. And I think experimenting with what paid social campaigns work best for your speciﬁc products and services will make all the diﬀerence. If you haven’t considered Instagram and Pinterest in your paid campaigns, and you do Brand-to-Consumer or ecommerce, I would strongly suggest checking them out. Kelsey Jones

Exec. Editor Search Engine Journal

Experiment with native video. SEJ did a study that found that native video in Facebook gets more views and engagement than simply posting a YouTube link. I would experiment with Facebook video, as well as other video capabilities on Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter (Vine) to see if something sticks for your brand.

7 eye-opening stats that’ll make you better at video marketing When it comes to video marketing, we know that it's the coolest kid on the block. Countless studies show that people prefer to view videos than read text because it's visually engaging, and really easy to consume. But as with everything else in content marketing, the world of video is changing. Take a look at these 7 eye-opening stats from this 2016 video marketing research by Wyzowl, to see what you can learn.

#1. 77% of consumers have been convinced to buy a product after watching a video Product videos are the very best way to educate your customers on what your product can do for them, which will ultimately increase your ROI. And the great thing about a product video is that you can create any kind that you like. For example, you could hold a webinar and educate people about your product in-depth, create an animated video to show the beneﬁts of a service in a fun and engaging way, or produce a screen-recorded walk through instructing a user on how to use your product. The choices are endless!

#2. 70% of consumers say that they have shared a brand's video So the good news is, those videos that you create for social don't go to waste! You've probably already noticed more and more videos popping up in your social feeds, and most of them are from brands. But the key to a shareable video somewhat diﬀers to that of a product video. You should aim to see this as a brand awareness goal, rather than trying to hit your conversion goals. That's not to say that you won't increase your conversions, but it's important to understand that videos on social should be more focused towards the initial attraction stage of the buyer's journey. So what does it take to get a person to share your video on social?

www.socialmediatoday.com January 28, 2016 Article by Sarah Quinn

#5. 72% of businesses say video has improved their conversion rate Do you have a video on your website? If you don't, you could be losing out on a huge opportunity to increase your conversion rates. The Crazy Egg video is the perfect example of this. The reason they wanted to create an explainer video was because they discovered that their customers found it diﬃcult to justify paying so much for their service. By creating an animated explainer video and featuring it on their homepage, they grew their conversions by 363%. The reason it worked so well is because not only does it use a fun character to keep it super engaging, it drills right down to the core and shows viewers the beneﬁts of how they can actually use their product to increase their own web conversions.

#6. 53% of businesses struggle to promote their video content Promoting any content can be tricky, let alone a video. But if you want it to be a success then you need to ensure that you have a promotion strategy in place. So where do you start? Once you've created your video and sourced a hosting platform, ﬁrst step is to put it on your website -- so that could be your blog, your product pages, or your homepage. Next, share it on social and pay to promote it so that you can attract your target audience. Once you've got that covered, email your database, leverage inﬂuencers and set up an ad campaign so that you can drive plenty of viewers to your video.

#7. 91% of businesses say they plan to increase or maintain their spending on video in 2016 If there's one thing we can say for certain it's that video isn't going anywhere anytime soon. We learnt that in 2015 on average, marketers intended to spend up to $5,000 on video, and this looks set to increase for 2016. After looking at the stats, it's clear to see that the future is bright for video marketing. With more and more businesses using it to educate their audience, raise their brand awareness, and increase their ROI, isn't it about time you jumped on the video bandwagon?

#3. 76% of consumers would share a brand's video if it was entertaining When it comes to social media, the aim of the game is to get people to hit that share button. But if you're struggling to see many shares then it could be to do with the type of content you're trying to promote. Does it keep your audience entertained? Getting weighed down in trying to push your product onto your viewers is why most people will switch oﬀ. Think about what you can do to make it fun, interesting and entertaining.

#4. 61% of consumers were put off buying a product after watching a bad explainer video Yikes! This is an important statistic to take note of. If you're going to create a video to explain what your product or service does then you need to make sure that it's done right. And by right, we mean quality scriptwriting, illustrations and animation -- the whole package. Interestingly, many respondents told us that they were put off buying a product because the messaging was so unclear. Rather than trying to squeeze in every single feature that your product does, think about using the video as the hook rather than the manual. The very best explainer videos follow a very similar formula in that they connect with the problems of the viewer, they then go on to show how that business solves those problems by highlighting the product benefits, and they close with a killer call-to-action.

www.hotschedules.com/blog December 31, 2015 It would be an understatement to say that a lot happened in the restaurant and hospitality industry in 2015. Between changes in wages, the intense discussion around tipping policies, implications of the Aﬀordable Care Act, and the massive shift in the war for talent, we had plenty on our plates. Perhaps most of all, we saw a continued shift in how restaurants view and use technology to power every aspect of their businesses. 2016 will surely have its own set of obstacles. But restaurants are getting better at understanding today’s competitive landscape and how to use technology to fuel their success. And that’s a very good thing. Because the more complex the playing ﬁeld gets, the harder it’s going to be to succeed amidst massive shifts in workforce and consumer preferences. So what can you expect in 2016? There’s a lot to get excited about.

RESTAURANTS WILL BE IN THE TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS AS MUCH AS THEY ARE IN THE FOOD BUSINESS. Scheduling, training, inventory, recruiting, loss prevention, ordering, loyalty programs, reporting – many restaurants are already using technology to manage some of these processes. In 2016, technology will start to take over even more of them and operators will welcome the automation and accountability. The next challenge, of course, will be ﬁnding ways to standardize the data across these systems so that decision makers can make sense of the information in a meaningful way that aﬀects the bottom line and improves overall productivity.

THE INTERNET OF THINGS WILL BE ON THE MINDS OF EVERY CIO. If you follow Nation’s Restaurant News or any other industry news outlet, you’ve noticed the number of restaurants recruiting top minds in technology to their teams. The goal: successfully lead their company into the next generation, where technology is interconnected and ultimately powers predictable success across every department, every store and each employee. Thanks to cloud platforms, the POS is no longer going to be the center of the restaurant’s operations. Instead, integrations across a restaurant’s third party vendors will become easier and data will be pulled in through the the cloud platform. Not only that, these big data platforms are democratizing the data and the systems so that even smaller restaurant organizations can beneﬁt from Big Data.

BIG DATA AND PREDICTABILITY WILL BE THE NECTAR FOR BETTER PERFORMANCE. Speaking of Big Data, it may be a new term to some restaurant owners, but the actual information behind the term has been used by restaurants for years on both a small and large scale. In 2016 and beyond, restaurants will find new applications (built quickly and cheaply on cloud platforms) and new ways to map data from hardware, software, sensors and devices and use it to automate operations and better predict business outcomes. For example, HotSchedules Reveal, an analytics application built on our Internet of Things platform, delivers immediate, as-it’s-happening visibility into store operations with real-time Key Performance Indicators – on a mobile device. So if you’re trying to figure out if it’s worth opening the patio this evening, you can easily see how the extra labor, inventory, weather and social media reviews will affect your decision.

RECRUITING WILL BECOME EVEN MORE SOCIAL.

THE GREAT TIPPING DEBATE WILL WAGE ON.

The battle for talent hasn’t slowed down and companies across every segment and size will continue to look for alternative ways to source talent. Problem is, those traditional methods, like job boards, aren’t working. They may get candidates through the door, but a whopping 80% of job board hires turn over within a year. Which is why human resource departments are looking at new angles to get the right people in the door and keep them there.

Restaurateurs like Danny Meyer and CEO Ray Blanchette of Ignite Restaurant group as well as large corporate organizations like Joe’s Crab Shack deserve, at a minimum, a clap on the back for trailblazing a new idea to compensate their staﬀ.

In the same way LinkedIn changed the playing field for candidates and recruiters in the traditional corporate world; network-based referral and social apps will help managers and corporate franchises use their already engaged network of employees to find other candidates that fit company culture and want to stick around.

RESTAURANTS WILL COME UP WITH NEW BENEFITS TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN HARD WORKING EMPLOYEES. The big guys – aka Starbucks and Chipotle – are already working hard to improve employee benefits in a bid to attract and retain top talent. In 2014, Starbucks announced it would offer full tuition coverage to employees who work toward an online undergraduate degree from Arizona State University. Recently, they expanded that program to offer free tuition to a veteran or active-duty member of the military, their spouse or one of their children. Chipotle expanded benefits like tuition reimbursement, paid vacation and sick pay – to all employees, not just salaried. Over the next year, others will follow suit with improved benefits for those employees looking for long-term opportunities. While some of these benefits will be rolled out to every employee, others will be awarded based on performance – which will need to be managed and tracked through online training or e-learning software systems.

GAMIFIED TRAINING WON’T JUST BE TRENDY. Nearly 89% of learners said they would be more engaged in an e-learning application if it had a point or badge system. Not too surprising when you consider the Millennial workforce’s main mode of media consumption and communication is their smartphone. “Building self-esteem and reinforcing it with peer recognition is a powerful means of unlocking motivation,” says Gartner consultant Brian Burke. Restaurants are already tapping into the social, e-learning trend with tools. What they’ll get even better at in 2016 is using these systems – which can span across one, two, or 20,000 locations – to engage their employees in some healthy competition.

At the same time, there’s no telling whether that trail will continue to blaze or if it will ﬁzzle out in favor of traditional tipping methods or something else altogether. Their restaurants have already garnered the attention of the industry and consumers alike, but it will take time to understand the implications on recruiting, retention, performance, revenue and growth. Our takeaway? It’s a new model worth exploring and our hats go oﬀ to anyone able to keep their business growing and improve the work lives of their employees.

WAGES WILL CONTINUE TO BE A HOT TOPIC. Wages will continue to be the most hotly debated topic facing the industry and, to some extent, the U.S. economy today. On one side is the workforce seeking better compensation. And then there are the operators, who continue to deal with shrinking profit margins thanks to many factors including increasing food costs. The National Restaurant Association has taken an official stance on the topic (and on tipping policies too) in favor of operators. But a lot remains to be seen. The bottom line is that as State legislatures vote and minimum wages rise, operators will have to find alternative ways to protect their profit margins. That could mean better scheduling systems that help managers keep overtime within a predictable threshold. Or reducing food waste and human error with better inventory applications. Even avoiding penalties related to the Affordable Care Act could put thousands of dollars back in an operator’s pocket every year. And this is really what you can start to expect from technology in 2016. Scheduling software will be used to balance out wage increases. Training software will help managers sell more of the right menu items and keep great employees engaged. Increases in food costs won’t hurt so much because there’s less food waste in the kitchen thanks to better inventory apps. This next year is going to bring about a lot of good change in the way restaurants use technology and as a software company built by restaurateurs, for restaurateurs – we couldn’t be more excited to be a part of this continued transformation.

Imagine, instead of having to force feed incentives to servers to sell a ﬂatlined menu item, a couple managers decided to hold a contest across stores with a prize at the end of the month? Not only are you engaging employees to go out and learn about the menu item (hello better test scores!) you’re making what would normally be a hard-to-sell message, dare we say it, fun!

LATE-BREAKING NEWS AND STATISTICS Twitter introduces new hashtag ad format. These “conversational ads” can be seen as promoted tweets that will include call to action buttons with several custom hashtags the advertiser has created for their campaign. Jan. 16 – smallbiztrends.com A smartphone was shipped for 1 of every 5 people alive in 2015. Manufacturers shipped nearly 1.5 billion smartphones to the world's 7.4 billion inhabitants in 2015 as consumers opted to replace older devices with newer LTE-equipped models or those with larger displays. Jan. 28 – Appleinsider.com More sharing happens on mobile. Two-times more sharing occurs on mobile than desktop. Interestingly, 71 percent of American social media users use mobile versions of social apps, with 76 percent of Twitter users preferring the mobile version of the network. While Facebook still attracts many desktop users, 1.1 billion users now prefer mobile. If twice as many shares occur on mobile, it makes sense that marketers should spend more time targeting mobile social media. Jan. 8 – socialnomics.net

Facebook Makes News Feed Relevant Again With Organic Audience Optimization

www.marketingland.com January 21, 2016 Article by Tamar Weinberg

Facebook is helping publishers improve their organic reach and relevancy by oﬀering a tool for targeting posts to interests, demographics and geography.

Recently, organic reach on Facebook has been making very little impact, with marketers arguing that visibility is more of a “pay to play” phenomenon. Today, there’s promise for change on the horizon. Until now, publishers on Facebook have had quite a tough time being the signal through the noise, finding that social posts have had very little reach (around 6% to 7% of the audience who have LIKED your page). The reason, many argue, quite simply comes down to Facebook’s algorithm. There are more interesting stories that are of interest to a visitor at any given time. With Facebook’s Audience Optimization tool, launched on January 21, Facebook is rolling out an organic targeting feature that will help all publishers reach specific subsets of audiences to better understand post engagement. Relevancy is increased when posts are tailored for a target audience. For example, post updates can be targeted to interests, such as “U2” or “basketball.” As Facebook’s announcement states, “… these tags prioritize, uniquely for each person, the topics that are most likely to interest them.” Similarly, posts can be restricted from being viewed by other demographics. Got a product catering to the 21+ crowd? Make sure your 13–20 year old audience cannot see it. Have an offer that is not valid in the state of Maine? Block it from that update. Both options are not mutually exclusive. Targeting and restrictions can be added for each post. After a post is live, publishers can tell how well their content has performed. The example illustration at right was targeted to several interests, and it is evident which ones performed best. This information can support marketers’ activity by showing them how well — or how poorly — their content is performing across the board.

5 tech innovations changing the restaurant business www.nrn.com November 4, 2015 Article by Lisa Jennings

The restaurant hostess of the future may be visiting tables via “telepresence robot” like the Beam, which can walk and talk, but has no hands — sort of like Skype on wheels. Or a sleek, voice-activated, cylindrical computer, like Amazon Echo’s Alexis, could sit on a tabletop and give advice about wine pairings or the day’s specials. It would be like dining with Hal from the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey,” but hopefully without the malevolent streak. And, of course, there may be drones delivering dinner. These and other innovations exist now and could change the face of the hospitality industry in the future as restaurants increasingly become technology companies. This was a running theme at a National Restaurant Association Restaurant Innovation Summit in San Diego, where attendees also witnessed IBM Watson’s latest iteration as ‘Chef Watson,’ applying its cognitive superpowers to recipe development. Josh Halpern, Anheuser-Busch vice president of national retail sales, demonstrated self-service beer tap technology that checks IDs and allows customers to pay by the ounce. Next up: Smart vending machines in hotels that will serve beer on draft, eliminating the need for those exhausting trips to the lobby bar. Whether consumer-facing or behind the scenes, technology is increasingly become a tool for disruption within the hospitality industry. Such change, however, brings with it a new way of thinking, said Amy Webb, founder and CEO of the digital strategy consulting ﬁrm Webbmedia Group.

AMBIENT ATTENDANTS. Restaurant operators have long tried to anticipate customer needs even before they know what they need. Now, virtual technology is increasingly incorporating that responsive function into features with tools that give users notifications that are actionable even before they know to ask. Google Now, for example, will send an alert to you to leave your house earlier if there’s traffic along your usual commuter route. The restaurant chatbot Luka is being designed to give advice on dining out, but in a way that feels more like a conversation, sifting through reviews that would fit your specific tastes. Webb called it the “autocomplete for our intentions,” a trend that will likely be invisible, but eventually ubiquitous. “It’s still far off,” she said, “but it’s time to start thinking about how to incorporate these tools now.” RECOGNITION. Facial recognition technology can increasingly pick a stranger out of a crowd, identify them, then tap public databases to find out all sorts of things about their lives. Some apps can now also identify people by the way they type, like identifying handwriting. “Thermal fingerprinting” uses heat mapping to identify people, even if their face is covered, Webb said. Creepy? Maybe. But Webb contends it’s a tool restaurant operators could harness. Compliance officers may be concerned about privacy, but the information available is public and legally accessible.

Webb outlined ﬁve digital trends that will help restaurant operators think about tech innovations in a new light:

COGNITIVE COMPUTING. IBM in particular is doing a lot of work in this space, Webb said. Computers are increasingly able to develop “personality insights” on someone based on a snippet of text they write.

DIGITAL TIME ZONES. We tend to think of time chronologically, but Webb sees consumers using their digital tools and playthings in three new “zones”: “me time,” “our time,” and “real time.”

If a restaurant operator gets an angry email, for example, that text could be run through the system to create a proﬁle of the writer, which would give the restaurant operator a better idea of how to respond eﬀectively.

“Me time” is when consumers are interacting with their device as a personal experience. That’s when it’s just a person and his or her smartphone in a “Calgon, take me away!” moment, playing a game or watching a cat video.

“It’s like a spell check, but for personality,” Webb said. “It could review your response and tell you how to tweak it to make sure it’s positively received.”

That’s different from “our time,” when consumers use their devices with other people to solve a problem, play or work. The device isn’t a wall, but actually facilitates conversation, Webb said. In “real time,” devices do something immediate for consumers, like pagers that let them know their table is ready, or apps that allow them to remotely get in line at their favorite restaurant. As they develop technology, restaurant operators should think about how they can accommodate more than one digital time zone. For example, could tabletop tablets offer “me time” entertainments in addition to “our time” ordering? “Start thinking about digital time zones, focusing on your customers’ needs and behaviors, rather than just their devices and your organization’s workflow,” she said.

PARTICIPATORY DINING. In the old days, people went out because of FOMO, Fear Of Missing Out. Today, Millennials have FOGO, or Fear Of Going Out, because they’re afraid to miss out on something happening online. Increasingly, consumers are being pulled into collective Internet events that must be watched live, and live-streaming apps like Periscope are growing in acceptance. Such events create a sense of intimacy or special access among viewers, Webb said. Restaurants could harness that to take customers on kitchen tours, for example, or use telepresence robots like Beam to have celebrities remotely visit customers in the dining room. Webb predicted telepresence, like the Beam, to be a big part of the “robot-assisted restaurant” in the future. “A lot of people think this is a gimmick,” she said. “I’m telling you that it’s not.”

2016 Restaurant Marketing Trends www.brokaw.com January 6, 2016 So long 2015, the year of crazy menu mash-ups like Pizza Hut’s hot dog stuffed pizza crust, Dunkin Donut’s Croissant Donut, and Olive Garden’s Breadstick Meatball Sandwich. It was also the year we saw McDonald’s make a comeback by serving breakfast all day (I’m lovin’ it), while fast-casual king Chipotle got fire-grilled by the media for E. coli and norovirus outbreaks (definitely not lovin’ it). We also saw the kale and the bacon obsession start to fade (finally). And the country’s first USDA certified organic fast food restaurant. And yes, we saw Domino’s continue to reach consumers in innovative new ways, so they could return the favor and reach Domino’s in innovative new ways.

Get social. Get visual. Restaurants of all sizes leverage social channels like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to use mouth-watering visuals that instantly engage. But maybe it’s time to branch out to something new, like videos, animated GIFs or even Snapchat—which we believe isn’t the next Twitter or Instagram, but the new TV. It’s an untapped way to raise awareness and form an emotional connection with your audience to surprise, delight, and tell a quick visual brand story. Video killed the print media star. Last year we saw Twitter launch video autoplay, Facebook give marketers the option to buy video ads, and the rise of live streaming video via Meerkat and Periscope. According to business leader Andrew Angus, the play button is becoming “the most compelling call-to-action on the web.” No wonder more and more restaurant advertisers are ditching their Sunday paper Free-Standing Inserts for online MOVs and GIFs.

So what do we expect to see this year? And more importantly, what can you do to prepare for it? Simple. Address the four T’s below: Tech, Taste, Target, and Tactics. Like... TODAY!

TECH Location-based! Location-based! Location-based! We believe location isn’t everything; location-based marketing is. According to eMarketer, only 27 percent of restaurants in the U.S. use location-based marketing, but 71 percent of consumers say they’d be receptive to location-based marketing. (NOTE: this makes 100 percent of digital agencies scratch their heads.) Get smart about digital (like smart-phone smart). Sixty-eight percent of U.S. adults own smartphones today compared to only 35 percent in 2011. This might sound like digital marketing 101, but if your site isn’t mobile-friendly, or if it has a menu that takes forever to load, or is diﬃcult to read with amateur-hour food photography, you could be losing customers fast (like “freaky fast”).

To-Go isn’t to-going away. Speaking of fast, expect to see more online ordering services like GrubHub, UberEATS, Amazon Prime Now, Postmates, etc. popping up all over town and country. Partnering with them could help raise awareness, putting your brand in front of new customers in a convenient, more home-y dining experience. Time to feed the foodie bloggers? According to a recent infographic, offers shared by trusted influencers convert at rates 3-10 times higher than offers sent by brands themselves. So maybe it’s time to shift the conversation away from Brand-to-Consumer to Peer-to-Peer, and develop a content marketing influencer strategy. If nothing else, engage the foodie influencers currently following your social platforms. Trust us, they are following you. #NomNom

TASTE Don’t fear the rooster. Over the past couple years, we’ve seen the rise of rooster sauce on menus (aka Sriracha). Expect to see the rise of more ethnic condiments and menu items and hot, flavorful seasonings, dressings, and sauces. Maybe it’s time to spice things up a bit in 2016. After all, it is the year of the... Red Fire Monkey?! (Woah, that might be a little too spicy.) “Local,” “fresh,” and “natural” still matter. These magic buzzwords aren’t going away, either. In fact, according to the National Restaurant Association, 69 percent of consumers said they are more likely to visit a restaurant that offers locally-sourced items and 76 percent said they are more likely to visit a restaurant that offers healthful options. Truth is, more and more consumers demand food that is “fresh,”“local,” and free of artificial ingredients, additives, and, of course, food-borne illnesses. (Sorry, Chipotle.)

But taste matters more, Mom! While Millennials still search for more premium, organic and healthier menu options, Generation Z (consumers 21 and younger) crave taste and convenience over quality. According to a recent study by Technomic, 33 percent of consumers 21 and younger care more about taste than fresh, locally-produced, natural, non-processed foods. (Good news, Cheetos.)

TARGET If you’re targeting Millennial customers, give them authentic stories, not cheap discounts. According to a recent Ad Age article, “What separates Millennials from other generations is that they care more about the value, the quality of the products and the story behind it than just the cost.” The best way to engage them is to be authentic, real, and unique in your storytelling. Which is no easy task, especially considering the #1 challenge top marketers have identiﬁed going into 2016 is “Telling our story and standing out against competitors.”

TACTICS Don’t underestimate the power of old-school tactics. Yes, you need a rock-solid geo-targeted digital media plan, content marketing strategy and great content to engage your audiences and drive traffic. But don’t overlook your local marketing efforts (a.k.a. the original social media). Nothing beats the personal touch of getting out in the community, shaking hands, handing out flyers, giving away a smart car, supporting local schools and charities, dressing up in that giant tomato mascot costume and literally driving traffic to your store. It may be old school, but it works. And it just might be the easiest, most cost-effective way to raise awareness, especially as every major social platform becomes more pay-to-play, and ad-blocking software continues to rise. Don’t let BOGOs bury your brand. Long-term brand building and short-term sales promotions can coexist. In fact, the Harvard Business Review article “Don’t let Big Data Bury Your Brand” makes the case that your restaurant marketing efforts need to simultaneously accomplish brand building & short term ROI. Subway is a good example of a restaurant that has done both very well for a very long time—that is, until their pitchman PR nightmare unfolded. Apparently, post-Jared days will be ditching the discounts, celebrities, and $5 footlong jingle.

Don’t blame tactics, tech platforms, or the media. Why do we get a nervous twitch anytime we hear CEOs and CMOs say things like, “Radio doesn’t work for us, neither does Twitter or email marketing”? Why? Because it puts all the blame on the media, rather than the message, or the quality of the content you’re pumping out there. Or a few other variables that may impact guest counts and comp sales. Like operations, distribution, reviews, PR, perceived value, photography, retouching, pitchman, product features, word-of-mouth, third-party endorsements, trial/experience, values/lifestyle match, ease of use, brand inertia, weather, gas prices, time of day, time of month, consumer moodiness and fan depression due to another losing season, etc. Obviously, you can’t simply tie sales results to your media mix. Instead, analyze all factors surrounding your communication—starting with two questions every marketer needs to ask himself or herself before launching a new campaign or posting content:

Your target craves great content. You can’t buy your consumer’s attention; you have to earn it. And the only way to connect to today’s audiences is to create content that is informing, entertaining, and engaging. We know it takes courage to pursue bold ideas. But then again, these are exactly the kind of ideas needed to stand out in today’s world. Like the brilliant idea of staying #HomeOnNYE with Domino’s and making the “underrated choice on the most overrated night of the year.”

1. Why would anyone care about this? 2. Why would anyone share this? Simple, right? Keep it that way this year. And keep evolving. Stay agile. Scrappy. Stick to the four T’s. And make this one T-riﬃc year!

www.sproutsocial.com/insights January 4, 2016 Article by Jennifer Beese For social marketers, 2015 was an exciting year. New platforms, software and consumer preferences brought about a host of changes and opportunities. As a result, social media — and subsequently your strategy — has evolved, and will continue to. It’s impossible to predict how the social media landscape will change over the course of a year, but here are six social media trends marketers should keep an eye on in 2016:

6 ways to attract Millennials to your restaurant www.fastcasual.com

January 7, 2016

Article by Alison Leon, BFS Capital

You got to get ‘em while they’re young. The often-ﬁckle, job-hopping Millennial generation is no less frenetic with their choices in restaurants as they are in their choices in careers. So getting them to try your restaurant isn’t hard, but getting them to come back might be. And as a recent Forbes article showed, Millennials have over $200 billion in buying power, and will make up 75 percent of the workforce by 2025. The point is, attracting this picky generation now — before the stubbornness of old age sets in — is crucial. So how do you do it? Here are 6 ways to attract Millennials to your restaurant: 1. A creative menu You don’t necessarily have to put unheard-of combinations of ingredients on your menu. But you do need to use more interesting vocabulary in how you describe things. So instead of a “Burger with cheese, tomato, onion and mustard,” describe it as “ﬂame-broiled beef chuck/sirloin blend with fresh American cheese, local tomatoes and onions, and Dijon mustard.” 2. High-quality ingredients Millennials have shown they’re willing to pay for quality ingredients. So if you are describing your menu with the verbiage above, make sure that’s the true story. Put organic veggies and hormone-free and antibiotic-free meats on your menu, and stress the origins so Millennials know they’re buying local. 3. Customization You know why every fast casual joint with franchising aspirations calls themselves “The Chipotle of Whatever?” Because that model works. Millennials love creativity, and nothing is more creative than being able to craft your own food. Chains like Counter Burger and Blaze Pizza have successfully banked on this, adding literally millions of combinations of proteins, veggies, cheeses and sauces to their own creations so Millennials can be fully involved in the culinary process. Keep an eye on food trends to consider for your restaurant.

4. Social media hashtags The quickest way to make sure your Millennial customers are promoting your restaurant on social media is by making it easy for them. Put your Twitter, Instagram and other social media handles clearly on every menu, along with any creative hashtags you might want to include. 5. Camera-ready food The rise of technology has literally allowed us to share anything with anyone in the world at any given time. And what do most people choose to share? A picture of their lunch. But only if it looks good with an Instagram ﬁlter. So while presentation has always been important, you may want to take some shots yourself when preparing dishes to make sure they’re the kind of thing that’ll get at least, like, 50 likes. 6. Tell a story For better or for worse, to Millennials, a restaurant isn’t just a place to eat. It’s like a friend you go and visit. And who wants a boring friend? Even if you’re a former club DJ who’s decided his life’s passion is making donuts (like Mojo Donuts in Pembroke Pines, Florida), let your customers know that. Your brand distinguishes your restaurant from its competitors, so make brand building a priority and a strength of your business. The more they have to say about your restaurant, the more they’ll talk about it to their friends, and the more they will drive people to eat with you. You want your restaurant to stay ahead of your competition, right? Well, keeping the preferences of the next generation of customers in mind is a great place to start. Depending on the type of restaurant business you run, some of these ideas may be a better ﬁt than others. The most important thing is to show that you understand your customers and cater to their wants and needs. If you can do that, then the Millennials that visit your restaurant will eat, drink and be merry.