Digital Attractions Appeal to Kids
Families are an important demographic to target for restaurant marketing. Kids strongly influence their parent’s choice in which restaurants to dine. According to Foodservice Marketing Trends in the U.S.: Technology, Mobile and Social Media, parties with kids aged 12 and younger make up almost $18 billion in annual restaurant spending.
A potential strategy for restaurateurs includes providing kid-friendly tablets for families to enjoy at their table. Restaurant apps for kids provide a potential platform for building brand loyalty. Dr. Panda’s Restaurant is an example of an app that allows kids to cook and create delicious food for animal guests. The menu items in this game come from all over the world allowing kids to take part in engaging minigames while also learning the basics of cooking. Apps like these allow for brand placement or the opportunity to integrate brand apps on a similar platform.
Chili’s has installed at least 45,000 tablets at more than 800 locations across the United States. These tablets allow customers to do everything from swiping their credit card at their tables to providing families with entertainment and games for a small fee. While waiters are still assigned to tables, the “pay-to-play” function on the tablets gives another source of revenue while providing value to the customer’s experience. Other restaurants have decided to utilize QR codes on children’s menus to download activities onto a customer’s iPhone, smartphone, or tablet.
Restaurants are continuously finding new ways to incorporate technology to increase the overall appeal of a customer’s dining experience. Although, incorporating technology does not come without its own set of challenges, many restaurants are finding ways to utilize technology to enhance the customer’s experience while providing fun and entertainment for the entire family.