3 Ways to Incorporate Hospitality into Your Business

Let’s face it: many businesses nowadays fall short when it comes to hospitality. It may seem like just semantics, but we tend to think of hospitality as something that lives in restaurants and hotels, and every other interaction with customers is just customer service.  But being hospitable, by definition, is making strangers or guests feel welcome, making them feel comfortable and at home.

Hospitality in business, in part, has given way to the era of speed and efficiency wherein experiences have become more and more automated. As much as we would like to believe that technology alone is the answer to everything, technology can’t replace the emotion of human interaction. We might think “There’s no need to worry about x, y, z because technology will take care of it.”  But the latest tech should be used as a tool to streamline your business and add contemporary flair, elevating the customer experience. Technology isn’t the customer experience. Because experience isn’t about just one, singular thing. Experience is holistic.

What, then, are its parts? Experience is how we go about understanding and engaging with the world around us. It’s input and output. It’s cause and effect. It’s discourse. It’s relationships. It’s everything we are and everything we do. Our aim with technology should not be to usurp human experience but to reinforce it.

Just show you care

Building a loyal consumer base starts with showing up for them. For our restaurant and retail customers, investing in point of sale systems, sound systems, and digital signage is an enormous benefit for them when it comes to ensuring comfort and efficiency for employees and consumers alike, but all of these technology pieces would still not replace the hospitality. The technology doesn’t replace the hostess or sales associate greeting you with a smile and asking if there is anything else they can do to make your experience the best.

Ti Adelaide Martin in her Nation's Restaurant News blog  discusses the subject at length and defines it as follows: “Hospitality is everything that any person, business, or organization does to affect how our guests, clients, customers or users feel. Everything.” she says, further adding “We are all in the hospitality business.”

If hospitality is a skill that is lacking in your shop or restaurant, take due diligence to hone it. People are naturally drawn to connection, so emphasize its importance to your employees. Take care to be mindful of how things can be perceived on your guests’ end and make an effort to create a positive experience for them. ( Likewise, keep in mind that people tend to remember negative events more strongly and in more vivid detail.) There’s no need to force or overthink it. If you operate through the lens of empathy, the rest will follow suit. The common denominator of good customer experience is simply whether or not someone demonstrated that they care.

Connection is key

Bob Phibbs (Retailwire) found in a survey conducted from a pool of over 1,000 consumers that nearly 80% do not feel they are provided with a personalized shopping experience. Further, more than half reported feelings of anxiety, stress, and aloneness. In short, people are feeling disconnected. The answer to resolving this disconnect is to, well, connect. It sounds obvious, but if the statistics are anything to go by, it’s vastly overlooked and underestimated. Talk to your customers. Ask about their experience. Investigate how you can be of better service. Be curious.  Assure them that you can be a safety net when technology has reached its limits, and your business will go far.

Use Technology as a Tool, not a Crutch

Our help desk at Newgentek supports hundreds of restaurants, retailers, and corporate offices across the country.  We use several technology tools to streamline and help our customers. For example, we have a customer portal where our customers can log in and create a service ticket, check on the status of an existing ticket, and interact via messaging with our support team.  This is a great tool for our customers to have visibility, but most of our highly rated customer service surveys are from phone conversations they’ve had with our support team, like the one below:

“EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE!!! This guy is always able to help me out and always with the most positive attitude!! Thanks, Newgentek!!!”

The idea is to use your technology tools to enhance the customer experience and streamline your business for efficiency.  Even the best technology can’t replace a positive attitude!

Let Newgentek help you use your technology tools to better the customer experience! Click below to contact us!

Nebraska Mini Mart Partners with Newgentek to Provide Unique Sound Experience

Newgentek is happy to have worked with The Proper House on their newest concept, Nebraska Mini Mart, in designing and installing a state-of-the-art IT and AV solution!  We look forward to working with them in the near future!

Photo Credit: Skyler June Photography

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Tampa restaurant group The Proper House, has partnered with local systems integration company, Newgentek, on their newest concept, Nebraska Mini Mart.  Newgentek’s installation of high-tech audio will provide Nebraska Mini Mart customers with a unique sound experience and in turn will become Newgentek’s Restaurant Showroom, showcasing best-in-class audio products with a thoughtful design for outdoor sound.

Ferrell Alvarez, Executive Chef and Partner at Nebraska Mini Mart, commented on the partnership with Newgentek.  “When deciding on who our AV partner would be on this project, it became a no-brainer that Newgentek was the best fit for us.  Their design and ideals were in line with ours, and once they started to take on the project, and we saw their workmanship, quality of product and customer service, it reinsured our decision.  They completed their scope ahead of time and went above and beyond our expectations.  Moving forward with other concepts, there’s no doubt that we will be choosing Newgentek to handle all of our audio visual needs.”

“We are very excited to have Nebraska Mini Mart as our restaurant showroom in Tampa and are thankful for the partnership.  We have extensive experience in the hospitality industry, and this was a great opportunity to show off what we can do,” said Chon Nguyen, Founder and CEO of Newgentek.

Nebraska Mini Mart is located on over an acre and a half of land, with bocce ball and shuffleboard courts and both indoor and outdoor seating. The menu offers a refined approach to casual favorites.

 

Project Design Overview:

The design for Nebraska Mini Mart began with ten JBL Control Series Landscape speakers positioned on the open lawn area to be unobtrusive and blend well with the landscaping.  The JBL Control series speakers allow for a wide sound radius to maximize coverage.

Underneath the stadium seating, Newgentek installed two JBL Control Series 88M landscape speakers.  These were chosen for the depth of sound, which allows these speakers to carry the lower frequencies for the surrounding perimeter.

In the dining room and on the outside of the building, Newgentek installed five JBL Control Series Surface Mount speakers.  The sleek design and full frequency range were primary reasons for selecting this speaker.  These speakers provide the mid- and high-level range of audio for optimal clarity.

For audio control, Newgentek has partnered with BSS, a division of Harman, to provide ease of use and control of multiple audio functions.  The installed microphone system will allow for Nebraska Mini Mart to utilize an outside musician for specific events.  A BSS controller was installed to allow the local restaurant team to easily select between sources of audio, zone coverage and volume from one interface.

About The Proper House:

The Proper House now has two restaurants in the Bay area, with a third set to open before the end of the year.  Their first concept, Rooster & the Till, was recently named the #1 Best Restaurant in Tampa by the Tampa Bay Times.  Rooster & the Till and Nebraska Mini Mart are both located in Seminole Heights.  Gallito, a modern taqueria, will be their next restaurant and part of the Sparkman Wharf project in Channelside.

 

About Newgentek:

Newgentek is a full service systems integrator focused on being a strategic partner providing turnkey solutions for our clients.  Our Restaurant and Retail division serves multi-unit operators and our Unified Communications division serves corporate and enterprise clients.  Our goal in both divisions is to turn customers’ infrastructure, network, point of sale, and audio visual requirements of any complexity into manageable, easy to use solutions through our industry leading workplace transformation process.

For more information, please contact:

Megan Nguyen

Vice President, Sales & Marketing

megan.nguyen@newgentek.com

813.283.0684

Our Recap of the 2018 National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago!

What exactly is the National Restaurant Association (NRA)?  The NRA is a restaurant industry business association in the United States, representing more than 380,000 restaurant locations.  The association was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Washington, DC.

On Saturday, May 19th, NRA kicked off its 99th Annual Show in Chicago which ran through Tuesday, May 22nd.  Many folks, including myself, wondered why the NRA show is in Chicago - that answer is easy. To start, Chicago is home to 7,300 restaurants, which ranks in the Top 10 Cities in America.  With 22 of the 7,300 restaurants ranked as Michelin starred restaurants, it's not hard to find top quality eating experiences.

Now back to the show…50,000 folks from around the United States attend the show to meet with 1,800 exhibitors representing equipment and products related to the Food and Beverage sector, furnishings, decorations, paper, plastic supplies, services, tableware, food itself and our personal favorite - technology.

In short order, the restaurant industry has evolved at a rapid clip to incorporate technology kiosks for ordering, interactive signage for menus, digital kitchen solutions, pay ahead technology and now the ability to incorporate robots into automating the process.

Gwen Brannon, Director of Guest Insights and Analytics at The Coca-Cola Company shared with operators during a panel session that “People are tethered to digital devices”.  We all see technology in today's society taking our industry to new heights.

There were a few key manufacturer partners that stood out with new technology offerings - here are a few of those partners:

PAR Point-of-Sale:

Par’s point-of-sale technology, referred to as Brink, is a cloud-based software that easily adapts to support the evolving needs of customers.  As a cloud-based POS software solution, Brink does not require a back-office computer, and all your data is safe, secure and accessible in the cloud.  There are no upfront licensing fees, and upgrades are included and performed automatically. To recap, here are the four main reasons Brink POS is a leader in our industry:

• Automatic Upgrades
• Secured Data
• Accessible Anywhere
• Fault Tolerant

For more info on Brink, click here.

BrightSign:

BrightSign state-of-the-art technology is found around the world, powering digital signage in every vertical market.  BrightSign hardware is known for ultimate reliability and an extremely robust operating system purpose-built for digital signage.  BrightSign uses a simple process from content creation to publishing - the six step process is as follows:

• Concept
• Content
• Software
• BrightSign OS
• Media Players
• Digital Signage

For more info on BrightSign, click here.

FusionPrep:

FusionPrep is a digital kitchen solution that will revolutionize your kitchen.  FusionPrep offers the following services as a part of their offering:

• Keep track of receipts and builds
• Simplify your prep process
• Fast label printing
• Simple reporting interface

For more info on FusionPrep, click here.

In addition to the specific manufacturers mentioned above, the NRA show has a dedicated Technology Innovation Hub which offered exhibitors the ability to view, test and meet with ~100 manufacturers in the technology vertical market.  During the Signature ‘18 Keynote speech, Dawn Sweeney, President & CEO of the National Restaurant Association, recognizes the need to incorporate technology into the new age restaurants across the country.

We at Newgentek are counting down the days until next year’s NRA Show - it’s scheduled to occur May 18th-21st, 2019 back at McCormick Place in Chicago.  Newgentek will be present at the show and hope to see and meet with many current and prospective clients!

Until then...Bon Appetit!

Considering Technology in the Site-Selection Process

If you’re a multi-site operator in the throes of opening a new restaurant or retail location, technology is likely not the first consideration weighing on your mind. In today’s cloud-driven business environment and with consumers increasingly demanding WiFi connectivity from the businesses they frequent, the digital infrastructure of a potential site for a hospitality business matters more than ever before. While assessing a location for compatibility with your business requires careful planning, a strategic partnership with the right vendor can make the process painless. Here are some tips for assessing site infrastructure:

• Survey Potential Locations

Begin evaluating the infrastructure of a location of interest for your new site during the earliest stages of site selection. Plan for your technology with an eye toward future growth, much as you would when choosing the size of the location. To avoid costly roadblocks to future technology initiatives, savvy operators rely on an experienced partner to conduct a site-survey to evaluate available internet service providers (ISP’s).

• Consider Bandwidth Needs

Ideally, you want to choose a location with multiple ISP’s capable of delivering the bandwidth and telecom services needed to keep complex technical systems running without a hiccup. As you adopt VOIP phones or cloud-based technology, this data connection serves as the backbone of your operation – speed and reliability are critical.

• Rethink Guest WiFi

A recent University of South Florida study determined that 70% of patrons prefer restaurants or retail locations with WiFi hotspots. The study also noted a correlation between offering WiFi and a customer’s probability of becoming a loyal customer. Even if you don’t provide WiFi for customers today, select an ISP that can scale up your bandwidth in the future as your needs grow.    

• Include IT and Development

Share the results of this survey with your IT or third-party development team to ensure the ISP meets current and future requirements. Looping in your tech team helps avoid expensive and unexpected retrofitting costs as you roll out future technology solutions. Keep in mind that most modern point-of-sale systems, especially those with built-in loyalty program management, require a reliable high-speed connection.

• Plan for Redundancy

Operators of multi-unit businesses with a high-volume of transactions should pay careful attention to redundancy and continuity plans. According to the independent technology research organization, Standish Group, every minute of POS downtime costs retailers an average of $4,700. Fortunately, modern cellular networks mean the cost of redundancy is usually affordable, even for small and mid-size operations. When conducting site surveys, we test for cellular connectivity to ensure the integrity of contingency options. Deploying redundant 4G cellular failover solutions keeps your business processing credit transactions, gift cards, and loyalty programs in the event of a network outage with the primary ISP.

The easiest way to simplify the site-selection process is to develop a detailed list of requirements, which should include network availability, bandwidth and cellular connectivity. Planning for your technology growth up-front enables you to avoid significant or costly roadblocks when it comes time to implement new technology solutions in the future. Opening a new restaurant or retail location is complex enough. That’s why it’s important to find a partner who understands the unique challenges of multi-unit brands and can help you plan for the future.

Contact us today to learn how we can help you plan and execute your IT infrastructure and technology goals.