Growth | KRG Hospitality

November 8, 2024by David Klemt David Klemt No Comments

Understanding TAM, SAM, and SOM

Unlocking Growth Potential: Understanding TAM, SAM, and SOM

by Doug Radkey

After working through this with a client the other day, we thought it would be a good opportunity to explain the acronyms of TAM, SAM, and SOM.

These concepts can help your business start, stabilize, or scale.

Let’s be real: in the hospitality industry, understanding your market and its potential is paramount for sustainable growth and profitability. This is where the concepts of TAM (Total Addressable Market), SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market), and SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market) come into play.

For bars, restaurants, and hotels, these metrics aren’t just marketing or financial jargon. Each provides critical insights that inform feasibility studies, shape marketing strategies, and guide business decisions.

Below, we’ll break down each of these concepts, illustrate how to calculate them, and explain their role in building effective strategies for your hospitality business.

The Definitions

TAM (Total Addressable Market)

TAM represents the overall revenue opportunity available if your business held 100 percent of the market share. It is the entire potential market size without any constraints like geography, budget, sociographics, or operational limits.

Example: For a new bar, the TAM would represent the total annual spend of all consumers in your market who drink out, regardless of their preferences, location within a region, or budget.

SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market)

SAM is the portion of TAM that your business can reach realistically, given practical limitations like geographic location, regulatory constraints, more targeted sociographics, and operational scope. Going further, SAM also considers factors that make a portion of the TAM unfeasible for your business to serve.

Example: Using the same bar concept, SAM would represent all the people within a certain radius who are willing to visit a bar with a similar concept, who can afford your menu, and who are within your reach given your physical location.

SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market)

SOM is the segment of the SAM that your business can capture. This metric accounts for your competitors, market share estimates, and your unique ability to attract your ideal guests within your SAM.

Example: For the bar, SOM would be the percentage of patrons within your SAM that you expect, realistically, to convert into regular guests, taking into account competition, unique value proposition, and brand positioning.

Why These Metrics Matter

Each of these metrics provides a progressively more realistic picture of your business’ revenue potential.

Your business plan cannot be “targeting males and females between 25 to 45 years old.” You have to go much deeper than that to be successful.

TAM shows you the broadest possible opportunity, but SAM narrows it down based on serviceable factors. SOM gives you a realistic goal to aim for based on your most targeted factors.

Their Role in Feasibility Studies and Marketing Plans

In hospitality, feasibility studies are essential for understanding whether a business idea is viable.

When you’re assessing the potential of a new bar, restaurant, or hotel, the TAM, SAM, and SOM calculations give you quantitative data that can help you avoid common mistakes such as overestimating your market potential, or failing to identify target demographics accurately.

Feasibility Studies

TAM Analysis: Helps validate whether there’s a broad demand for your concept.
SAM Analysis: Identifies a focused portion of the market that fits within your operational range.
SOM Analysis: Helps set realistic revenue goals by factoring in competition and market positioning.

When preparing a feasibility study, using TAM, SAM, and SOM ensures that your projections are grounded in reality, giving potential investors or stakeholders confidence in your plan.

Marketing Plans

Once you’ve established a feasible market, TAM, SAM, and SOM inform your marketing strategies.

TAM helps you understand the entire universe of potential guests, useful for broader brand awareness campaigns.
SAM directs you to specific geographic or demographic segments for targeted campaigns.
SOM guides the creation of highly focused, competitive strategies to capture and retain market share in a specific segment.

By utilizing TAM, SAM, and SOM, your marketing plan becomes tailored, efficient, and likely to generate a higher return on investment.

How to Calculate TAM, SAM, and SOM for Your Hospitality Business

Step 1: Define Your Target Market

Before calculating TAM, SAM, and SOM, it’s essential to understand and define your target market. This includes analyzing demographics (age, income, education) and psychographics or sociographics (lifestyle, preferences, values).

For a local bar, restaurant, or hotel, understanding these details about your audience is crucial because your business’ reach will likely be local or regional.

If, for example, you’re opening an elevated cocktail bar, you might define your target market as:

Travelers aged 30 to 50 with disposable income between $70,000 and $90,000 per year.
Downtown business professionals who are interested in after-office food and beverages.
Individuals and tourists seeking upscale F&B and unique guest experiences.

Did you know? In Canada and the US specifically, there are over 65 sociographic or “tapestry” profiles that make up the fabric of our neighborhoods.

Step 2: Calculate TAM

To calculate TAM, consider the total market demand for your type of service.

Formula: TAM = (Total number of potential customers) × (Average annual spend per customer)
Example for a Bar: If the estimated number of people in your city who visit bars is 200,000, and the average spend per person is $500 annually ($41.67 per month), the TAM would be 200,000 × $500 = $100 million.

Step 3: Calculate SAM

To calculate SAM, refine TAM by narrowing down to the guests you could reach realistically based on your location, budget, and other factors. Use your sociographic/tapestry profiles to help.

Formula: SAM = (Total number of reachable guests within your service area) × (Average spend)
Example for a Bar: Out of 200,000 potential guests, suppose only 50,000 are within a 10-mile radius who are between 25 and 45 years old, who drink, and who make between $50,000 and $70,000 per year. SAM would be 50,000 × $500 = $25 million.

Step 4: Calculate SOM

Finally, to determine SOM, evaluate how much of the SAM you believe you can capture realistically. This often depends on your competitive positioning, your marketing effectiveness, and operational capacity.

Formula: SOM = (Total number of targeted guests you can convert realistically) × (Average spend)
Example for a Bar: If you believe you can capture 10 percent of your SAM, SOM would be 5,000 guests × $500 = $2.5 million.
Now, compare that to your daily, weekly, and monthly traffic projections and your daily, weekly, and monthly revenue projections. How close are you?

Sample Calculations for a Boutique Hotel Business

To illustrate these calculations, let’s imagine a boutique hotel in a medium-sized city:

TAM Calculation:
- Target market: All tourists visiting the city annually.
- Estimated annual visitors: One million.
- Average annual spend per tourist on accommodations: $1,000.
- TAM = 1 million × $1,000 = $1 billion.
SAM Calculation:
- Focused market: Visitors who prefer boutique hotels versus chain flags who are between 22 and 42 years old.
- Estimated visitors who prefer boutique hotels: 20 percent of TAM (200,000).
- SAM = 200,000 × $1,000 = $200 million.
SOM Calculation:
- Realistically, the hotel expects to capture five percent of SAM based on its operations, the number of rooms, its daily rates, and expected occupancy rates.
- SOM = 10,000 guests × $1,000 = $10 million.

Why Defining Your Target Market is Crucial

All that said, calculating TAM, SAM, and SOM is only effective if you have a clearly defined target market. Hospitality businesses must understand their audience’s demographic and sociographic details, which is why initial market research is so essential.

For instance, if a new restaurant targets health-conscious millennials, knowing their spending patterns, dining preferences, and local competition will make the calculations more accurate.

With detailed sociodemographic insights, you can more precisely estimate TAM, SAM, and SOM, creating a feasibility study that reflects realistic market conditions.

The Benefits of Using TAM, SAM, and SOM in Your Business Planning

By incorporating TAM, SAM, and SOM into your feasibility studies and marketing plans, you can make data-driven decisions that increase your business’ chances of success.

Here’s how each metric adds value for you and your business:

Informed Decision-Making: These metrics offer clarity for market potential, helping you avoid costly mistakes.
Financial Confidence: TAM, SAM, and SOM provide stakeholders with measurable data, increasing confidence among investors or lenders.
Efficient Marketing: Focusing on SOM in marketing efforts allows you to deploy resources effectively, targeting guests you are most likely to convert.
Adaptability: These metrics aren’t static; you can adjust TAM, SAM, and SOM as market dynamics change, ensuring your business stays relevant.

Why Now is the Time to Embrace TAM, SAM, and SOM

In a competitive hospitality landscape, using TAM, SAM, and SOM can provide a strategic advantage. By understanding your true market potential, you can design a feasibility study and marketing plan that align with realistic growth goals.

While TAM shows you the big picture, SAM and SOM bring clarity to your specific opportunities, helping you prioritize resources and strategies that will yield the best return.

As you move forward with planning, remember: calculating TAM, SAM, and SOM is not a one-time task. Updating these metrics regularly as your business and the market evolve can provide insights that will keep your brand relevant and profitable.

My final thoughts: Before you dive into launching a new bar, restaurant, or hotel, take the time to do a deep dive into TAM, SAM, and SOM. It’s not just about understanding your market; it’s about maximizing your opportunity to stabilize and then scale within it.

By leveraging TAM, SAM, and SOM, you’ll be equipped to create a hospitality concept that doesn’t just survive but sets a new standard for success.

Image: Canva

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Cocktails with edible flowers and dehydrated fruit for garnishes

September 26, 2024by David Klemt David Klemt No Comments

Are “Substituters” Leading NA Growth?

Are “Substituters” Leading NA Growth?

by David Klemt

No-ABV, low-ABV, or full strength?

Revelations shared by the IWSR recently suggest that the very generation driving non-alcohol growth may also be driving traditional beverage alcohol growth.

At least, according to the IWSR, a particular generation is over-indexing in the non-alc category and “full-strength” categories such as rum, whisky, Champagne, brandy and Cognac, and RTDs.

This is because Millennials—there it is, the big reveal—appear to be “substituters.” That is, as explained by the IWSR, much of this cohort consumes alcohol on some occasions, and non-alc beverages on others.

Now, before we proceed, let me get this out of the way: No generation is a monolith. While there’s value in understanding a given generation’s behavior, it’s important to understand that we can really only do so in broad terms.

That said, broadly speaking, members of the Millennial generation appear to be driving the growth of non-alc overall. In comparison to other generations, Millennials are consuming more non-alc spirits, more non-alc beer, and more non-alc wine.

Of course, there’s another caveat I must address: Less than half of Gen Z is of legal drinking age. So, when compared to that generation, the numbers are a bit skewed.

Generally speaking, non-alc is growing across the board in the US. What was once relegated to two or three low-alc beers and barely considered “mocktails” for many, many years is now a viable category. The category has gone from an afterthought to inspiring entire alcohol-free bar concepts, and it hasn’t taken long to achieve this growth.

Numbers

When I say Millennials are consuming more non-alc than other generations, what does that mean? Is the difference subtle, or is it eyebrow raising?

Per IWSR data, it’s the latter.

Last year, 45 percent of all non-alc beer drinkers in the US were Millennials. That number has jumped to 61 percent in 2024. Change focus to non-alc spirits and Millennials make up 66 percent of overall US consumers. That number is 59 percent when we look at who’s drinking non-alc wine.

For some context, just 22 percent of non-alc beer drinkers in the US are Gen X. Take a look at legal-drinking-age Gen Z and that number shrinks to seven percent. Again, though, most of Gen Z isn’t yet LDA.

So, back to substituters. Just under half of all Millennials, according to IWSR findings, vacillate between non-alc and full-ABV. It would appear, then, that Millennials are the most interested in exploring and experimenting with non-alc beverages.

For obvious reasons, this makes it clear that operators need to do more than just toss a couple of alcohol-free beers and sugary zero-proof cocktail concoctions on their menus.

Further, and I know I’m repeating myself, operators need to ensure they deliver the same level of service and guest experience for those abstaining from alcohol as those ordering traditional adult beverages. Failing to do so can alienate guests who choose to not consume alcohol but want to visit and socialize at a bar or restaurant. Why would they return if they receive what they perceive to be a lower level of service?

IWSR’s deep dive and data make it clear that operators need to give the non-alc element of their menu due consideration. The category is growing, interesting is increasing, and it’s smart business.

To review this data yourself, follow this link.

Image: Rachel Claire via Pexels

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Stainless steel address numbers spelling out the number 500

September 13, 2024by David Klemt David Klemt No Comments

The 2024 Datassential 500

How Does the 2024 Datassential 500 Shake Out?

by David Klemt

The annual Datassential 500 ranking is a valuable report that identifies industry leaders, the fastest growers, and segment performance.

Further, this yearly report shows the scale of restaurant business in the US. In a word, it’s gargantuan.

Looking at 2023 data, the top 500 chains in the US operated 238,152 units. And those 238,000-plus restaurants generated $417.13 billion in 2023.

For the former, that’s growth of 2.1 percent in comparison to 2022. And for the latter, the top 500 grew by 7.5 percent compared to last year.

Those numbers are from just 500 chains; the report doesn’t take into account other chains or independent operators. When we add all dining and drinking establishments in the US, the industry generated $1.09 trillion in 2023.

Again, the US restaurant business is a colossus.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, limited-service and quick-service restaurants are the top-performing segments by unit within the Datassential 500. In 2023, the LSR segment consisted of 212,469, and unit growth was up by 2.3 percent. The QSR segment reached 170,241, representing unit growth of 1.9 percent.

In fact, every segment but one saw unit growth in 2023. One may assume the segment that slipped was fine dining. That’s usually a safe bet, but the segment actually saw the most growth. It was midscale restaurants that suffered a bit of a blow, shrinking by 0.1 percent.

That means that LSRs, QSRs, full-service restaurants (FSRs), fast casual, casual dining, and fine dining all grew. Further, that growth ranged from 0.3 percent (FSR) to 4.6 percent (fine dining).

There are many more insights, so I encourage anyone interested to download the report for themselves.

Segment Shakedown

Before we jump into the top US chains, let’s take a look at how the categories break down.

Type of Cuisine

American: 88
Pizza: 70
Desserts & Snacks: 69
Sandwich: 47
Coffee: 47
Burger: 37
Mexican: 36
Salad & Healthy: 31
Southern: 24
Asian: 22
BBQ: 12
Steakhouse: 11
Italian: 9
Seafood: 9
Greek & Mediterranean: 9

Growth by Segment: Unit (LSR)

Salad/Healthy: +11.2%
Coffee: +5.9%
Other: +4.6%
Dessert/Snack: +4.3%
Mexican: +3.0%
Chicken: +2.9%
Pizza: +1.6%
Bakery-Cafe: +0.8%
Sandwich: -0.4%
Burger: -0.4%

As we can see, Salad/Healthy LSRs saw almost double the growth by unit than the next-largest segment, Coffee.

Further, Sandwich and Burger shrunk slightly.

Growth by Segment: Unit (FSR)

Regional/Ethnic: +7.6%
Sports Bar: +3.8%
Midscale: +0.3%
Seafood/Steak: +0.1%
Italian/Pizza: -0.9%
American: -2.0%

Regional and ethnic full-size restaurants saw the most growth. In fact, they grew by twice the amount of sports bars, and several times more than midscale FSRs.

Growth by Segment: Sales

Limited-Service Restaurant: $338.18 billion (+8.1%)
Quick-Service Restaurant: $263.48 billion (+8.0%)
Full-Service Restaurant: $78.95 billion (+5.0%)
Fast-Casual Restaurant: $74.70 billion (+8.6%)
Casual-Dining Restaurant: $55.57 billion (+4.8%)
Midscale Restaurant: $20.05 billion (+4.5%)
Fine-Dining Restaurant: $3.33 billion (+10.7%)

The good news is that every segment saw sales growth in 2022, with Fine Dining and Fast Casual experiencing the biggest increases.

Of course, that’s relative. Fine Dining generated just $3.33 billion in comparison to LSRs, which generated more than $338 billion.

Still, positive growth is always great to see.

Growth by Segment: Sales (LSR)

Salad/Healthy: +17.0%
Chicken: +11.9%
Dessert/Snack: +10.1%
Coffee: +9.8%
Other: +9.3%
Mexican: +9.1%
Burger: +7.5%
Sandwich: +7.2%
Bakery-Cafe: +1.8%
Pizza: +1.6%

Not only did Salad/Healthy lead the way in LSR unit growth in 2023, it’s the top performer in terms of sales.

Again, the good news is that the Datassential 500 saw LSR sales growth across the board.

Growth by Segment: Sales (FSR)

Regional/Ethnic: +10.2%
Seafood/Steak: +6.7%
Midscale: +5.2%
Italian/Pizza: +4.2%
American: +3.8%
Sports Bar: +3.2%

As far as FSR performance, every segment experienced growth, with Regional/Ethnic leading the charge.

The Top 5(00)

So, which US chains are at the top? Well, an accurate answer depends on segment, number of units, and sales.

Oh, and it also depends on whether we’re talking about which chains Datassential have identified as industry leaders, and which are the fastest growers.

Industry Leaders

According to Datassential, the top five US chains by number of stores are Subway (20,133), Starbucks (16,346), McDonald’s (13,449), Dunkin’ (9,580), and Taco Bell (7,405).

However, that ranking changes a bit when we look at through the lens of sales. In that case, the top five are McDonald’s ($52.91 billion), Starbucks ($29.98 billion), Chick-fil-A ($21.58 billion), Taco Bell ($13.95 billion), and Wendy’s ($12.29 billion).

Those are the industry stalwarts. How do the fastest-growing US chains stack up?

Fastest Growers

Looking at unit growth over the span of one year, the top performers in the US are 7 Brew (+373.7 percent), The Peach Cobbler Factory (+358.3 percent), Hangry Joe’s Hot Chicken (+281.8 percent), KPOT Korean BBQ & Hot Pot (+275.0 percent), and Foxtail Coffee Co (+176.2 percent).

Switching gears to sales growth over a single year, Hangry Joe’s Hot Chicken led the way, growing by more than 500 percent. Hangry Joe’s is followed by The Peach Cobbler Factory (+332.5% percent), Nick The Greek (+304.7 percent), 7 Brew (+267.3 percent), and Pizza King Inc (+264.7 percent).

However, Datassential gets more granular in their 2024 report, breaking down the top five across multiple segments.

Top Ranked By Unit (Overall)

Top 5: Quick Service

Subway
McDonald’s
Dunkin’
Taco Bell
Domino’s Pizza

Top 5: Fast Casual

Starbucks
Chipotle
Panera Bread
Wingstop
Tropical Smoothie Cafe

Top 5: Midscale

Waffle House
IHOP
Denny’s
Cracker Barrel
First Watch

Top 5: Casual & Fine Dining

Applebee’s
Buffalo Wild Wings
Chili’s
Olive Garden
Outback

Top Ranked By Unit (Growth)

Top 5: Quick Service

7 Brew
The Peach Cobbler Factory
Foxtail Coffee Co
Cupbop
Swig

Top 5: Fast Casual

Hangry Joes Hot Chicken
Just Love Coffee Cafe
The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill
Nautical Bowls
Ellianos Coffee Co

Top 5: Midscale

Snooze Restaurant
Eggs Up Grill
Kura Sushi Bar
Another Broken Egg Cafe
Maple Street Biscuit Co.

Top 5: Casual & Fine Dining

KPOT Korean BBQ & Hot Pot
Topgolf
The Juicy Crab
Jinya Ramen Bar
Hopdoddy Burger Bar

There are many more insights to be had, so please consider downloading your own copy of the 2024 Datassential 500 report here.

Image: Thiago Giardini via Pexels

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ITALICUS bottle surrounded by citrus fruits

January 15, 2024by David Klemt David Klemt No Comments

The Sixth: Art of ITALICUS Returns

The Sixth: Art of ITALICUS Returns for 2024

by David Klemt

Your bar team members have the opportunity to participate in the sixth-annual Art of ITALICUS Aperitivo Challenge and win an invaluable prize.

There are multiple prizes, really. For example, national finals winners take the title of ITALICUS Bar Artist for their country, for 2024. They also walk away with a ticket to the global finals, which take place in Rome.

After the global finals, one winner will earn the title ITALICUS Bar Artist of the Year 2024. However, taking nothing away from this title, there’s another prize that I feel should drive every competitor to truly outshine their competition.

The ITALICUS Bar Artist of the Year will head to the incredible Cafe La Trova in Miami to participate in a mentorship program. Given that Julio Cabrera is such an influential member of the hospitality world, this prize represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Now, as an operator or leadership team member, you may wonder what this news has to do with you. It’s simple: Encouraging your bartenders to participate in this competition and others like it shows you care about their career progression.

Bar team members who want to take part in competitions get to show off their creativity to a wider audience, become known to brands, and network with peers outside of their local communities. They can also discover and bring back tips, techniques, and lessons to your bar, restaurant, nightclub, or hotel.

In this case, one bartender will return to their bar or restaurant with lessons from the Cafe La Trova team. That’s priceless insight that will benefit their entire team.

For crucial competition details, please read the Art of the ITALICUS Aperitivo Challenge press release below.

Good luck to all of the participants!

ART OF ITALICUS APERITIVO CHALLENGE RETURNS FOR 2024 IN PURSUIT OF THE BEST ART-INSPIRED APERITIVO COCKTAIL

New York, NY (January 9, 2024) – Today, The Art of ITALICUS Aperitivo Challenge returns for its sixth edition, inviting bartenders from around the world to create an original and unique aperitivo cocktail inspired by any form of art and crafted using ITALICUS Rosolio di Bergamotto.

The Winner of the renowned industry challenge will be crowned ITALICUS Bar Artist of the Year 2024 and win a trip to Miami for a once in a lifetime mentorship program with Cafe La Trova by Julio Cabrera. Nominated in 2023 as one of the World’s 50 Best Bars, Cafe La Trova is the true embodiment of hospitality, welcoming guests with impeccable warmth, attention to detail and service, crafting a truly memorable experience for anyone who visits. The “cantinero culture,” which is synonymous with the venue, embraces the most important values of the cocktail industry, making it the perfect inspiration for the new Art of Italicus participants. As part of the prize, the 2024 ITALICUS Bar Artist will have the opportunity to experience what makes this bar truly special and discover one of the most vibrant art cultures in Miami’s iconic surroundings.

Reflecting the brand’s passion for Italian art and design, The Art of ITALICUS Aperitivo Challenge is built on the belief that bartenders are artists and offers them the opportunity to expand their creativity whilst experimenting with new ingredients, techniques and glassware to showcase the versatility of ITALICUS. Each recipe must be in an aperitivo style and can be inspired by any form of art such as sculpture, painting, fashion, music, architecture and much more.

The competition will welcome entrants from 13 countries including Croatia/Slovenia, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Swiss, United Kingdom and the United States. Bartenders from other countries will be able to apply through a Wild Card entry, offering them the opportunity to win a spot at the global final in May in Rome.

Giuseppe Gallo, founder and CEO of ITALICUS, comments:

“Now in its sixth year, The Art of ITALICUS Aperitivo Challenge celebrates aperitivo culture while encouraging bartenders to express their creativity, looking to art in its various forms as way of inspiration. Meeting with the industry’s emerging talent through this program gives me a great deal of pride and is something I hope continues for many years as a way of keeping our community connected, working together and empowering one another.”

The 2024 Competition

Competitors are tasked with creating an original aperitivo cocktail using a minimum of 40ml (1.5oz in US) of ITALICUS Rosolio di Bergamotto and a maximum of five ingredients. Participating bartenders must upload their unique recipe alongside an image of their creation including measurements, garnishes and glassware recommendations to the competition website before February 20, 2024 in order to be in with a chance of winning. Competitors are also required to share their inspiration and the story behind their aperitivo cocktail and encouraged to suggest food pairings for their recipe.

Applications for The Art of ITALICUS Aperitivo Challenge 2024 will be open from January 9 through February 20. Recipes can be submitted via the website: https://imbibemagazine.com/art-of-italicus/.

Entrants are also encouraged to share their creations on social media ahead of the competition, using the following hashtags: #ITALICUS #ROSOLIODIBERGAMOTTO #ARTOFITALICUS #AOI24

National Finals

The national finals will take place throughout March and April (March 4 – April 12) where the eight shortlisted bartenders will present their cocktail creation to the judging panel across eight minutes and including at least three serves. The winner of the national final will receive the title of ITALICUS Bar Artist of their country 2024 along with a ticket to participate in the global final which will be held in Rome.

Global Finals

On May 12, the national finalists will compete against one another in Rome in a bid to earn the coveted title of ITALICUS Bar Artist of the Year 2024 as well as a once in a lifetime opportunity and mentorship with one of the world’s most influential bars, Cafe La Trova by Julio Cabrera. During the trip to Miami, the winning bartender will be accompanied by a film crew who will document their experience and create a documentary video which will later be released on social media.

For further information on The Art of ITALICUS Aperitivo Challenge, please visit www.artofitalicus.com.

Image: ITALICUS

Barbecue chicken wings, chili peppers, and chili flakes

August 15, 2023by David Klemt David Klemt No Comments

Top-performing Menu Items in the US

Top-performing Menu Items in the US (So Far)

by David Klemt

Thanks to a recent mid-year report from F&B intelligence platform Datassential, we now know the top-performing menu items in the US.

For the low, low price of filling out a handful of fields, you can download a copy of Datassential’s “Foodbytes: 2023 Midyear Trend Report” for yourself.

There’s plenty of useful data packed into this short report. You may find some of the top food items a bit surprising.

But First…

Datassential does more than just list the top mid-year menu performers in their latest report. There are also a couple of interesting datapoints for operators to consider.

The first piece of information is an alarming statistic: 54 percent of consumers are of the belief that “tipping culture has gotten out of control.”

As we’ve reported earlier, it’s likely that a major driver of “tip fatigue” comes from retail. The expectation for consumers to tip at a restaurant, bar or nightclub is ingrained deeply in American culture.

However, consumers throughout America are being prompted to tip after just about every transaction they’re attempting to complete. In fact, it’s not just retail that has been encouraging (in some cases, guilting) people to tip. Some contractors are also adding tip lines when handing over tablets to clients so they can pay their invoices.

One result is that servers and bartenders are reporting lower tips; guests are so over tipping that they’re pushing back against the practice in venues where they’d traditionally have no problem doing so.

Of course, tip fatigue isn’t the only reason consumers are pushing back against tipping. Many people feel that operators should increase what they pay staff. Indeed, some people feel that operators are asking them to subsidize their employee pay. Whether they’d be happy to pay higher prices remains to be seen.

Fads Aren’t Bad?

Whenever we cover trends or discuss them with clients, we caution against chasing too many (or the “wrong” trends). And fads? It can be even riskier to hop on the bandwagon of something that may never even reach the trend stage of its lifecycle.

However, likely due to the ubiquity of TikTok, consumers expect restaurants to embrace fads. According to Datassential, 67 percent of consumers overall “want to see more fads at restaurants and retail.”

That number jumps to 74 percent when focusing on Millennials and Gen Z.

So, while we still caution operators about jumping on fads (or “micro trends”) and trends, that doesn’t mean be too cautious. If a fad or trend works with your brand and won’t cost much to feature, at least give it consideration.

Not sure you’re great at identifying fads that will work for your business? Ask your staff which fads and trends are hot at the moment.

Speaking of Hot…

Alright, let’s take a look at the F&B items Datassential identifies as popular at the midway point of 2023.

Again, I encourage you to download the report in its entirety. You can do just that by clicking here.

But for those who want instant gratification, check out these menu items:

Super Duper: Let’s kick things off with the hottest chain LTO, the Denny’s Super Slam. Per Datassential, restaurant chains have already featured in excess of 2,000 LTOs in 2023. The F&B intel agency tests them all, and the Super Slam is wearing the LTO crown at the moment.
Chef Chatbot: Datassential tapped ChatGPT to create a burger recipe and had Midjourney create an image for the resulting Caprese Avocado Burger. More than half of consumers surveyed—57 percent—want to try it at a restaurant.
Big Winner: Datassential asked consumers a simple question: Which would you rather eat for the rest of your life, a hamburger or a hot dog? A staggering 87 percent chose hamburgers, meaning just 13 percent of consumers would choose a hot dog over it’s burger buddy.
What a Pickle: Back in March we checked out Slice’s Slice of the Union report, and it predicted pickle pizzas would be a hot trend this year. Well, Datassential has crunched the numbers and says 40 percent of consumers are aware of this pizza style already. Looks like Slice may be proven right by the end of the year.
Speed Demon: Curious about the fastest-growing menu item on the US? Well, wonder no more: Datassential says it’s the barbecue chicken wing. Over the past year, they’ve grown 373 percent on menus across the States. Datassential posits the overall growth of chicken and the embracing of flavor trends like Carolina gold barbecue sauce are contributing factors.

There’s a lot to unpack here, so I’ll leave you to it. Just remember that when it comes to fads and trends, there’s a fine line between what’s hot, what’s not, and jumping on the wrong one. Good luck!

Image: Ahmed Bhutta on Pexels

May 18, 2023by David Klemt David Klemt No Comments

SevenRooms and Marriott Partnership

SevenRooms and Marriott Reveal Global Partnership

by David Klemt

Fresh from launching the innovative Pre-Shift pre-service tool, SevenRooms today announces the platform’s latest partnership.

The announcement, which you can read in its entirety below, shows the confidence that some of the most recognizable hospitality brands in the world have in SevenRooms capabilities.

Specifically, the platform is now a preferred restaurant technology provider throughout Marriott International‘s portfolio. In fact, Marriott is leveraging the SevenRooms suite of tech solutions at several of their brands in more than a dozen countries. This translates to over 8,500 properties using the platform’s powerful booking, relationship management, and marketing tools.

Among the brands utilizing SevenRooms tools are The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, EDITION Hotels, The Luxury Collection, and W Hotels.

The latest news to come from SevenRooms again underscores the platform’s commitment to growth and longevity. After more than a decade in operation and service to hospitality operators, it’s safe to say the company has reached ubiquity.

You may not operate a hotel or operate within a hotel. You may not oversee a multi-unit or multi-concept business. This news should be no less important to you.

When developing your tech stack (a service KRG Hospitality provides) it’s important to choose platforms that are here to stay. Otherwise, your investments of time and money go up in smoke. Likewise, the disruption to operations and service as you seek a new platform are harmful to you, your team, and guests.

So, it can be wise to not just dig into the platforms you’re considering, it can be smart to see what companies trust them as partners.

SevenRooms is a platform that we’re comfortable recommending to many of our clients. And no, we’re not paid or otherwise compensated to do so.

To learn more about SevenRooms partnering with Marriott International, see below.

SEVENROOMS SELECTED AS A MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL PREFERRED RESTAURANT TECHNOLOGY PROVIDER

The global technology platform will power personalized guest experiences to increase revenue while providing deeper guest insights for the global hospitality company

NEW YORK (May 18, 2023) – SevenRooms, a guest experience and retention platform for the hospitality industry, today announced its agreement with Marriott International to become a preferred restaurant technology provider. SevenRooms is currently live across 25 countries at Marriott brands including W Hotels, The Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, Sheraton, JW Marriott, Le Méridien, Westin, Marriott Hotels, Renaissance Hotels, EDITION Hotels, The Luxury Collection and Gaylord Hotels. This will unlock additional opportunities at the more than 8,500 Marriott International properties worldwide.

SevenRooms is a data-driven guest experience and retention platform focused 100% on building operator-focused tools. The platform offers solutions to global brands that not only increase revenue generation, but help them build long-term relationships with guests.

For restaurants, bars, and other F&B outlets in Marriott-branded hotels, the SevenRooms platform offers a suite of tools to help drive incremental revenue, increase operational efficiencies, and offer exceptional guest experiences. Through SevenRooms’ Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Marketing Automation capabilities, Marriott’s hotels are not only able to cultivate meaningful, direct relationships with guests, but access a 360-degree view into the guest journey to foster deeper guest loyalty.

“We’re thrilled to collaborate with Marriott International as a preferred restaurant technology provider, helping them deliver more personalized experiences for their guests around the world,” said Joel Montaniel, CEO & Co-Founder of SevenRooms. “Today, consumers expect more out of their F&B experiences whether they’re staying local or traveling abroad. They want to engage with hotels, restaurants and bars on their own terms, and are increasingly discovering and booking where to eat and drink across an array of channels. With SevenRooms, operators have access to tools that help them reach these guests while driving operational efficiencies by connecting F&B into their overall hotel strategy to generate revenue and increase profitability. Our suite of products not only helps operators of Marriott-branded hotels provide guests with exceptional experiences that enhance positive sentiment and drive increased loyalty, but enables them to do so at scale, automatically. We look forward to working with Marriott as we enable them with technology to build longer-lasting, more profitable relationships with their guests.”

Marriott International properties can now incorporate much of SevenRooms’ suite of tools and solutions, including Customer Relationship Management (CRM), on-premise table management, waitlist management, marketing automation, email marketing, order management and review aggregation.

“Marriott’s hospitality roots began in restaurants, and we want to provide exceptional, unforgettable restaurant experiences for our guests,” said Matthew Von Ertfelda, Senior Vice President, Food & Beverage at Marriott International. “With SevenRooms, we’re not only able to provide guests with the experiences they crave, but we can leverage a robust suite of tools to help turn one-time guests into lifelong guests.”

To learn more about SevenRooms, please visit www.sevenrooms.com.

About SevenRooms

SevenRooms is a guest experience and retention platform that helps hospitality operators create exceptional experiences that drive revenue and repeat business. Trusted by thousands of hospitality operators around the world, SevenRooms powers tens of millions of guest experiences each month across both on- and off-premises. From neighborhood restaurants and bars to international, multi-concept hospitality groups, SevenRooms is transforming the industry by empowering operators to take back control of their businesses to build direct guest relationships, deliver exceptional experiences and drive more visits and orders, more often. The full suite of products includes reservation, waitlist and table management, online ordering, mobile order & pay, review aggregation, email marketing and marketing automation. Founded in 2011 and venture-backed by Amazon, Comcast Ventures, PSG and Highgate Ventures, SevenRooms has dining, hotel F&B, nightlife and entertainment clients globally, including: Marriott International, MGM Resorts International, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Wynn Resorts, Jumeirah Group, Hard Rock Hotels & Resorts, Wolfgang Puck, Michael Mina, Bloomin’ Brands, Giordano’s, Australian Venue Company, Altamarea Group, AELTC, The Wolseley Hospitality Group, Dishoom, Live Nation and Topgolf. www.sevenrooms.com

Image: SevenRooms

March 14, 2023by David Klemt David Klemt No Comments

SevenRooms Email Marketing Integration

SevenRooms Introduces Email Marketing Integration

by David Klemt

Today, SevenRooms announces a new marketing innovation that integrates with the platform’s Automated Email feature: Email Marketing.

This is more evidence of SevenRooms’ continued growth. The company began 2023 by adding their first-ever chief marketing officer. Just two months later, SevenRooms announced a new investor: Enlightened Hospitality Investments, spearheaded by Danny Meyer.

Additionally, offering this new tool to operators makes clear the platform’s intent to truly be an all-in-one operations solution. Email Marketing, for example, can replace third-party email services. Streamlining marketing makes it simpler for operators and their teams to ensure they keep guests engaged with their venue and brand.

And, of course, including effective tools within a single platform can lead to reduced costs and the relief of pain points. When systems are difficult to use, some operators are less inclined to want to actually use them. That’s a waste of valuable resources.

Combined with Automated Emails, SevenRooms Email Marketing gives more control over marketing to operators. Not only are emails triggered based on various tags, the emails can be customized fully. And, to ensure marketing runs smoothly for everyone, operators will have access to templates if customization isn’t necessarily in their wheelhouse.

You’ll find the SevenRooms Email Marketing press release in its entirety below.

SEVENROOMS EXPANDS MARKETING SUITE WITH INTEGRATED EMAIL MARKETING

New Email Marketing Tool Provides Key Data Insights and Revenue Potential for SevenRooms Clients

NEW YORK (March 14, 2023)—SevenRooms, a global guest experience and retention platform for the hospitality industry, has announced a new solution and expansion of its marketing suite for hospitality operators worldwide: Email Marketing. The product will work in conjunction with SevenRooms’ Automated Emails, a set of personalized, trigger-based emails sent to customers on behalf of the operator, to continue to engage guests once they’ve visited a venue.

Email Marketing enables SevenRooms customers to send one-time, customized marketing emails directly within the SevenRooms platform to give operators more control over the way they use their guest data. Having ownership of this guest data allows operators to build their brand through direct touchpoints with guests to drive loyalty and repeat visits. It also provides detailed insights into email performance with metrics that matter to their business, including showing the reservations, covers and revenue attributed to each email.

Email Marketing supports operators with a solution that is connected throughout a restaurant’s tech stack and removes the need to use third-party email service providers that create additional work for staff trying to manage email preferences across multiple systems. It is directly linked to the SevenRooms CRM and operating system giving operators full control over their messaging and who receives it by using Auto-tags or Client tags to segment marketing audiences. Additionally, operators using Email Marketing have the ability to create either fully customized emails with an easy-to-use visual editor or utilize curated templates.

The new product also enhances the experience for guests of SevenRooms customers by allowing them to stay in touch or up-to-date with their favorite venues, receive targeted messages and promotions, or simply control the venues from which they receive marketing. Leveraging Email Marketing, restaurants can use their guest data to tee up relevant, customized emails. For example, sending guests who have purchased wine at least five times an invite to a dinner with their sommelier, or excluding guests with shellfish allergies from an email about their annual clambake.

“SevenRooms Email Marketing product provides restaurants with functionality that simply does not exist in the email marketing platforms that restaurants traditionally use,” said Allison Page, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at SevenRooms. “We enable restaurant marketers to leverage their robust SevenRooms guest database to quickly and easily build targeted campaign segments, eliminating the need to manually export and import mailing lists between systems. While other email service providers promise revenue, SevenRooms can prove it with accurate data on the revenue generated by each campaign to truly measure email marketing performance.”

“The combination of SevenRooms’ Email Marketing and Automated Emails makes guests feel very connected with us,” said Alyssa Fenu, Sales & Marketing Manager at Mango’s Tropical Café. “Being able to choose who our emails are going to — a specific customer segment or broadcasting to our whole database — makes the process a lot simpler. And it’s super easy to understand how many people opened our emails, how many people actually made a reservation, and how much money we’re making because it’s all in one place.”

For more information about SevenRooms and its services, please visit www.sevenrooms.com.

About SevenRooms

SevenRooms is a guest experience and retention platform that helps hospitality operators create exceptional experiences that drive revenue and repeat business. Trusted by thousands of hospitality operators around the world, SevenRooms powers tens of millions of guest experiences each month across both on- and off-premises. From neighborhood restaurants and bars to international, multi-concept hospitality groups, SevenRooms is transforming the industry by empowering operators to take back control of their businesses to build direct guest relationships, deliver exceptional experiences and drive more visits and orders, more often. The full suite of products includes reservation, waitlist and table management, online ordering, mobile order & pay, review aggregation and marketing automation. Founded in 2011 and venture-backed by Amazon, Comcast Ventures, PSG and Highgate Ventures, SevenRooms has dining, hotel F&B, nightlife and entertainment clients globally, including: MGM Resorts International, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Wynn Resorts, Jumeirah Group, Wolfgang Puck, Michael Mina, Bloomin’ Brands, Giordano’s, LDV Hospitality, Zuma, Australian Venue Company, Altamarea Group, AELTC, The Wolseley Hospitality Group, Dishoom, Live Nation and Topgolf. www.sevenrooms.com

Image: Brett Garwood on Unsplash

Front of house staff member using SevenRooms

March 3, 2023by David Klemt David Klemt No Comments

EHI and Danny Meyer Invest in SevenRooms

EHI and Danny Meyer Invest in SevenRooms

by David Klemt

SevenRooms is showing no signs of resting on their laurels, announcing a major new investor: Enlightened Hospitality Investments.

EHI, a private-equity fund, traces its launch back to 2016. The fund, launched by and affiliated with Union Square Hospitality Group, typically makes investments in the $10-25 million range. Generally speaking, EHI makes non-control investments.

As you’re likely well aware, USHG’s founder and executive chairman is none other than restaurateur Danny Meyer. The Shake Shack chairman is also the managing partner of EHI.

Investment in SevenRooms by EHI—and by extension Danny Meyer—is huge news. Meyer now joins other high-profile chef and restaurateur investors in SevenRooms:

Chef José Andrés
Chef Thomas Keller
Jeremy King
Chef Michael Mina
Chef Wolfgang Puck

“At EHI, we always pay close attention to transformative tech that advances high touch,” says Meyer. “Far more than a reservations platform, SevenRooms provides abundant tools to create highly customized guest experiences and equips both restaurant and hotel teams to do what they do best—deliver truly memorable hospitality.”

Continual Growth

Since 2011, SevenRooms has pursued growth while serving the hospitality industry.

Whether in terms of innovation, partnerships, appointing the right people to key roles, or attracting investors, the platform is constantly strategizing to ensure its longevity.

Just look at what the company has achieved over 24 months:

March 2021: SevenRooms appoints Pamela Martinez as the company’s chief financial officer.
September 2021: SevenRooms announces a multi-year partnership with TheFork. The partnership is big news for operators throughout Europe and Australia. Further, the partnership illustrates how the company is pursuing global growth.
October of 2021: The company forms a partnership with Olo. This ensures clients who also use Olo are able to capture data from a key group: off-premise customers. That data creates profiles for such customers automatically. That means operators can learn more about—and effectively market to—customers who engage with them via online orders.
December 2021: SevenRooms and ThinkFoodGroup—the hospitality company behind Chef José Andrés’ portfolio of restaurants—make their partnership public. Interestingly, this partnership also includes ThinkFoodGroup joining SevenRooms in an advisory role.
January 2022: The platform announces the hiring of a chief revenue officer, Brent-Stig Kraus.
December 2022: SevenRooms enters into a partnership with Competitive Social Ventures.
January 2023: The company announces the appointment of their first-ever chief marketing officer.

As our industry rapidly attracts tech platforms and innovations, it can be difficult to know which companies are here to stay.

The growth of SevenRooms shows stability and longevity. Those are two key factors that should inform operator decisions when considering the tech stack.

Image: SevenRooms

February 22, 2023by David Klemt David Klemt No Comments

Do Super Bowl Ads Work on Consumers?

Do Super Bowl Ads Work on Consumers?

by David Klemt

One of the biggest Super Bowl ad winners is Pepsi Zero Sugar.

Brands spent hundreds of millions of dollars to advertise during Super Bowl LVII, but do their ads actually translate to demand for their products?

A week ago we shared our ten favorite beverage-focused Big Game ads. Along with those ads we shared some numbers.

One of those numbers was $7 million, the cost of a 30-second Super Bowl ad on Fox. Other numbers? $500 million and $700 million, the range of revenue it’s estimated that Fox generated this year from Super Bowl ads.

At this point, these ads and the Halftime Show have essentially become their own entities. Some people watch the Big Game for the ads, some for the show halfway through. It stands to reason that brands are well aware of this development. So, they try to create the most impactful ad possible in the hopes of generating consumer demand.

In other words, these brands aren’t spending all this money just so they’re commercial can be deemed cool. Sure, brands want that buzz. But they also want an ROI on the millions they spend.

The big question is, then, are they seeing a return? Well, it just so happens that behavioral insight platform Veylinx has a data-driven answer to that question.

In short, the answer is yes. Of course, it’s a nuanced yes. For example, it appears Gen Z doesn’t care much about Super Bowl ads, as you’ll see below. Also, non-advertisers in the same categories as Super Bowl advertisers appear to see a benefit from the ads.

You’ll learn more from the Veylinx press release below. It’s an interesting read with valuable data for restaurant, bar, and hotel operators.

NEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2023 — A new study from behavioral research company Veylinx determined whether or not Super Bowl commercials boost consumer demand for the products advertised. The results show that 2023 Super Bowl advertising fueled a 6.4% increase in demand among viewers.

The overall increase in consumer demand was driven by women, who accounted for a 21% increase in demand growth. The commercials had minimal impact on men, yielding just 1% demand growth for the brands tested. Gen Z viewers were largely unimpressed by the Super Bowl ads, with demand among 18 to 25 year olds actually shrinking by 1%.

“It’s not really a surprise to see that Super Bowl ads improve sales, but the short term bump alone may not be enough to justify the $7 million price tag,” said Veylinx founder and CEO Anouar El Haji.

Using Veylinx’s proprietary methodology—which measures actual demand rather than intent—the study tested purchase behavior during the week before the Super Bowl and again the week after. The research focused on measuring the change in consumer demand for eight brands with Super Bowl ads: Michelob Ultra, Heineken 0.0%, Hellmann’s Mayo, Downy Unstopables, Crown Royal Whisky, Frito-Lay PopCorners, Pringles and Pepsi Zero Sugar.

Super Bowl Advertising Winners Overall

Michelob Ultra – 19% increase in demand

Pepsi Zero Sugar – 18% increase in demand

Frito-Lay PopCorners – 12% increase in demand

Heineken 0.0% – 11% increase in demand

Super Bowl Advertising Winners Among Women

Pepsi Zero Sugar – 45% increase in demand

Michelob Ultra – 40% increase in demand

Heineken 0.0% – 40% increase in demand

Crown Royal Whisky – 26% increase in demand

Halo Effect for Non-Advertisers

The biggest winners were arguably brands in the same product categories as Super Bowl advertisers. Non-advertisers in those categories appeared to benefit nearly as much as the advertisers: demand grew by 4.2% percent for the study’s control group of non-advertising competitors. Corona Extra, Kraft Mayo and Lay’s STAX were the greatest beneficiaries in a control group that also included Budweiser Zero, Arm & Hammer Clean Scentsations, Canadian Club Whisky, Popchips, and Coke Zero Sugar. Notably, every non-advertiser saw at least a slight increase in post-Super Bowl demand.

“The goal of our study was to look specifically at how consumer demand is affected by running a commercial during the Super Bowl,” El Haji said. “It’s possible that the non-advertisers deployed other marketing efforts to offset or take advantage of the Super Bowl advertising—or they simply benefited from increased exposure for their categories.”

Additional Findings

Study participants also answered a series of follow-up questions about their preferences, perceptions and how they watched the Super Bowl. More than three-quarters watched at home through various platforms, the most popular being the live cable/satellite broadcast (38%), followed by YouTube TV (15%) and Hulu (10%). When asked why they watched, it’s no surprise that participants were all about the game (64%)—but the commercials were the next most popular reason for watching (39%), followed by halftime (35%), the social aspect (26%) and fear of missing out (13%).

About the Research

Veylinx studied the behavior of 1,610 U.S. consumers pre- and post- Super Bowl LVII. Unlike typical surveys where consumers are simply asked about their purchase intent, Veylinx measures whether consumers will pay for a product through a real bidding process. Consumers reveal their true willingness to pay by placing sealed bids on products and then answering follow-up questions.

For more information about the study and the Veylinx methodology, visit info.veylinx.com/super-bowl

About Veylinx

Veylinx is the most realistic behavioral insights platform for confidently answering critical business questions during all stages of product innovation. To reliably predict demand, Veylinx captures insights through a Nobel Prize-winning approach in which consumers have real skin in the game. This is a major advance from traditional market research practices that rely on what consumers say they would hypothetically buy. Veylinx’s unique research methodology is trusted by the world’s largest and most innovative consumer goods companies.

Main article image: PepsiCo / Article body images: Veylinx

January 31, 2023by David Klemt David Klemt No Comments

Chief Marketing Officer Joins SevenRooms

Chief Marketing Officer Joins SevenRooms

by David Klemt

Just weeks after revealing a new partnership to start 2023, SevenRooms is now announcing their first-ever chief marketing officer.

Today, the guest retention platform takes another massive step in their march toward continuous growth. Josh Todd, former CMO of Mindbody, will serve as CMO of SevenRooms moving forward.

“Over the past year, I was able to get to know Joel and the SevenRooms team and see the differences they are making across the hospitality industry through data and insights,” says Todd. “Throughout my career, I have been passionate about deepening the human connections and experiences within the industries I’ve worked in, and I immediately recognized that SevenRooms truly embodies the operator-first mentality, making this a natural move for me. I’m honored to join the team and look forward to bringing my expertise and storytelling to the table.”

Todd’s appointment to CMO is yet another example of SevenRooms’ seemingly unstoppable growth. Each year, the platform strategizes, analyzes how their moves can benefit operators, and expands while streamlining.

It’s this growth that shows operators they’re here to serve the industry for the foreseeable future. And it’s this growth that should make operators confident about implementing SevenRooms in their tech stacks.

“As we head towards the next growth stage for SevenRooms, we are thrilled to welcome an experienced, proven leader in Josh to the team,” says Joel Montaniel, CEO and co-founder of SevenRooms. “Josh is a true full-stack marketer, highly analytical, and brings a strong point of view on what drives successful marketing organizations… With a background rooted in doing what’s best for operators and a true passion for bringing incredible experiences to life, we know his customer-centric approach will help propel us into the future.”

Continual Growth

In March 2021, SevenRooms appointed Pamela Martinez as the company’s chief financial officer.

By September of the same year, the platform had entered into a multi-year partnership with TheFork. This was significant news for operators throughout Europe and Australia. Additionally, this partnership illustrated how SevenRooms is pursuing global growth.

A month later, in October of 2021, the company formed a partnership with Olo. With this move, SevenRooms ensured clients who also use Olo were able to capture a key group’s data: off-premise customers. Using that information, profiles for those customers are created automatically. That means operators can learn more about—and effectively market to—customers who engage with them via online orders.

Then in December 2021, SevenRooms and ThinkFoodGroup—the hospitality company behind Chef José Andrés’ portfolio of restaurants—publicized their partnership. Interestingly, this partnership also saw ThinkFoodGroup joining SevenRooms in an advisory role.

To kick things off in 2022, the platform announced the hiring of a chief revenue officer, Brent-Stig Kraus.

Oh, and just weeks ago, to ring in 2023, SevenRooms entered into a partnership with Competitive Social Ventures.

Of course, not all of SevenRooms’ growth over the past few years involves crucial C-suite roles and entering into partnerships. While those moves benefit operators and our industry, there are other developments worth noting.

Along with hiring Martinez as CFO, the platform launched Direct Delivery in March 2021. This online ordering solution makes it easier for operators eliminate third-party fees; maintain control of the guest data they collect; and fulfill the guest desire to order from restaurants directly and effortlessly.

Image: Nick Fewings on Unsplash