Company’s Q2 Partnerships Join an Impressive Base of 18,000 Restaurants Nationwide

Arlington Heights, IL (PRWEB) July 20, 2011
Restaurant.com announces the addition of six new restaurant chain locations to its rapidly growing program. The latest multi-unit partners include:
• Surg Restaurant Group – Restaurant.com is excited to welcome Surg Restaurant Group’s creation, Distil, with a fourth location in the Milwaukee metro area.
• Nicky’s Mexican Restaurants – Adding a creative Mexican taste from Louisiana, Restaurant.com welcomes seven Nicky’s Mexican Restaurants to the mix.
• Giordano’s – Serving Chicago’s Famous Stuffed Pizza for more than 35 years, Giordano’s has added its Rosemont, Ill. location to the Restaurant.com program.
• Tara Thai – The word “Tara” means water, commonly found in Thai folk literature. Tara Thai restaurants offer a unique and relaxing atmosphere, featuring a variety of underwater art. Seven east coast Tara Thai restaurants are now on the Restaurant.com program.
• Shula’s – Providence, R.I. is now home to the 13th Shula’s chain location on the Restaurant.com program. Named in honor of legendary NFL coach Don Shula, Shula’s 347 Grill offers everything from gourmet salads to fresh specialty fish, and exclusively serves Premium Black Angus Beef® burgers and steaks.
• Levy – Loft 610 in Omaha, Neb. is now the second Levy Restaurant location on the Restaurant.com program. Chef Ben invites customers to gaze out at Turner Park or cozy up to the warm glow of the stunning wine wall.
• Leona’s & The Hop Haus – Under the same multi-unit operation, Leona’s and Hop Haus have 14 Chicagoland locations on the Restaurant.com program. Both restaurants take pride in their cozy, family-owned atmospheres.

“Creating partnerships with chain restaurants is an exciting venture,” says Restaurant.com CEO, Cary Chessick. “Restaurant.com brings family and friends together, helping deepen relationships and create lasting memories one dining experience at a time.”

“Restaurant.com has certainly increased the exposure of Leona’s Restaurants and the Hop Haus to the city of Chicago and beyond,” says Marc Fishman, Leona’s and Hop Haus Marketing Manager. “With over 2.5 million appearances in search results, and thousands of tables filled, Restaurant.com has been instrumental in bringing first time customers to our business. Survey results have provided us with ‘spotters’ at all our locations, helping keep our operation team vigilant while increasing customer satisfaction across the board.”

Each new Restaurant.com partner has a custom web page on Restaurant.com, featuring a personalized description of the restaurant. The profile includes type of cuisine, menu items, décor, pricing, and hours of operation for each participating location. Restaurant.com partners benefit from the program’s extensive marketing efforts, which create greater exposure and increase customer traffic. The company never sends its restaurant partners a bill, only hungry diners.

The Restaurant.com program supplies restaurant operators with recurring custom reports that combine data from each chain location. Operators can evaluate total and individual location-specific program results with information such as profit estimates, number of tables filled, web page traffic and more. Restaurant.com also sends surveys to guests to collect feedback about their dining experiences. The survey data can be used to help modify menu items, improve and reward service, plus support in-house incentive and loyalty marketing programs. The company also includes consultative marketing services that reveal best practices, lessons learned and tips for more effective interactive marketing.

Restaurant.com has nearly 500 chain locations among its rapidly growing network of more than 18,000 restaurants nationwide. In 2010, the company filled more than five million tables across the country and generated more than $340 million in revenue for the restaurant industry.

Restaurant.com helps deepen relationships and create lasting memories one dining experience at a time. The company offers savings at more than 18,000 restaurants nationwide with more than 45,000 daily gift certificate options. Restaurant.com brings family and friends together to relax, converse and enjoy dining out. Restaurant.com customers have saved more than $500 million since the Arlington Heights, Ill.-based company was founded in 1999.

Gerry Oher
Restaurant.com

Want to improve your customer service ranking? You may need to staff up!

Amazon.com, a perennial high-scorer for its customer service, recently announced it would add new service jobs in Huntington, W.Va., and Grand Forks, N.D.

An Amazon spokesman said the company wanted to create “the Earth’s most customer-centric company.”

Who wouldn’t want to be recognized as being one of the best companies for customer service? (And, as a point of clarification, Friday’s list was indeed supposed to be the best — and technically, being the worst of the best is still something noteworthy.)

The question, is: How do you know you need to add more staff?

If your customers complain. Long call center wait times can be measured, both internally and externally. If your customers are fuming about having to spend half an hour on “hold” then your call center might be understaffed. Similarly, if your employees are sending out a high volume of form letters that don’t address the actual problem — and generating complaints because of it — it could be a sign of trouble.

If your customer-service department is overtasked. If your customer-service jobs are burnout positions — places where attrition rates are far higher than in the rest of the company, then that could also be a sign that it’s not adequately staffed. If the folks in the service department complain about low morale and long hours, there may just be too few of them.

If your service scores are slipping. Falling scores from your customers can also be a sign that your service department isn’t pulling its weight. If your company’s marks have fallen off the charts recently, check the staffing levels in the service department. Have you recently downsized there, too? If so, that could be your problem.

Bringing in new employees may not solve your customer service woes, but it could address them in a meaningful way. And who knows, you might someday refer to your company as “the Earth’s most customer centric.”

Your customers would like that.

Christopher Elliott is a consumer advocate, syndicated columnist and curator of the On Your Side wiki. He also covers customer service for the Mint.com blog. You can follow Elliott on Twitter,Facebook or his personal blog, Elliott.org or email him directly.

I read this morning in Nations Restaurant News that Denny’s Corp. plans to test a fast-casual model of its family-dining restaurant concept in Orange County, Calif. called Denny’s Café.  The new fast-casual store will open Nov. 1 and have a smaller footprint than Denny’s traditional stores. It will seat 75 to 90 guests.

Denny’s is brilliant and I fully expect casual dining companies to follow.  With the average Panera Bread having higher sales volume then the average casual Dining chain restaurant (Applebee’s, Chili’s, Ruby Tuesday), it becoming apparent that America wants a casual dining or family dinning food product with quicker service. 

Hospitality Companies are beginning to realize that better service often means self service.  The reality is that in most chain restaurants the server slows things down.  It takes forever to place your order and get your drinks and then at the end of the meal they hold you hostage waiting for the check and payment.   This happens because often these servers aren’t professional restaurant servers.  They are waiting tables while in college or while in between jobs but they don’t look at as a career. 

If a customer can cut 10 minutes off of the beginning of the meal and 10 minutes off of the end of the meal, they can now go out to lunch every day and make it back to the office without having to explain to their boss what kept them away.  At night, families can go and have a good meal and get home with enough time for the kids to work on homework.  On weekends you can go and have dinner and not worry about missing the movie you are planning to go to.   

There will always be a need for full service restaurants and I have to admit that I enjoy going to them and having great service.  However, Fast Casual is here to stay within the hospitality industry and in my opinion may take over the lower end casual dining market by the end of the decade.  Thank you Denny’s for paving the way.

Gecko Hospitality is pleased to welcome Billy Gilson as its new Franchise Partner for the states of Oklahoma and New Mexico. 

 Billy joined Gecko Hospitality in April of 2010.  Billy started his career at the age of 14 bussing tables at a family owned establishment.  Throughout Billy’s professional career, he has worked up the ranks at well know restaurant organizations  such as Pappasitos, Texas Roadhouse, la Madeleine’s and most recently held the title of Senior Manager at The Grand Lux Café.  Billy has spent many years developing skills that have allowed him the ability to identify and develop candidates within his restaurant organizations.   Billy is excited about utilizing those human resources and recruiting skills to match the right candidate with the right client.

Gecko Hospitality is excited with the skills Billy Gilson brings to the table and the amount of enthusiasm and passion he has for the hospitality industry.

Billy is married to his wife Melanie who is a first grade teacher.   Billy has two daughters, Taylor and Kami and a son Zachary. Billy’s passions include spending time with his family, wood working, playing golf with his son and brother but most of all loves watching his beloved Dallas Mavericks and Cowboys.