It seems that mergers and acquisitions in the restaurant industry are happening at an unparalleled pace. Large groups are buying up smaller chains, and some small chains are even buying larger ones—all in an effort to stay competitive during this challenging time.

More worryingly, the number of Chapter 11 bankruptcies being filed seems to have increased as well.

But what can you do about it? How can you safeguard your business and keep it primed for future growth?

The first step is to understand the key factors that are driving these events. Of the seven factors we’ve identified, six are outside of your control, but don’t let this deter you. Knowing about and preparing for these influences can set you apart from the competition.

The last one is entirely in your control and may be the most crucial factor in determining a restaurant’s success. It’s also the one that restaurants are most likely to disregard.

We’ll start with those first six factors driving restaurant industry change: […]

It’s no secret that consumers want buying things to be easy, fast, and, most of all, convenient. After all, there’s a reason “convenience stores” became popular to begin with.

Unfortunately, today’s average c-store’s convenience factor has been overtaken by other kinds of stores, not to mention websites and apps. But that also means there’s a huge opportunity for convenience stores to reclaim their “convenient” crown.

The numbers don’t lie: 72% of consumers polled would buy more items if a brand hand a convenient delivery option. At the same time, 63% of consumers would pay higher prices for items that they could receive on demand—and 54% browse stores with the expectation that delivery will be an option. […]

Updated: November 1, 2018

Original Post: October 25, 2017

Apple Pay with NFC Loyalty is now live in 2,000+ locations.

Guests have an easy, secure, private way to pay and pass their loyalty identification in one NFC tap.

The speed of Apple Pay can now be combined with an incredible convenient loyalty experience for all Paytronix customers.  The recently completed integration of Apple Pay with the Paytronix Rewards Platform promises easy, secure and private mobile payments that simultaneously record loyalty data in a single NFC tap that’s fast and convenient.

“For the brand, this solution reduces the complexity and more importantly the time required for a cashier to process an order, a key metric for QSR and Fast Casual chains,” said Todd Michaud, restaurant technology consultant with Power Thinking. “For the customer, it brings loyalty functionality into the Apple Passbook, which means one less app they must navigate at check-out, greatly improving their ease-of-use. This in turn will lead to greater adoption, providing marketers with additional data to improve the program effectiveness. Any improvement like this that can positively impact the consumer, store operations and marketing is definitely a win-win-win.”

Some of the benefits that Apple Pay brings to restaurants, retailers and end users include:

Convenient Guest ID. With the NFC Apple Pay integration, guests tap their phones not only pay, but also deliver their loyalty identifier and redeem rewards. […]

Loyalty programs can have an astounding impact on your business, increasing visits, spend, and overall revenue immediately and for years to come.

But to reap the rewards of a loyalty program, the program must be set up and run with both strategy and foresight.

With that in mind, we’ve put together a list of five “dos” and “don’ts” on setting up a loyalty program for success. […]