This has been a year of rapid change: restaurants and convenience stores alike were forced to make quick pivots in how they approach guest engagement, technology, and business operations.
During times of tumultuous change, solid brand leadership becomes even more critical to success. During PXUX 2020, Chief Executive of Market Platform Dynamics Karen Webster led a panel of other chief executives in conversation about how the hospitality and convenience landscapes have changed over the past few months, and how they’ve positioned their brands to weather the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ray Wiley, founder, Hot Head Burritos and Rapid Fired Pizza
Ryan Dion, CEO, 110 Grill Restaurant Group
Adam Halberg, CEO, Barcelona Wine Bar
These leaders described the ways they’ve led their brands through monumental changes this year, about the investments they’ve made that are already paying off, and about how they’re supporting their employees, an essential piece of the puzzle. The panel left attendees with five key takeaways:
Meet guests where they’re comfortable. Whether it’s understanding shifts in consumer behavior or using traditional loyalty channels, use technology to create multiple opportunities for the guests to engage with the brand.
Create technology ecosystems, not silos. Consumer preference and public health guidelines shift rapidly, so the guest-facing technology will need to keep pace. Ensure each piece of technology, from fuel pumps to mobile apps, works together to adapt to this changing environment.
Last month, a panel of highly accomplished restaurant and convenience store marketers sat down with “brand whisperer” Arjun Sen to share what they’ve learned this year and to impart their messaging wisdom during Paytronix’ annual User’s Conference.
Sen, the CEO and founder of ZenMango, has made major impacts in the restaurant and retail industries, and previously led Papa John’s 3,000 restaurants through four years of record growth. Joining Sen for the fireside chat were:
Adam Fox, Director, Digital Experience & Media, Qdoba Restaurant Corporation
Alex Black, Director of Marketing CRM and Analytics, Papa Murphy’s International
These marketing all-stars described the ways they’re weathering the coronavirus pandemic by fostering a strong relationship between brand and consumer – and leveraging that relationship to drive not just sales, but word-of-mouth marketing campaigns.
This year’s Paytronix User’s Conference was unconventional, to say the least; but thanks to our incredible clients, the first-ever virtual PXUX was a success!
Thank you for bringing valuable feedback, nuanced insights and dynamic conversation to the event and making PXUX 2020 one for the books.
While we would have loved to have gathered, dined and shook hands with each and every one of our clients (PXUX 2021, perhaps?), we know some of you were not available and others might appreciate a recap of the conference’s events. Here is a high-level overview of some of the year’s biggest takeaways. […]
The Paytronix Convenient Connections Summer Series is a five-part blog that explores successful loyalty campaigns that convenience stores can use to drive user engagement, win back customers, successfully segment customer groups, and ultimately drive incremental revenue. Look for the Summer Series throughout the months of August and September.
A critical business strategy for most convenience stores lies in vendor funding. While the majority of this funding is used for signage and widely available member pricing – two strategies that have proven to be very successful – there are other means of leveraging this funding that can be mutually beneficial.
One such way is through a lapsed category campaign. This type of campaign targets customers who made a specific purchase – of, say, a candy bar – within the last six to 12 months, but not within the last 30 or 60 days. The offers that accompany these campaigns typically need to be high-value, which is why they are perfect to leverage with vendor funds; but when planned strategically, the vendor can also benefit by seeing its products reintroduced to its own lapsed buyers.[…]
This has been a year of rapid change: restaurants and convenience stores alike were forced to make quick pivots in how they approach guest engagement, technology, and business operations.
Last month, a panel of highly accomplished restaurant and convenience store marketers sat down with “brand whisperer” Arjun Sen to 
A critical business strategy for most convenience stores lies in vendor funding. While the majority of this funding is used for signage and widely available member pricing – two strategies that have proven to be very successful – there are other means of leveraging this funding that can be mutually beneficial.