Molly Weinberg

A restaurant’s most powerful tool is direct reservations. SevenRooms’ SVP of Marketing, Marybeth Sheppard, explains why in a recent Food & Beverage podcast with MarketScale. Listen to this podcast to learn why restaurants could be missing valuable connection opportunities with customers by outsourcing their reservations to third-party software.

Marybeth provides the history of the role of reservations in restaurants and the evolution of the marketing channels they come from. Now is the time for restaurant operators to take advantage of technology, such as SevenRooms’ restaurant reservation software, that can be installed on their own website to take reservations, connect directly with guests, and collect customer information in the process.  In her interview, Marybeth offers tips for how to use the customer information collected through direct reservations to provide personalized experiences and future marketing.

“Today a restaurant has more opportunity than ever to connect with those diners directly online,” she said. “A direct reservation allows the restaurant to collect the full scope of data about the reservation including guest information, guest contact info, preference, and dietary restrictions. That’s the start of a relationship with the restaurant for the customer lifecycle.”