Last week we had the privilege of joining TISSL and storekit at Tech Tastings to look ‘Beyond the Till’ at how we can do more with technology.
The day began with our ears literally popping as the elevator climbed to the 61st floor of 22 Bishopsgate, providing some absolutely jaw-dropping views across London. Taking place at Lucky Cat, this year’s Tech Tastings had us all on cloud nine, and as the welcome drinks started to flow and the networking commenced, the energy in the room felt electric with anticipation of what was to come.
First of all we want to say a huge thank you to TISSL for organising the event and bringing so many incredible people in hospitality together under one roof.
The day ran so smoothly and it was an incredible example of what can be achieved when teams work together, collaborating to deliver something people will be talking about for the rest of the year.
Matt Adams-Nel from Giftpro said: “After the success of previous Tech Tastings events, we knew we wanted to join up with TISSL as a co-sponsor. We know first hand how well gift vouchers work alongside the TISSL POS and so it felt like the perfect opportunity to showcase this partnership to the wider industry.”
Giftpro’s solutions are so unique yet incredibly intuitive and easy to use, enabling gift vouchers to be sold and redeemed directly through TISSL EPOS, making life easier for staff dealing with the vouchers and providing an improved experience for customers too.
The Giftpro panel discussion focused on going ‘Beyond the Rush’, where Rebecca Askwith from The Wolseley Hospitality Group and Daisy Champion from JKS Restaurants reviewed how you can unlock consistent revenue streams with gift vouchers and what real-life strategies they’d implemented to increase voucher sales and drive customer loyalty.
When talking about how to combat seasonality peaks and troughs Rebecca mentioned how important it was to “tap into the culture of each restaurant.” Whilst everyone is going to want to celebrate Christmas or Valentine’s Day, by leaning on the specific culture related to the cuisine or background of a restaurant, you can create additional seasonality peaks at additional times of the year.
For example, a unique offer for Bastille Day where all French wine is half price with a voucher, or a special menu that runs in the lead up to Chinese New Year. By leaning on each restaurant’s individual niche, and using vouchers to promote it, you’re able to create new revenue opportunities that would otherwise go untouched.
Rebecca also mentioned how important it is to consider gifting as an “extension of your brand.” This can be done by developing experiences unique to your brand, or doing fun things at key times that add to your brand value.
“It’s important to move away from just monetary vouchers and instead focus on experiences,” Rebecca added. “This enables an amazing experience at a restaurant and adds to an individual’s own perception of each place.”
Other techniques that were mentioned which enable restaurants to get more from their voucher sales were leveraging unusual partnerships in voucher experiences, or reducing the validity of the voucher length.
Daisy said: “We make our vouchers valid for just 10 months, so if they’re purchased during a seasonal peak like Christmas, they then can’t be used during that time the next year. It helps to promote off-peak visits and often increases our foot traffic during the lead up to peak periods, when normally the restaurant would be quieter.”
The key takeaway from the Giftpro panel discussion was to be creative with what you’re trying to do with gift vouchers. They provide a unique opportunity to push the boundaries of your marketing campaigns – why not opt for the weird and wacky campaign – the likelihood is that if it’s unique and turns heads, it’s going to be remembered and (most importantly) purchased!
Giftpro offers so much more than just gift vouchers, with event tickets and product sales also available through the ecommerce platform. The remainder of the day at Tech Tastings was spent networking with peers and diving into the ways technology can work together to achieve more.
We also had the much anticipated winner of the scavenger hunt revealed, where Mushtariy Abdukodiriy from Smith’s Bar & Grill was lucky enough to walk away with a voucher for two for Lucky Cat – having ticked off everything on the scavenger list throughout the day!
Mushtariy said: “I really enjoyed being part of Tech Tastings – it was a great mix of innovation, conversation and community. Events like this are exactly what the hospitality industry needs to keep moving forward. And winning was a lovely bonus to an already brilliant afternoon!”
If you’re interested in finding out more about selling gift vouchers in your restaurant, or looking into how you can make your technology work better for you – get in touch with a member of our team. We’d be happy to talk to you about the endless potential of gift vouchers, and what else we can do to support your brand.
