Jericho, N.Y. — Nathan’s Famous, Inc., an American tradition serving New York favorites for more than 100 years, is overhauling its technology resources aimed at aiding franchisees in everything from daily operations to online ordering and driving customer loyalty.
“In the fall of 2019, we embarked on a journey to update our technology across the board in restaurants nationwide,” says James Walker, senior vice president, restaurants. “It’s been quite some time since this brand took on an initiative like this one, and we believe the partnerships we’ve created since then will truly change the way our franchisees operate and how they interact with customers. The last few weeks have proved why this initiative has been so important. Enabling our system with this technology has greatly helped us navigate these uncertain times.”
Last fall, Nathan’s Famous signed both PAR’s Brink POS and Toast on as preferred partners. There are new Nathan’s operators using Toast, and the brand will be working diligently to prepare the franchise system for the opportunity to use the Brink POS system, which is expected to launch this spring.
“We believe the move to the Brink and Toast POS systems will enable our entire system to more seamlessly integrate with many different management and customer engagement platforms,” continues Walker.
As for the Toast partnership, Nathan’s Famous began ushering in the brand’s first self-ordering kiosks in late 2019 and are currently testing at franchised locations across the country. The brand plans to roll these out nationwide later this year.
To continue to boost franchisee operational efficiency, Nathan’s Famous has also signed an agreement with RestaurantMagic to offer a back office software solution that focuses on inventory and food management, labor and scheduling, and reporting and analytics. The goal is to empower franchisees with business intelligence and automation technology that allows them to manage labor, decrease food costs, and improve customer service.
“While we know our franchise system has looked to us to help them be more efficient in both the front and back of the house, we also know they are looking for ways to connect even further with their customers. Therefore, we’ve taken a deep dive into ways to drive customer engagement and have found some incredible partners that will allow us to learn more about our customers and reach them in different environments,” says Walker.
To aid franchisees in reaching more customers, Nathan’s Famous has also tapped CloseComms and Targetable. CloseComms will provide Nathan’s Famous with a SaaS platform that allows franchisees to provide Wi-Fi to guests and seamlessly integrate the brand’s app into that connection.
Targetable uses AI and machine learning to deploy dynamic creative optimization to produce and distribute ads. Automation tailors ads to Nathan’s current marketing goals while AI produces creative ads based on popular content across Nathan’s channels. Targetable’s interface will also handle the strategy behind Nathan’s campaigns, including geotargeting, audience segmentation and more.
In its first month of engagement with Targetable, Nathan’s Famous has reached more than 100,000 customers in a 4-mile radius of its three test stores seeing CPC numbers that are low for digital advertising, and seeing efficiency rates of more than 10 times that of traditional circulars or mailers.
“Targetable is fairly new in the industry, and it’s forward-thinking technology like this that we are searching out to make Nathan’s Famous more successful across the country, especially during our current climate,” continues Walker. “Targetable will roll out to franchisees in the coming months, allowing them to create area-specific campaigns to drive sales and customer engagement, something we know they need as they work to communicate with customers and drive sales as the uncertainty around coronavirus continues.”
Nathan’s Famous currently distributes its products in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and 10 foreign countries through its restaurants, foodservice sales and product licensing. In 2019, more than 700 million Nathan’s Famous hot dogs were sold. For more information, visit www.nathansfamous.com.
SOURCE: Nathan’s Famous