Established in 1999, River Grille Steakhouse is a 5-star restaurant located in Bentonville, Arkansas. Northwest Arkansas is home to many Fortune 500 companies and several retail, food, and transportation moguls such as Walmart, Tyson Foods, and JB Hunt. Given the buying power of the retail behemoth Walmart, many Fortune 500 firms have also moved executives to the area from across the nation.
Success and profitability at River Grille, like many hospitality institutions, depends on the personal touch that only the owner can create by being there to meet, greet, and establish a relationship with each guest. Management prides itself with the personal touch of “hands-on” interaction in virtually every aspect of restaurant operations. However, with no data being captured concerning customer patronage, it is difficult for any new employee to recognize the repeat customers and their pre-existing relationship with the owner. Management is confronted with the problem of determining whether technology is appropriate for their restaurant beyond the operational obvious. Certainly, the restaurant may rely on technology and technology-based innovations to create a competitive advantage and improve overall operations; however, it must be grounded in some sort of “service-concept” that is economically sustainable and adds sufficient value in the eye of the customer.
Enter the Transparent Visibility SAIP™ Hospitality Transparent Wise Enterprise® (TWE®) service for total visibility into the products, assets, and staff and point-of-presence customer knowledge at the River Grille Steakhouse. After a complete review and understanding of the restaurant’s operation processes, it was quickly determined that the initial focus would center on the automation of operational manual tasks such as wine & spirit inventory management. Shrink, not accurately accounted for, was charged-off as a cost of doing business.
By implementing our SAIP™ Hospitality TWE®, all of the River Grille’s products and assets are 100% accounted for. Inventory management was no longer a manual, monthly employee time sink. Instead it was transformed into an effortless, spontaneous action. Management had visibility to the entire inventory in a matter of seconds rather than hours.This automated a previously manual, mundane task and freed up employees to focus on more important customer service activities. The SAIP™ Hopsitality TWE® also automates the hostess “grease-board” functions, thus eliminating the need to manually assign and track guests, table status, servers, and reservations. By adopting the Transparent Visibility SAIP™ Hospitality TWE®, the River Grille has automated many of its manual processes and provided greater visibility into its products, employees, and restaurant operations. In addition, the River Grille has expanded its ability to capture not only operational data, but also valuable guest activity information in a non-intrusive manner.
As a dedicated patron, when you return to the River Grille the experience is extraordinary and unlike any other establishment in the world. Starting with your reservation…to the discovery as you are arriving in the parking lot…to the host greeting you like an old friend that you have never met… to the wine pedigree, your favorite server, and table– it all happens as if it were magic.
Every hospitality establishment views their guests and staff as critically important to their success. Establishments grow and thrive because of the quality of the people on their team. When you empower your staff with the point of presence knowledge that impacts the guest’s visit positively, they are enthusiastic, feel valued, and provide superior service. Fresh innovations, in turn, brings about more efficient operations. The most important result, however, is that your staff is able to build strong relationships with valued customers, leveraging the proprietor’s unique knowledge. These relationships create guest loyalty, the ultimate differentiating factor.