Remember the first time you used predictive text in emails? That was only the beginning of machine learning. With over 100 million users of ChatGPT in a few short months, it is an exciting time to dive in and learn how it can benefit you. Artificial intelligence can assist restaurants in more ways than you may realize. There will always be new technologies introduced, how quickly you adapt could be a big factor in long term success.
Labor shortage is an ongoing issue in our industry, so we need to find creative ways to do more with less. One of the biggest benefits of ChatGPT is that you can provide 24/7 customer service or support. There are many ways to implement this including taking orders, answering questions, collecting feedback, responding to reviews, learning customer preferences and upselling items.
While this new technology is extremely powerful, it takes a skilled user to fully utilize the benefits of it. For example, what does it take to train ChatGPT to be a valuable customer service team member? How can ChatGPT help drive sales? It all starts with a solid understanding of your restaurant, and as always training is key.
Think about the last person you hired to work the front counter. They play a very important role in the customer experience. You take the time to provide information about the culture, company history, the food, and even provide suggestions of what to say when customers walk through your doors. The same rules apply. It is important to know what types of questions customers ask most often and provide this information to your chatbot. Once training is complete you can integrate it into places like a chat widget on your website or into your messaging on social media channels. Make sure the answers it is providing are suitable to your needs, monitor performance and update responses as needed.
Repeat customers are one of the most valuable things you can have. In our restaurant we are grateful that many have returned 30, 40 even 60 times. Keeping them coming back for more is tied to food quality and service, but rewarding them is a great way to acknowledge them. If your POS system collects menu items and the time of day an order was placed, then you have information needed to help to customize promotions. This data needs to be preprocessed for the system to understand. After that it will be able to identify patterns by using sorting techniques that groups customers with similar preferences and purchasing habits. With an understanding of what and when your customers order, you can create targeted promotions hopefully increasing sales and loyalty that contribute to a stronger relationship with your customers.
If you plan on hiring ChatGPT as a team member you need to treat it as such. Spend the time up front to narrow down the job description, build the training modules needed for success, be clear with expectations, monitor performance and take corrective action. These steps are essential to provide all employees with the tools needed for a superior customer experience.
Of course you will need to take the time to learn about how this new technology can be implemented in your organization. Any time it feels daunting, consider where you would be without the major technological advances we take for granted on a daily basis, cell phones, applications and the internet. Each one of these things were groundbreaking in their own ways and it’s hard to imagine life without them.