At the National Restaurant Association Show 2024, Popmenu co-founders Brendan Sweeney and Tony Roy shared compelling insights into how AI and technology are revolutionizing the restaurant industry with Digital Hospitality host Shawn Walchef of Cali BBQ Media

Roy recounted The power of consistency via a story from Ruby’s Jamaican Kitchen in Alexandria, VA, during one of their pocket-sized webinars. Ruby, the owner, emphasized the power of consistency and targeted marketing. Ruby shared an anecdote with Roy and others, where a simple marketing push for her brown stew led to unexpected high sales. 

“It sounds, it’s fun to hear, but it’s really just, there is no catch. If you just get yourself out there in a targeted way and you do it with consistency, it drives results.” says Roy.

Brendan Sweeney elaborated on Popmenu’s advanced email marketing capabilities, which use AI to personalize emails based on distinct data collected from their extensive platform. Popmenu’s emails significantly outperform industry averages, with open and click-through rates double those reported by Mailchimp for hospitality emails. By leveraging over 2 billion page views and 30 million monthly visitors to their restaurant sites, Popmenu uses this data to create highly personalized emails that effectively bring customers back.

“Using AI tools, we can write an individualized email for you that’s going to do the best job of bringing you back.” says Sweeney. 

As Popmenu continues to provide technology to make restaurants more efficient, Sweeney and Roy stress the importance of embracing technology in the evolving business landscape. He urged restaurant owners to spend time each week learning about and integrating technological advancements, as neglecting to do so could be detrimental. 

“Whether it’s AI, automation, these things are here to stay.” says Roy. “The big question I always ask restaurants is, can you be, can you afford to be the only one that’s not leveraging this type of tool?”

Digital Hospitality is an interview-based video podcast hosted by business owner Shawn P. Walchef (@shawnpwalchef) and produced by his Cali BBQ Media company sponsored by DAVO Sales Tax (@davosalestax) and Marqii (@getmarqii) The weekly digital series explores the ways successful businesses and entrepreneurs have merged old and new with innovative digital strategies that harness the power of the Internet and social media. Shawn is the founder of Cali BBQ Media and creator of the Restaurant Influencers podcast on Entrepreneur Media.
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