HOUSTON — Fifth-generation restaurateur Philipp Sitter is on a mission to help understand the long-term effects COVID-19 will have on the restaurant industry. Sitter is using his loyalty rewards platform, VIPinsiders to help gauge how customers will react to re-opening dining rooms and how they feel about ordering from restaurants during the pandemic.
In just 24 hours, more than 8,500 diners took his poll; questions ranged from “What type of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) do you want restaurants to use after reopening?” to “When do you feel your normal dining routine will go back to normal?” Now, he’s focused on translating these results to help other restaurateurs better understand how this will affect their bottom line.
“Trying to grasp what people are actually thinking is now the most important thing. We wanted to hear from REAL people,” said Sitter. The results reflect a shocking number of expectations from diners including how much they are willing to spend and what type of restaurant marketing they will be receptive to moving forward.
“A restaurant’s ability to market itself and earn its customer base back is more important than ever, and specifically, knowing how customers want to receive the offers is crucial. According to this survey, they no longer want emails and social media won’t do the trick like it once did,” said Sitter.
Sitter has made his data readily available for restaurant owners across the country and will continue to update the results. “As a restaurant owner, it’s very challenging to efficiently pivot as quickly as we have all had to do these past few months with curbside and delivery. Now, we are in that same boat as we enter phase one in Texas,” said Sitter.
*The participants in this survey came from friends, family, colleagues, restaurant clients’ customers, social media sites, and foodie groups. Independent social media ads ran with the survey using interests targeted towards restaurants. A link to the official survey can be found here: https://blog.vipinsiders.com/the-truth-you-must-know-before-your-restaurant-reopens/
ABOUT VIPINSIDERS
VIPinsiders is a sophisticated rewards program that was created by a fifth-generation restaurateur and made for restaurant owners and operators. Founder Philipp Sitter officially rolled out the high-tech software in September of 2019.
VIPinsiders’ statistics show:
- 98% of users refer clients to their friends with the VIPinsiders platform
- 95% of users rate VIPinsiders “easy to use”
- 93% of restaurants with VIPinsiders increased sales
- 48% of users visit restaurants with the VIPinsiders platform “more often” in the first 90 days
VIPinsiders is currently in 80 restaurants across nine states. In the last six months, VIPinsiders has generated 40,000+ new members with 75,000+ additional restaurant visits resulting in $1.6 million in revenue for its clients. For more information, visit VIPinsiders.com.
