Category Archives: Marketing

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

Mobile Payments Driving Traffic at Restaurants

While mobile payments have been available for the restaurant industry for the past few years, restaurants were slow to adopt them, especially compared to other industries. And then COVID hit.

The immediate need for reduced interaction between waitstaff and guests, increased efficiency and lower overhead is what brought mobile payment solutions to the forefront.

But it’s more than just payments. There’s several added benefits that came along with mobile payments that most restauranteurs did not anticipate: a surge of guest adoption that drove increased traffic, increased tipping, and increased spending.

What’s driving the surge? Customer Experience.

The very thing that was holding the restaurant industry back on adopting technology became the thing that ended up catapulting engagement. And that’s meeting customer experiences in a way that they expect.

What do I mean by that?

For the past several decades, the hospitality industry has believed that customer experience is in-person, face-to-face, physical interactions. But what other industries have proven over the past 10 years is that customer experience goes far beyond the in-person exchange.

Customers have become increasingly digital, and as a result the experience they expect is a mix of in-person and digital offerings. In fact, 74% of consumers in a survey stated they prefer to use their phone to pay for food. So while the physical interaction may feel important to the restaurant, it’s not an important driver for experience with consumers.

Let’s look at the airline industry with Delta – it’s similar in how they provide hospitality, but radically different in how they provide customer experiences.

Historically, the only way to check into a flight was to stand in a long line to wait for a person to help you. That was also the only way you could pay for a checked bag and get your seat assignment. And while we were greeted by a person, the wasted time spent waiting around for that person to be able to help us caused more friction and distaste than the face-to-face interaction made up for.

Then Delta digitized this entire process with an app and gave all their customers the gift of time. Now I’m able to check into my flight, pay for my bags, see my seat assignment, and get real-time updates on my gate and departure time right in the app. I don’t have to wait in line when I arrive at the airport — I drop my pre-paid bag off at the kiosk, walk through security, and head to my gate. It’s seamless, it meets me where I expect the experience to be, and it allows me to enjoy the personal engagements that much more.

The restaurant industry is finally seeing this for themselves. Having a digital solution that allows your guest to pull up their check the moment they sit down, transparently see the information that’s been added, and pay whenever they’re ready gives them that same gift of time and meets them where they expect the experience to be.

How significant is that time?

According to Lumina data, speed of service is a key driver for consumers when eating out. The average time it takes to finish a meal, ask for the bill, and pay that bill takes between 12 and 17 minutes. That’s 12-17 minutes of friction that’s bringing down your level of customer experience. Even if you had the opportunity to physically present them a check and say thank you, that’s not going to make up for the annoying delays (in fact, I vividly remember all the times I was late due to waiting for my physical check, but I’ve never once had a thank you leave a lasting impression). That’s why QR codes at the end of the receipt aren’t working for restaurants — they’re more of the same experience. Consumer apps like Vēmos Pay put the power in the consumers hands and allows this waiting time to disappear, increasing the perception of experience of their overall visit.

So how does this translate to increased traffic & sales?

Customers continue to go where they have great experiences. That’s always been the case with restaurants & hospitality, and that part hasn’t changed. When you deliver customer experiences in a way that they expect — both physically and digitally — you win in multiple ways.

When it comes to mobile payments, joining a consumer-facing app has shown to unlock many residual benefits beyond paying a check:

  • Get discovered. Consumer apps like Vēmos Pay have thousands of users on them already. Getting listed on these apps allows you to show up to these consumers who are already enjoying contactless payments elsewhere and shows them that your experience is in line with what they’re looking for.
  • Increase cost per head. Time is money. Literally. Mobile payments reduce the wait time after finishing a meal, which not only means faster table turns, but also an increase in spend and tips. That’s because mobile payment apps provide transparency for what’s on the check throughout the meal. This has proven in many studies to increase the guest’s overall spend. Mobile payment apps also auto calculate tip percentages, which has proven to increase tips for your staff.
  • Integrate loyalty. You can now turn mobile payments into loyalty without having to manage a separate system. You already have a line of communication with your customers with a history of Sku level purchases, which allows you to promote your deals and offer rewards directly to your guests while they’re in the venue making purchasing decisions. This allows you to unlock the power that the Starbucks app has created without needing to build it yourself.
  • Repeatable business. Not only do all of the above increase customer experience that drives them to come back, but 84% of Americans are more likely to go back to brands to redeem an offer, with 57% spending more with those brands. It’s this cycle of reduced friction from eliminating wait times, increased experience from allowing guests to pay on their own terms, and driving loyalty through that same system that’s driving traffic and increasing sales.


    • Author Whitney Larson Posted on

    The Biggest Opportunity You’re Missing

    It’s a story that’s too often told, but it’s arguably the most important story there is. Because it often becomes the difference between life and death of a nightlife venue.

    This past weekend, I was invited to a product launch party that was hosted at a third-party cider venue. The place was packed. I’m talking bursting at the seams packed. And they only had 2 bartenders working.

    It took over 30 minutes to get our first round of drinks, so I just paid for everyone in my group to ease the burdens of the bartender needing to do multiple transactions. Then it took another 25 minutes to get our second round. At this point, we’ve spent nearly an hour of our time just waiting to get a drink, so we left to go drink somewhere else. We supported the launch like we wanted to, but staying here wasn’t worth our time anymore.

    The largest e-commerce retailers spend millions of dollars a year to understand their customers. The nightlife industry has yet to change its mindset that it’s beneficial to have the same solutions that thriving e-commerce companies use, which is available to them at a monthly price that’s less than my one tab. Why are we so stuck in our old ways?

    Aside from the issue of being grossly understaffed, there’s a bigger issue at hand for the venue: they have no data to improve. Think about it, the largest e-commerce retailers spend millions of dollars a year to understand their customers’ habits so well that they’re predicting what they’re going to buy next. Amazon alone spent nearly $19 billion in 2019 on their marketing efforts and they achieved 20% net revenue growth.

    But we as a nightlife industry have yet to change our mindset that it’s beneficial to have solutions that e-commerce has to experience that level of growth. At the end of the night, this venue is going to look at their POS reports and use it as a guide for how they performed that day, and it’ll tell them a very inaccurate story. They have no idea how many people were inside their venue, which is a huge issue. Here’s why:

    • I paid for all of my friends’ drinks. Their POS has no idea that my friends even existed. It’ll show them the number of transactions that were made, but it won’t show them the number of people that were there.


    • If they knew how many guests were there, they’d know the average amount each guest spent, often known as average cost per transaction (CPT). My tab was $160 total on two rounds of drinks for my group of 10. Their POS is just going to show 1 transaction for $160. But in reality, the average CPT is $8. That’s a huge difference between a CPT of $160 and a CPT of $8. They’re going to operate their business believing every guest spends $160, when in reality, the average spend across all guests is $8.


    • While their labor to sales ratio may look favorable, they would have likely made thousands more dollars if they would have been staffed adequately. A couple extra bartenders would have reduced the wait time for people getting drinks, resulting in more drinks in people’s hands, resulting in more money. But because they don’t know how many people there were, they’re bound to make the same staffing decision for a future launch party looking at incomplete POS reports to guide their decision.

    But why does this matter?

    It matters because this is the type of information that needs to guide decisions to continue to grow and build their business. And because this was a launch party for a different company, I’d estimate 80% of the people that were there had never been to that venue before. And statistics say that 70% are unlikely to come back on their own. Now add in the terrible experience of waiting an hour to get drinks, and that percentage likely increases.

    But what’s worse is because they weren’t tracking who came, they have no log of who was there to be able to reach these people again. Do you think Amazon grew to be an $87 billion company by not knowing who’s on their site and not understanding what drives their sales?

    I’ve spent over a decade working alongside venue owners and I know firsthand that many are putting their life savings into their venue. I know they want it to succeed. They aren’t looking to throw all their money into a business that’s going to die in the average 18-month timespan. But I also know that most aren’t thinking about how to grow year after year. They tell me they’re “surviving.” They run without insight, hoping people walk through their doors when they open. They aren’t investing in systems that allow them to experience continuous growth.

    The Missed Opportunity

    Had this venue been using the Vemos ID scanner at the door, they would have had the exact number of people that attended their venue that day. They also would have the names, gender, age, and geographic location of all of those attendees in their dashboard. And had they connected their POS to their Vemos dashboard, they would have the exact CPT readily displayed to them. They’d know which guests made the transaction and what they purchased. They’d be able to define the type of customers that have the biggest impact on their bottom line, and have a strategy to go out and attract more of those types of customers. They’d know who was a new vs. returning guest, and would have been able to get some of those new guests back in the door.

    This system is what allows a nightlife venue to operate within an e-commerce model at a monthly cost that’s less than my tab. It’s not hard. It’s not expensive. But it can make the difference between surviving and thriving.

    Author Whitney Larson Posted on

    Finally. A venue management app that’s both powerful and simple.

    We at Vēmos are excited to unveil our latest Venue Management app — a project that’s been in the works for months with a critical focus on user experience.

    We knew the nightlife industry needed a solution that was robust enough to manage an entire venue from one app, but simple enough that venues didn’t need to worry about more training, all at a price point that made sense. So we set out to achieve this.

    And now that product is available.

    Introducing the first truly comprehensive solution to manage your entire venue, starting at just $50/month. Reservation management? Check. Guestlist management? Check. Events & Ticketing. Check & check. You can even collect walk-up cover charges at the door with cash, credit, Apple Pay or Google Pay. And yes, you can do all of this by simply toggling between Reservations, Guestlist and General Admission screens to accommodate every guest.


    We truly built this with the user in mind. Simplicity on the surface to get up and running as quickly as possible. Complexity behind the scenes so you’re presented with information when you need it most.


    Let’s take a deeper look.

    VIP Reservation Management

    Easily manage all your tables in one view, allow staff to sell available tables, and even take table deposits to reduce no-shows. See full guest details to provide a personalized experience as soon as they arrive. Track table spend and party size so you can make smarter decisions in the future about what type of VIP guests have the biggest impact on your business.


    Guestlist Management

    Never flip through another piece of paper again. Your guestlist is now digital and always up-to-date. Whether guests are added from promoters, ticket sales, your website, or staff, it all funnels instantly to one place, making check-in a breeze. Plus, all checkins tie back to guest profiles, so you always know what types of guests to attract to keep your nights busy.


    Cover Charge Management

    Like a POS for your door, the Vēmos GA screen gives you true accountability at your door. Add as many entrance types (aka cover price based on promotions) as you want. All users are automatically added as referrers. Now you can collect cover payment from every walk-up guest, know who’s getting in for free or at a discount, and track which promoters are bringing them in for easy payouts.


    Events & Ticketing

    Create, manage, and sell tickets to your events, and get paid from your sales as soon as a ticket is purchased. All pre-sale tickets will automatically appear in your guestlist with ticket details displayed. Easily handle walkup sales with Cover Charge Mangement, so all tickets are accounted for no matter when they were purchased. Uncover what marketing efforts reach the best guests, which ticket types drive the highest bar sales, and when you can expect to sell out based on historic trends.


    Guest Profiles

    All your guest details in your pocket. See each guest’s unique profile from their last visit to what they’ve spent at your venue. Read notes from your staff, and see how to connect with them all at your fingertips. Have a recurring guestlist guest that spends a lot at the bar? Upgrade them to a VIP table next time and make their next experience unforgettable.


    Insight Only Vēmos Can Give You

    Other systems only track your VIP guests. With Vēmos, you get rich insight on all your guests so you can make smart decisions that drive profitability. Connect ID Scan with your POS to track individual guest spend, and unlock even deeper insights about every guest that walks through your door so you can continue to maximize your revenue.

    Author Whitney Larson Posted on

    How ID Scanning Increases Loyalty

    Checking IDs is commonly considered a necessary evil of serving alcohol.

    It’s not sexy. It’s not exciting. It’s just a step in the process. But this step can actually be turned into a huge asset to your bar or nightclub, especially with the right technology.

    When you shift your thinking and equip yourself with the right tools, this very basic step becomes both your internal liability program as well as your external customer loyalty program.


    The Legal Aspect

    The liability and security side of checking IDs is always the most top-of-mind, particularly when it comes to verifying whether a guest is of age to drink. And from that aspect alone, having your staff manually review IDs is sufficient. But your liability decreases drastically when you equip that staff member with an ID scanning system. Here’s why:

  • It reduces the chances of honest human errors. Humans make mistakes even with the best intentions, such as incorrectly calculating someone’s age based on their date of birth. Having a quick license scan double verifies the guest’s age with a simple color coded alert of whether they’re over 21 or under 21. It makes it foolproof even under high stress situations.
  • It assists with easily passing stings. When authorities are checking to make sure you’re compliant, they legally cannot do so by using a fake ID or purposefully deceiving you. That means most stings are a result of incorrect math or laziness. Having a policy with an ID scan system corrects any mental mistakes and confirms all IDs are reviewed.
  • It aids in detecting fakes. Fake IDs are getting more complex, so having an ID scan system is just one more layer in the process of detecting a fake. Plus, in a worse-case scenario when you accidentally serve a minor, having a digital system is your paper trail to prove to authorities you didn’t purposefully serve that person and did the best of your ability to be compliant.
  • It digitally tracks your 86 list. Your seasoned staff may know immediately if a guest is banned and shouldn’t be let in, but your new employees likely won’t. Rather than memorizing a photo book of those who aren’t allowed, an ID scan system will automatically alert your employee if a guest is banned from the venue. Plus, if an incident occurs during the night, your staff can easily add that guest to your ban list so you always have the most up-to-date information to maintain a safe environment.
  • It alerts you of potentially unruly patrons. Some ID scan systems, like us at Vēmos, allows you to opt into a city-wide ban list. This means you’ll be alerted if a guest is banned at a nearby location along with the reason they were banned. You then use this information to make educated decisions on whether or not you want to let that guest into your venue.



    • Maintaining a secure environment minimizes costs associated with insurance, repairs, fines, and enforcement. What’s more is it provides an enjoyable atmosphere for your guests, which translates to a more profitable establishment. Which leads to the next aspect: loyalty.


    The Loyalty Aspect

    The not-so-obvious side of an ID scanning system is that it can become your loyalty program. And it can serve you better than most standalone loyalty programs can. Why? Because every guest needs to have their ID to drink. Not every guest is going to have your loyalty card or app. In fact, few consumers today want to have a separate loyalty card for every establishment they ever visit, so you’ll only capture a small percentage of your daily patrons.


    With an ID scanning system, you’re able to collect data on all of your guests. This goes well beyond their name, age and other demographic information. We’re talking behavioral data — how often that guests comes, what time of day they check in, how many visits they’ve had this month, what types of events or promotions drive them there, the list goes on. And when you connect your ID scanning system to your point of sale system, you unlock a whole new layer of behavioral information. Not to mention you get a ton of invaluable insights on what factors drives your business and which triggers to pull to repeat that business.


    It’s with this information that you’re able to reward your guests for doing what they’re already doing — simply showing up — and begin to offer them personalized service based on their habits. Notice it’s their 5th time coming in this month? Comp their first drink. Haven’t seen them in a while? Reach out to them about a special you think they’d enjoy. It’s these types of actions that build connections between consumers and brands, and drive true loyalty to your establishment.



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    Author Whitney Larson Posted on

    9 Tips for your New Year’s Eve Party

    New Year’s Eve is the biggest event of the year, but it’s also the most competitive. That’s why it’s important to get a head start and get your event planned out so you can have a successful and profitable night.

    Follow these 9 tips to ensure a successful New Year’s Eve party.

    1. Publish Your Event Now

    You need an event page, and you need it to be launched now. This gives you time to market your event and attract customers so they can start making their plans around your party. It’s important to have a section of your website or a specific landing page dedicated to your event. Simply having a sentence description on a third-party ticketing company’s website isn’t going to cut it. People want to know the vibe of your party, understand why they should attend, and get a gage at what they can expect by attending. Plus, having your own page allows for greater SEO opportunities, allowing guests to find out about your event in search results.

    It’s also important to make sure customers can buy tickets directly on your website and aren’t redirected to a third-party. Redirects oftentimes lead to cart abandonment, and you can lose out on that customer’s data. Work with a ticketing company that’s built for nightlife events and integrates with your site for the best experience and to collect the most data.

    2. Do an Exclusive Pre-Launch

    Experience is everything, and it’s what drives your customers to be loyal. Your customers are looking for a personalized experience, especially those that attend on the regular. Consider doing a pre-launch with the customers who have come to your venue throughout the year with an exclusive release before launching your tickets to the public. Reach out to them either via text or email and give them preferential treatment on tables and tickets. This is going to make a big impression on your most loyal customers, and it’s going to drive them to plan their night out with their friends at your event.

    3. Use Your Data

    Data matters more than you realize. It’s what allows you to understand what does and doesn’t work to set you up for success. Use last year’s data to understand which channels brought in the most guests, and replicate that. If you don’t have access to last year’s data, get a provider like Vēmos that allows you to access all of your information in one central spot.

    One of the most important pieces of data you’ll want to track is your marketing channels. You need to track where your customers are finding you and why they’re choosing your event over others. To do this, assign specific links to each channel and staff member. Then, use those links on your various channels (i.e. a different link for Facebook, Twitter, third-party media, digital ads, etc). Also make sure your staff is using their personal link when hey promote your event so they get credit. The results will inform you of what you should and shouldn’t be spending your time and money on.

    4. Leverage Marketing Channels

    Once your tickets are set up and your trackable links are in order, it’s time to start promoting. Here are a few things for you to consider:

    • Set up your social channels to be in line with your event by updating your images and post cadence
    • Add an events section on your Facebook page that gives full information about your NYE event, and integrate your ticketing page into your Facebook fan page for people to buy tickets directly through social
    • Consider contests or ticket giveaways to build engagement and interaction
    • Run Facebook ads to target a specific segmented audience
    • Get your promoters engaged and turn them into a mobile box office
    • Leverage partnerships with third-party outlets, such as your booked entertainment, sponsors, key social influencers, and media outlets. Partner with them and have them promote your event on your behalf

    When you get your marketing channels to work together, you’ll have a bigger audience reach and a higher likelihood of selling out before your event happens.

    5. Incentivize Guests to Purchase Tickets Early

    Encourage people to pre-purchase their tickets by creating supply and demand. Showing them your price will increase as the event gets closer creates demand for the few supply of early bird tickets. You can set your tickets to increase price by the week, day or even hour leading up to your event. You can also set your tickets to increase by quantity after x amount of tickets are sold. This encourages people to buy early and have time to share their plans with others. Plus, when guests pre-buy their tickets, you’re generating revenue before the night of your event.

    6. Strategize Lines the Night-Of

    Line strategy is important for the night of your event. Create a different line for a different type of customer, such as a line for your pre-sale customer, a line for customers paying at the door, and a line for your VIP table customers. This is another way to encourage pre-sale and allows your staff handling pre-sale checkin to only focus on that task and increase line speed. On the other hand, it allows your staff selling tickets at the door to only handle that task, aiding in long waits for door sales. The more organized your lines are, the faster your speed of night will be, the happier your customers will be, and the faster they’re through your door to spend money on drinks.

    7. Don’t Lose Site of VIP Table Guests

    Your VIP guests are important, and you want to make sure they’re not getting lost in the shuffle of general admission purchases. Set up your door to handle tables through a different entrance and check-in process. That way, your highest spenders are getting exclusive treatment right off the bat. Also make sure your staff knows to keep an eye on how many people are sitting at each table. During a hectic night, it’s easy to overlook a party of 10 actually brought 20 people with them. And as a result, you just lost out on payment for 10 extra people. That’s one of the easiest way venues lose money on New Year’s Eve and other big event nights. Having a separate entrance and a reservation system that ties to your events/ticketing system will help alleviate this issue.

    8. Train Your Staff

    Operations are a huge component for an enjoyable night. Get all your staff up and running on the same system and strategy, and work out any kinks beforehand. Make sure your promoters have their links to sell tickets and are able to sell on mobile devices while on-the-go. Also make sure your door staff are on the same page for a door process and are ready to scan guests in as they arrive, sell tickets to those who need them, or escort VIP guests to their table. All the small details matter, and it’s what leaves a lasting impression.

    9. Set Up Safety and Compliance Procedures

    It’s easy to lose sight of safety and compliance when preparing for the busiest night of the year. Yet, New Year’s Eve is typically the night where people over consume, which accounts for the highest amount of emergency room visits. Work with your bartenders to make sure they know when to stop serving overly intoxicated guests. Have a door process in place to check IDs and ensure you’re not serving minors. It may no the the fun part of New Year’s Eve, but it’s important to mitigate your liability on this busy night.


    Cheers to your successful New Year’s Eve event and hosting a fun party for your guests to ring in 2020.

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