Adopting the online reservation solution from booking and customer marketing specialist liveRES has boosted bookings and expanded its customer database for Spirit Pub Company.
Spirit’s Chef & Brewer pub restaurant brand has been taking online bookings using liveRES since January 2012, which saw the launch of the brand’s new website. Online bookings now play a major role in Chef & Brewer’s advance table bookings across the brand’s 130-plus outlets, while key occasions marketed to customers, such as Valentine’s and Mother’s Day, have seen 20% of all bookings made online this year.
The brand has also dramatically increased its customer database by synchronising online booking data with its CRM system. Following its success with Chef & Brewer, liveRES is now being rolled out to Spirit’s Fayre & Square and Taylor Walker pubs.
Kenny Skelton, Head of Digital for Spirit Pub Company, said:
“Previously, we didn’t offer our guests an online booking facility, which meant they could only book by calling the restaurant directly.
“Increasingly, consumers expect to be able to make restaurant bookings online, and the liveRES system has enabled us to offer that option. Chef & Brewer was named ‘Best Branded Pub Restaurant’ at the MIDAS (Menu Innovation and Development) awards at the start of April, and giving our guests the flexibility to book in the way that best suits them is important in helping us keep our edge over the competition.”
liveRES offers restaurant operators an efficient, cost-effective way to manage online bookings. The solution includes promotional tools to help maximise bookings during quiet periods, as well as e-marketing and promotion management tools.
Julie Featherstone, liveRES Director of Sales, said:
“We’re delighted that Spirit Pub Company is realising the benefits of managing its guest bookings online. More restaurants and dining outlets than ever use incentives to bring guests through their doors, and our advanced solution offers a targeted alternative to ‘spray and pray’ voucher campaigns. With liveRES, operators can fine-tune promotions to off peak periods, whilst operators can increase the productivity of their restaurant, and therefore their profits.”
Online bookings are just another development of Spirit’s digital strategy. The brand websites are being overhauled, with Chef & Brewer’s new site leading the way and each brand is being launched on social media channels Facebook and Twitter.
More information at www.liveRES.co.uk