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On behalf of Team Olo, huge thanks to all who joined us in Palm Springs for our 5th annual Beyond4 customer conference. It was great to see so many familiar faces and form new friendships.
Beyond4 is always my favorite week of the year because we get to step out of work mode and into a creative, fun, and safe space with our Olo community. There’s nothing quite like gathering in person with restaurant leaders to hear about the topics most important to the industry—and share how Olo can help increase orders, streamline operations, and improve the guest experience to grow their businesses.
At this year’s event, attendees had the opportunity to hear from some of the industry’s top thought leaders—including Danny Meyer, Scott Lawton, and more—connect with peers through panel discussions and share groups, get hands-on product training, and gain insight into Olo’s innovation roadmap with a surprise, on-stage announcement.
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Scroll for a few of the key takeaways from Beyond4 2024 and be sure to watch my closing keynote:
1. Limited service shouldn’t mean limited hospitality
Hospitality shouldn’t be reserved for full-service restaurants. With the help of modern technology, all service models now have the power to do more with less and make every guest feel like a regular.
For example, with a fully integrated tech stack, you can:
- Eliminate tedious tasks like manually entering orders into the POS and free up employees to focus on guests
- Get a 360-degree view of each guest, including purchase behavior, dietary restrictions, preferred payment method, favorite marketing channel, lifetime value, and more
- Offer guests personalized menu recommendations based on previous orders
- Turn one-timers into repeat guests and win back churn risks via strategic marketing automations
The key to enabling hospitality at scale is comprehensive guest data. And—thanks to the explosion of on- and off-premise digital ordering, AI, and machine learning—restaurants have more data at their disposal than ever before.
2. Olo Pay card-present payment processing via POS
While many restaurants have embraced technology in the last five years, we’re still in the early innings of the industry’s digital transformation. In fact, according to consumer data firm Circana, 84% of restaurant transactions today are non-digital.
That’s all about to change with support from our Olo Pay flagship POS partner, Qu.
I had the great honor of announcing Olo Pay card-present payment processing via POS at Beyond4 alongside Qu CEO Amir Hudda.
By integrating with Qu POS, Olo Pay will touch 100% of restaurant transactions (off-premise and on-premise) and pull item-level data into the Olo GDP. Every guest. Every order.
We’re deeply honored to continue demonstrating the power of an open platform, scale, and 300+ best-of-breed partners to drive innovation for restaurants and guests.
It’s safe to say the race to 100% digital is on.
3. Now’s the time to invest in catering
With the potential to represent up to 20% of total revenue, restaurant brands are buzzing about the surge in catering demand. Largely fueled by the return to office and large in-person events, catering represents an opportunity for restaurants to diversify their revenue streams, boost guest acquisition, and bolster their reputation in the community.
We heard from multiple customers that streamlining catering operations, improving the catering guest experience, and growing their first-party guest database with direct catering orders are mission-critical to their business.
Related: The Catering Boom: 7 Reasons Your Restaurant Can't Afford to Miss Out
4. When it comes to implementing technology, restaurants want a white-glove experience
It should come as no surprise that Olo customers believe in the power of technology. But understanding its value and seeing its value are two different things.
We introduced Professional Services to shorten the time to value for our restaurant brands. And we were blown away by the response at Beyond4.
Restaurants crave best practice consultancy, launch support, and ongoing maintenance customized to their business needs and goals.
Simply put: a white-glove experience.
Many brands don’t have the time or resources to ensure they’re getting the most out of their tech stack. We’re proud to do the heavy lifting to ensure our customers are set up for success.
5. The restaurant community is powerful
Between rising food costs, a tough labor market, and overall inflation fatigue, restaurants of all sizes are feeling the squeeze right now. And yet, the positive energy and optimism at Beyond4 was palpable. It was a great reminder of just how strong the restaurant community is.
When we created our annual conference five years ago, we not only wanted to deepen our relationship with Olo customers but also to provide an opportunity for restaurant industry peers to connect and learn from each other.
It is a true privilege to witness our customers bond over shared experiences—like eliminating operational pain points and testing personalization strategies—and discover new growth opportunities each and every year.
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Signing off on Beyond4 2024
The central theme of Beyond4 2024 was accelerating the future of the restaurant industry. Thanks to widespread tech adoption and a treasure trove of newly accessible guest data, that future is now.
Moving forward, the key to sustainable growth will be leveraging that data to personalize guest interactions, power business decisions, and maximize revenue.
As Dave Harris of Shake Shack said, “It’s not an offline business and an online business. It’s one business.”
Ready to scale your restaurant business? Check out the latest Olo enhancements enabling restaurants to accelerate the future and request a demo of Olo’s restaurant platform.
