Located on 1126 E. Ogden Ave. in Naperville, Illinois, sits a deserted restaurant. Formerly Famous Dave’s that closed in 2009, it later re-opened as the controversial Show-me’s in 2011. Just eight months after opening, Show-Me’s also closed its restaurant doors. The following April, a third restaurant concept, Linebacker Grille also opened and then closed just three months later.
Unfortunately, this cycle of revolving restaurant businesses is nothing new to cities throughout the U.S. In a fiercely competitive industry, small business owners are fighting everything from a cost perspective. Daily deal sites such as Groupon and Living Social entice restaurants with promises of increased customer traffic but offer very little return. In fact, only 3 percent of Groupon merchants said they saw repeat business (USA Today).
Where do restaurant owners go from here? Ironically, just blocks away from the empty restaurant lot on Ogden Avenue in Naperville, is the office headquarters of Dining Dialog Inc., a restaurant and food-service marketing company, currently launching their new digital loyalty marketing platform, eateria.
Built specifically for the restaurant, food and hospitality industry, eateria will help businesses connect and engage with customers with an online e-mail marketing tool.
Eateria is a tool that seeks to breakdown the communication and engagement barriers between the food service businesses and their customers. The eateria platform is a one-stop shop combining the effective methods of e-mail, social media, and mobile marketing.
“Eateria is a must have for anyone in the food service industry that wants to build and maintain meaningful relationships with their customers,” says Ola Ayeni, founder and chief idea officer of Dining Dialog and eateria. “We are making it easy for them to target, connect with, and most importantly, create loyal customers who will keep coming back.”
Eateria also makes it easy to create and validate special offers and promotions, as well as track results and analyze efforts.