¶ Digital Food Hall Guest Experience
Welcome to another edition of Give an Ovation , the restaurant guest experience podcast , where I talk to industry experts to get their strategies and tactics you can use to create a five-star guest experience . This podcast is sponsored by Ovation , an operations and guest recovery platform for multi-unit restaurants that gives all the answers without annoying guests .
With all the questions . Learn more at OvationUpcom . And today I am thrilled to have Marcus Pinheiro on the questions . Learn more at OvationUpcom . And today I am thrilled to have Marcus Pinheiro on the podcast . He's the co-founder of UMI Digital Kitchen . He's the founder of Urban Taco , the co-founder of Unit Skin Studio , the co-founder of Del Sur Restaurant Group .
I mean , this guy , he is a founder at heart . He's been a phenomenal partner over the last year plus two years . It's been a minute and I had the privilege of going to Umi Kitchen and it was phenomenal . Such a cool experience . So , Marcus , welcome to the podcast , man .
Hey , thanks for having me . Man , Appreciate it . It's always nice to bump into you at the conferences and excited to talk to you here for this podcast .
Wait . So you see me at some conferences . That's very unusual . I only get to conferences if you're not this podcast .
Wait , so you see me at some conferences . That's very unusual . I don't think it's a conference if you're not there officially .
Well , dude , for those who aren't familiar , marcus , with UMI , do you want to explain a little bit about what it is , because it is just such a cool spot .
Absolutely so . We're a digital food hall . We're located here in Dallas , texas . We run and operate our own digital brands out of one kitchen . We currently have eight brands and we are on our way to 10 by the end of the year . We dedicate ourselves to delivery and pickup . That's kind of like in our nature . We're not a ghost kitchen .
We're not a dark kitchen . We are a digital food fog that has an actual . If you look behind me , that's a nice little picture of what our lobby looks like and it's just part of the experience we want to create an experience when people order pickup or order delivery .
Yeah , and what prompted this idea ?
Yeah , so I've been in the industry for 17 years , traditionally as a brick and mortar operator , and towards the later years of my career , I started thinking about how I can rethink like the traditional restaurant P&L or the traditional restaurant model .
So early 2020 , I started talking to my partner this is before COVID about , hey , like there's this new thing called there's ghost kitchens and like little dark kitchens and this intricacies about like how the restaurant space can change , you know , and I kind of saw a little bit of an opportunity or a window .
And then COVID came and it was like hey , like let's just let me kind of manage through my regular businesses and make sure we all survive and we can come out of this alive and panic , Right ? So when COVID came out , I was in touch with my business partner and I was like hey , you know , I think that idea that we had , we were kind of onto something .
Let's explore it a little bit further . So it took us about a year or so to kind of develop like the right model or the right performance and something that we think would make sense , and we had different iterations . And then we ended up with UMI ASS currently and we're like hey , like , I think this is it , like let's go forward .
And we went out and raised capital and we opened UMI in December of 2022 . So we've been open for about a year and eight months , I guess . So , yeah , and it's just been the concept has changed since just what we expected and what we thought about UMI , as any other business like , you evolve and you change and you adapt .
So , yeah , we think that we're kind of getting closer to what we think is the next iteration of UMI and where we see UMI a few years from now .
I guess kind of two parts is . You've got a really interesting model because people are only coming in there . It's not like a super crazy busy place in terms of like you don't have tons of seating , you don't have servers . So how do you think about the guest experience ?
Busy place in terms of like you don't have tons of seating , you don't have servers , yeah . So how do you think about the guest experience ?
Yeah . So for us , I mean we think about the guest experience from start to finish , right , and I think that's kind of where you guys come in and have . You guys have become like an integral part of everything we do . So you know , you said it right Like we don't have waiters , we don't have front of house staff .
We have managers that run the restaurant , run the kitchen , expedite . We know we have our great cooks in the kitchen but we have nobody in the front of house , like there's no one doing customer service . But the crazy thing is that we hold a 4.9 Google rating review with over 350 reviews or something .
I got to check the numbers but we're close to 350 , which is a pretty decent number , but we average 4.9 . I don't think there's another restaurant in Dallas and I've been trying to back check in and actually figure it out but I really do not think there's another restaurant in Dallas that has a higher rating than us and we have no front of house staff .
So when you read our reviews , the common thread is for me , coming from brick and mortar , like food was the most important component , right ? So our food apparently is really good , it's consistent , and that's part of our reviews , and it's always good food , excellent customer service , awesome food , phenomenal customer service , awesome food , phenomenal customer service .
And I kept seeing it , seeing it , seeing it , and I started thinking about it . I was like , wow , that's great . How are people like raving about our customer service if we have almost no interaction with the customer ? And I started really thinking about it and obviously like there's a small interaction . When the customer comes in and they see us , we wave .
You know , if I'm there , I usually sit down and talk . You know I tend to like start a conversation , but really , like , most of our interaction is digital . They place an order on their phone or our app , they pick up their food from a locker , they take it home and then they get an ovation text and that's it . That's our flow .
But everything that we do from our packaging to how we react and how we leverage Ovation and how we leverage our communication , how we follow up with them , like how we solve issues with our own drivers and refire food and we're using Empowered Delivery , which has also kind of catapulted our customer service , and how we also interact , having our own drivers being
able to communicate directly with a customer and have that back and forth communication . So , once you have that flow going , apparently it gives us , like we have great customer service , but there's almost no human interaction that I can think of .
That's like significant , like the opportunity , like think about like somebody picking up food and you're never going to see a human ever again . Yeah , that would be disastrous for us . I can't imagine like , if we can't fix problems and we can communicate with a customer , we have no business .
So that's why , like to me , I've told you from day one I think I came up to you at a conference . Hey , like the first time I met you , I'm like , hey , my name is Marcus , I'm with UMI , like I love your product and I'm a huge fan . And then , like I know , we have a lot of common friends and we started connecting .
And then , like you know , now we , every time we see each other , it's a good time , but I am a genuine fan of everything that Ovation has done . It's part of our flow and part of our success . I get into what we've been doing for the last almost two years .
Well , I appreciate that and , honestly looking at it , by the way , you are at 350 Google reviews on the button , 4.9 stars Like that is incredible , and I always talk about Ovation as like a . It's a great tool , but it requires someone who knows how to use it and who actually cares about the guest experience , right .
To me , like people are using Ovation . They're out there . I still think that they're under utilizing it or they're not using it in the way that we're using it , and I think that's something that like for us , like it's my thing with technology is like I'm an operator , I'm a restaurant guy . Like I make tacos .
That's what I've been doing for the last 17 years . I started my Mexican food restaurant 17 years ago and that's like I'm not taquero , that's what I am . But now people like you that have innovated and advanced all these great technologies , for me , like the biggest thing I can do is just leverage it as much as I can , and that's what . Like .
When I look at Ovation , I'm like okay , what can I do different ? What can I implement ? So , yeah , I mean there's so many little intricacies in Ovation that just I think people like need to know more about it and figure out all these little hacks . We have hacks that we use for like Uber Eats . We have hacks that we use for Ovation .
Like we're trying to figure out what extra step we can take to touch the customer one more time or communicate with them . Like to me , like my biggest pet peeve for , like in restaurants , like and I see it a lot Like . I see it with huge franchise , like national groups .
You go in , you submit your name for a newsletter , you submit yourself for SMS marketing . I give out my information because I want to check your flow . I want to see how the big guys are doing it . I want to see what Homeboy over here is doing , I want to see what Kaba is doing , I want to see what their flow looks
¶ Enhancing Digital Guest Experience Through Feedback
like . And you'd be surprised , so many of these big names and big marketing departments that restaurants have . They're not even following up with a customer . They're not sending me follow-up messages , they're not sending any type of communication and I just gave you the rights and everything that you needed to communicate with me .
And if I go eat at your restaurant and you don't reach out to me , the chances of me forgetting your restaurant are much higher than coming back .
So for us , like you come to a restaurant , like you better , you're going to hear from us , like we're going to be in touch with you very politely , and we're going to give you , whether it's promotional , whether it's informational , but we're going to serve you the right information at the right time .
That's just part of our flows , but we're going to be in touch , and Ovation helps us do that .
And I think that the way that you have approached hospitality from a digital perspective is most restaurants are relying on their front staff , their front of house staff , to actually be the hospitality portion of their business .
But because you don't have any , you've had to create such an intense digital hospitality footprint and you've been able to do that so well because that's the channel that you have . Now , the beautiful thing is what you're doing for your off-prem guest is what every restaurant should be doing with their off-prem guest .
Yeah , a hundred percent .
But it's a different channel and we need to look at it differently and treat digital guests as if that is the only thing that we have . And if you do that , and if you think about it that way , then things like you're talking about the post-survey visit , following up with every single guest . That becomes obvious because those guests are so important .
For us every guest . They're not incremental to us . Off-premise is our business , so we see it as we are . Off-premise , first , we can't let any guest go untouched . And in a restaurant it's like you touch a table , the manager touches the table , the server touches the table , the bartender like the busboy , like there's all these touch points .
You know that's what you learn in brick and mortar . It's like , hey , go touch tables , go touch tables . Like for us , we don't have tables and we don't have managers , so we have to create this digital footprint and we're gonna eventually grab you at some point , whether it's through an email , an SMS , a follow-up survey , like to me .
Like another opportunity is and I've seen it . Like we have the data to back it up . It's like we're not perfect , right there . Like we're not perfect , right , there's no restaurant is perfect . Like there's going to be hiccups , there's going to be issues , there's going to be people that even if you do the perfect dish , they're not going to like it .
It's too spicy , too salty , whatever it is To me like I salivate when I get a complaint on Ovation oh , my wings were too spicy . I'm like perfect , that is a person that I'm going to turn into a long-term customer . Like I'm going to convert that customer myself . I mean , most of the time I do personal messages .
I love your AI tool , by the way , and like your AI answering service , like it's phenomenal , like it's . I mean , I use that as like a backbone and then I add , like my custom stuff to it , but like I can turn those customers around and I can see them .
Like , once I turn them around and I'll comp your mail , I'll send you a coupon like a promo code , and then I started seeing that customer come back and I know they're coming back and they're following up with me and they're saying , hey , I went again and hey , you were right , it was so good . Like you can go to like our Google reviews .
Like there's people that will tell you like , hey , like this is a re-review . Like the first time I went , it wasn't great , this happened , but now you know I talked to Marcus . Now it's like I love Boomi . I'm a customer for life . Like we get that over and over and over . So when we get those negative reviews or negative feedback , we convert those .
Those are like going to be customers that we convert . So it's almost like an ad that really worked and we can see the return on the investment on that customer , and so I think those are some of the things that people initially , you're like upset , like why isn't this person complaining ? Why is this person complaining ?
But you want to get those negative feedbacks , like we've picked so many dishes just by people telling us , hey , the cheese was melted too much or hey , my fries were soggy or whatever . Whatever the issue is , we go back to our team and we say , hey , this is what we got . This is a trend , we've got to fix it .
So we go in and improve the dishes right away .
That's what I'm talking about in terms of people who care , because that doesn't just happen with a piece of technology . That happens because they have a leader like you , marcus , who is getting in there and saying this is not just an incremental channel that I want to be okay at . This is not just an incremental channel that I want to be okay at .
This is our full focus , that we need to be excellent at , and I think that it's really impressive to have a 4.9 with no on-prem , because normally off-prem is one and a half stars lower than the average review . You can't have a 6.4 out of five .
It boggles my mind , but at the end of the day , it's the team , it's the people making the food , and then it's also like just having the systematic approach on what happens after the customer gets their food . But yeah , it's very interesting it's . I mean , I've managed full service restaurants my entire life and it's always like people struggle with it .
Like reviews are brutal because , like somebody eats a great meal , it's very unlikely they're going to go and leave you a review . There's not a lot of people reviewing stuff like these days . Like Yelp is a cesspool and I don't know if your partners with Yelp or not , but I'm not a Yelp guy . I've never believed in it .
But people don't tend to go out of their way to leave great reviews , but when it's a bad one , they're more likely to leave a bad review . So , typically , like it's hard to have really good reviews even if you have great food . So for us , like we're just chugging along and it's they just keep pouring in and it's we just keep doing what we're doing .
Like hey , whatever we're doing is working , just keep doing it , and we just keep pushing , pushing .
Love that . What advice would you have if someone is thinking about ovation man ?
I think that if you're not willing to get the feedback from your customers after they leave your restaurant , then you're not doing it right . And like it just doesn't make sense to me . Like , why wouldn't you want to hear this great information ? Like there's also like one of my favorite tools is after each customer .
Most of our customers will get a feedback survey the next day , right , so you got to be careful . Like you don't want to get overwhelming , you don't want to keep sending these texts , but we send a text to the customer 24 hours after the initial text and we ask them a simple survey . Hey , we want to ask you a couple questions .
Would you be willing to fill out a survey for a $5 promo code ? Like , we're incentivizing you . Give us one more piece of information , and that piece of information is how did you hear about us ? Like , and I checked that and tracked that religiously and that's a small little hack by our friend Rev .
Like he's also an innovation hacker and he's like I've learned so much from him . And like that's one of the things that we worked on together and it's awesome Like to me to have that data and know . Like okay , 20% of my customers are coming from social media . 30% are coming because they live in the area . 10% saw a Facebook ad . Like it's invaluable .
You know what that solves . I think ever since I started restaurants and every restaurateur I've talked to , nobody's really been able to really tell you if your billboards or your ads or your coupons or anything like that , if it really works . We're just throwing money out the marketing agencies or the marketing gods and hoping that something sticks .
But that really solves it . Like we don't know where every customer is coming from , but we have enough of a sample size because we're getting hundreds of these questionnaires filled out , so we know , like this is where most of our customers are coming from . So that solves that question .
Yeah , and as you increase budget in , like your online ads , and you don't see anything bump up in online ads , maybe that's not the right place to put it Right .
So I think that you can do it by week , two weeks , three weeks and exactly like depends on how . What I'm doing with marketing , I start seeing like hey , look , it's picking up on social , it's picking up from influencers . Hey , our direct mail campaign is working because we're starting to see a little bump over the last seven days compared to 30 days ago .
So is working because we're starting to see a little bump over the last seven days compared to 30 days ago . So , yeah , I mean it's just one little hack . It's something that's not that we created or we implemented that Ovation allows us to do , but it's not necessarily a part of the Ovation flow . Yes , Something we created and we hacked it .
I think that's beautiful because , yeah , not a lot of people even know that we can do additional follow-up questions , and so it's great to see people use it , and it's great to see people coming up with really clever ways to use that . Now , marcus , who is someone in the restaurant industry that you think deserves an ovation ? Oh boy .
I'd say Meredith Sandlin . Oh , I love her .
I was just hanging out with her this week .
And I've told her . It's like hey , the first conference I ever went to , you signed my delivering the . You know the rest . What's it called ? Delivering the digital restaurant ? Yeah , delivering the digital restaurant . I went in there after her patent on it and I asked her to sign it and now she's a great friend of the business and a great friend of mine .
So , yeah , I think she's doing great things in the industry and she's one of the few people that generally understands digital restaurants , and she's like the queen of digital restaurants as I see it , yeah amen .
Now , Marcus , where can people go to follow you or your brands ?
Yeah , so I don't have a lot of social media stuff , but I am pretty OBCD on the Add With Me Kitchen , like that's pretty much my account . I check it every day , tend to respond to a lot of the direct messages and things like that . So , yeah , that's my personal , but it's also the business and any social media network around word At Umi Kitchen Awesome .
Well , Marcus , for making us go Umi for digital . Today's ovation goes to you . Thank you for joining us on Give an Ovation . I appreciate it . Thanks for joining us today . If you liked this episode , leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite place to listen . We're all about feedback here .
Again , this episode was sponsored by Ovation , a two-question , SMS-based actionable guest feedback platform built for multi-unit restaurants . If you'd like to learn how we can help you measure and create a better guest experience , visit us at OvationUpcom .