Guzman y Gomez: Fast-casual made even faster

The Australian-born Mexican chain Guzman y Gomez is making waves in the fast-casual space and the reason for this largely comes down to their fine-tuned experience. We spoke to Guzman y Gomez’s  Master Franchisee and GM in Singapore, Josh Bell, who told us a little more about their operations and how me&u helps them achieve great things.

Reliability in a fast-casual environment

For quick service dining experiences, customers want to get in, enjoy their meals, and then get out. Josh sees this as one of the main draw cards for using me&u as an operator, as the tech can keep up with their fast pace.

“I think that’s such an important point when it comes to fast casual or casual dining. No downtime, no errors, no bugs. This means that we can focus on what we do best - our food,” says Josh.

“Modules for the operator are punchy. They’re rapid and easy… We can execute to the level that we are very happy with, which we like to think is a high standard.”  

A point of sale in every pocket

Guzman y Gomez experimented with a number of ways to increase their operational efficiency before landing on me&u as their order and pay partner.

“The ordering process can be a bottleneck. We find that a customer is not going to wait to pay. They’re not going to wait to order if it’s a busy restaurant. About four years ago, we went through a program trying to optimise our operations and the first way in which we were able to optimise our operations was to add more point of sale,” says Josh.

“I think where me&u has been very powerful, very valuable, is there’s a point of sale in everyone’s pocket, there’s a QR code on every table. And so our operations really did start to supercharge.”

Customers love the convenience

The ease of ordering through me&u helps Guzman y Gomez Singapore increase customer loyalty and provide an experience that matches their high standards.

“People subconsciously become more loyal when they’re looking for options for where they're going to dine. They know they’re going to be in and out of GYG (this is how cool people say Guzman y Gomez) in minutes. So the frequency of dining at GYG goes up,” he says.

“Through me&u, they don’t feel they’re under any time pressure to place an order which they might feel when they’re in a queue – giving customers more convenience, giving customers more options. Love it!”

The results

Streamlined operations have positively impacted Guzman y Gomez’s revenue, which is perhaps the most crucial proof point for any venue.

“At the point of sale, we have no errors, we have no mistakes, we have a higher average spend. Our restaurants are becoming more profitable… There’s no delay, no time-lag. We’re able to turn tables faster, and get our customers' orders out to them faster. Very significant positive impact on revenue,” says Josh.  

“For a restaurant that’s sitting on the fence and thinking about ‘should we try this,’ ‘should we do it,’ I don’t really view it as optional if the motive is more customers and scaling.”

Plus, Guzman y Gomez has seen a 25-28% average spend increase through me&u!

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