Up your game (and profits) this sports season with our guide

So you want to take your venue to the big leagues this season? We don’t blame you. We’re here to help you do just that. 

Sports seasons and events present an exceptional opportunity to capitalise on social gatherings and make a statement about the future of your venue. It’s a time when incentives, customer experience and workflows can all be refined to keep guests returning for more (and maximise profits for your business). 

So, whether you’re showing football, cricket, baseball, basketball, tennis or something else – this guide will steer you in the right direction and make the most of what could be one of your peak periods. 

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Make ordering your MVP 

Game days usually mean big crowds, and if you’re doing bar or counter service, your guests will spend more time queuing and less time watching the game. An easy way to reduce queues is to offer Order & Pay. 

Customers will still be able to enjoy the same service but with a streamlined approach. You can customise how you want to run mobile ordering in many ways to suit your venue. Here are some QR placements that resonate with guests: 

• Tiles on tables (for table service or pickup). 
• Posters strategically placed around heavily trafficked areas. 
• Temporary A-frame signage for game days. 
• Posters over urinals and in stalls if you’re feeling a little cheeky. 

Spicy stats: 

• On average, customers spend 20-40% more when using me&u.
• Menu items with images perform 6x better than just text.

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Features in a league of their own 

Offering guests a more enjoyable experience on a match day will increase the chances of having them return for future games. 

Presenting easier ways to pay is one of the best parts of mobile ordering and payments – for you and them both. Tabs, split payments and intuitive tipping features make the transactional moment easier to manage for everyone.

Through me&u's offerings, guests can shout rounds for their mates, set up a tab, and even split the bill in a way that suits them after traditional service. For an extra slam dunk, you can also increase your cross- and upsells through strategic menu updates and tags. 

Someone ordering a pint? A serving of chips will go well with that (fries for our American friends). Are they looking at mixed drinks? Show them your cocktails. Time for another round? Let guests re-order drinks with the push of a button.

Spicy stats:

• Cocktail orders increased by 300% at the National Hotel through me&u.
  
• 87% of customers who click on ‘re-order drinks’ continue to purchase.
  
• On average, tip amounts increase by 30% when guests order through me&u.

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Field your best team 

Shaking up how you operate during matches can reap huge benefits. Ideally, you want to limit your staff's time on admin and maximise profit windows to ensure peak performance.

Some things to consider for game days:

• Create dispense/run zones to separate people ordering at the bar.
• Set up dark bars to pump out orders.
• Only offer table service to keep the bar staff free to churn out drinks. 
• Enjoy me&u's advanced batching to stay on top of orders. 
• Change your digital menu to high volume, high margin products (think beer jugs over pints, pizzas over paella, etc.) 

You can easily customise your digital menu for the big day, tweak what’s on offer, add playful product names, and alter serving suggestions. Your hamburger and chips combo just became the field goal special. Pizza and pint, the theatre of dreams (extra red sauce). 

During these busy periods, it’s also worth getting your team onboard for ways to communicate with customers to ensure you’re getting the most out of me&u. 

• Encourage guests who order their first drink at the bar to use their mobile for their next order.
• Suggest guests enjoy the game while they wait; they’ll be notified when their order is ready (you can do this through pop-ups on me&u too). 
• Show them the features they’ll love, like bill splitting and tabs.  
  

Spicy stats:

• 37% of guests choose to tip when using Split & Pay.
• A study from Square shows that 90% of restaurants agree that automation allows staff to focus on more important tasks.

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Turn visitors into supporters 

One-off games are great, but you want to get the season ticket to make the most of sporting events. Entice guests to return to your venue with incentives like a loyalty program and targeted campaigns that offer them discounts. 

And the good news is that Connect CRM and Reward offering will do the heavy lifting. 

• Customers order through me&u and opt-in to receive communications. This is most efficient if you offer a loyalty program as an incentive. 

• You capture data from their order and see they made purchases during a game. Connect will remember what they like, and even who they were with.  

• You can use Connect to seamlessly send out email and SMS campaigns offering them a discount on their favourite food or drinks if they return for the next game.
  
  
• Repeat.  

Of course, this is just one example. There are a tonne of ways you can fine-tune the process to work for your needs. The beauty of the CRM is that it’s custom-made for the hospitality industry, so it knows what your business and customers want. 

Spicy stats:

• A 5% increase in customer retention produces more than a 25% increase in profit, according to a Bain & Company study.‍‍
• Wynyard Pavilion’s database grew by 4,000 active users over three months by offering guests me&u's Connect.