Bao is hoping to close the data loop in its business with its new app which is designed to gamify the loyalty experience.
Speaking on a panel at Hostech, the fine casual restaurant group’s digital director, David Staley, said that as a business with at least 60% of its custom coming from walk-ins it posed “some interesting challenges for data capture”.
The value Bao places on the tactile physical nature of its menu has also meant that it hasn’t found order and pay at table to be a great fit for the brand either.
“One of the challenges we have been trying to solve since I started with Bao about nine months ago, is how we can close that data loop a little bit more with the walk in visitors – to learn a little bit more about who they are while still having a very human interaction with them.”
He said Bao viewed the app as “a really big piece for us”. It has looked to take a digital layer of its brand and the stories from its restaurants and make them accessible to the wider world in the hope that more customers become Bao maniacs, he said.
“The app is a digital version of our universe. We have recreated our dishes and our restaurants in this kind of isometric pixel art 8-bit version of our world,” Staley explained.
“It is designed to gamify the experience of interaction in our restaurants and encourage you to explore different locations and different dishes, dine at different times of the day and reward you for being a solo diner.”
For every £1 spent, diners get five Bao coins, which they can spend on items within the app which they can exchange for real world counterparts when they visit.
“We didn’t it to simply be a discount-based scheme, we wanted to focus on having some value adds, both in terms of enhancing the inhouse restaurant experience, or provide unique ways to engage with the brand.”
They launched the app to coincide with Lunar New Year last month, offering one-off pieces of merchandise. While on an on-going basis the app enables guest to order off-menu cocktails and secret menu items.
Staley said that since its launch around £50k in spend had been channelled through the app.
