“We focus very hard on providing a high-quality, traditional dining experience – exposing guests to any technology must be refined, easy, and non-intrusive.”
Mi Cocina has been a neighborhood staple since 1991. From day one, the company’s mission has been focused on using the highest quality ingredients in every recipe and treating customers like neighbors. The result? People line up outside the door. But it’s not just the guests who love the experience, Mi Cocina also treats employees much like extended family as well. The founding partners developed a successful business by consistently serving great tasting food straight from the kitchen and delivering it fresh to the table by attentive, and well-trained staff. Ultimately, what matters most is providing an overall dining experience that completely exceeds customer’s expectations.
As business has grown, the number of dinner and lunch guests, along with wait-times, has also grown. The restaurant has the fortunate challenge of consistently hosting crowds but screaming guest names in the busy waiting areas was not working well for the “experience” or the efficiency in operations. Mi Cocina connected with LRS to set up a guest paging system to resolve the issue as a trial at one location. Soon after seeing an immediate communications improvement in the waiting area, management added more paging systems to other locations.
As an ever evolving and expanding concept, Mi Cocina is constantly looking at ways to improve their business model. Their KDS and POS system included a module for text messaging guests. Since virtually every customer had a smartphone, it was a natural move to try using the built-in app to alert waiting guests that their table was ready.
Although the option seemed simple, the execution was not. Many customers either had their phone on silent, walked out and went somewhere else to dine, or the number was miscommunicated to the greeter and the notification was sent to the wrong phone. Additionally, some people were simply uncomfortable giving out their personal number.
Management knew preserving the complete dining experience was obviously as important as correctly and quickly seating guests. After reviewing available options, Mi Cocina reconnected with LRS to discuss redeploying guest paging.
From the beginning, Nick Wallace, Director of IT at Mi Cocina, insisted that any solution should be “easy for the staff to use and not distracting to guests”.
Need to effectively on-board waiting guests and efficiently seat guests during peak times.
LRS Guest Paging. Seamlessly engages guests. Avoids issues with personal mobile devices, enables guests to stay onsite and order from the bar while they wait. Simple, proven technology maintains consistent guest experience.
Wallace also noted one of the advantages of keeping guests on-premise during their wait time is that guests will order from the bar in advance of being seated. A favorite signature Margarita guests preferred was the award-winning Mambo Taxi™.
Listening to both staff and guests and acknowledging their specific needs influenced the decision to purchase the LRS Guest Paging System. The Mi Cocina staff asked for and needed something easy as well as dependable. Pagers were the only solution that checks both boxes for a very reasonable cost and an easy to use system.
Mi Cocina continues to thrive and provide guests with a consistent, high-quality guest experience. With LRS as a technology partner, that continued success should continue into their future growth.
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