Feature set
A few product updates from Yelp, DoorDash, and Toast this week
‘Tis the season for restaurant technology companies to issue product updates. This week, I received three back-to-back(-to-back) product announcements from Yelp, DoorDash, and Toast, each embargoed for a different day.
Now that I’m in the clear to share them, here are the highlights:
Yelp solicits direct feedback from diners.
The company that makes money from hosting public-facing restaurant reviews is now helping some restaurants request private feedback. Restaurants that use Yelp’s Guest Manager software for things like reservations and waitlists can now send automated experience surveys to diners after their visit. Yelp says that soon it’ll use AI to summarize this feedback for operators.
Also included, an update to Yelp’s reservations service restaurants that lets diners pick from predetermined seating areas like patios, barstools, and hi-top tables.
DoorDash lets restaurants contact customers.
A new feature for restaurants on DoorDash lets them contact and chat with customers to resolve order issues. Previously, these interactions were routed through the company’s support channels.
Orders placed via DoorDash marketplace are sent to restaurants to fulfill often with few identifying details. That’s by design, and large third-party delivery services have long gone to great lengths to maintain their position as middlemen. In 2021, DoorDash sued New York City over a law that would’ve required the delivery giant to share customer information with restaurants. Last fall, a federal judge in the city declared the law unconstitutional, netting a win for DoorDash and other third-parties who say that sharing this information with restaurants is a data privacy issue.
Other DoorDash updates include live order management for operators inside the Business Manager mobile app and same-day onboarding for new customers. It added some customization features meant to help manage diner expectations, including adjusting prep time for busy periods and scheduling item availability by time of day, useful for specials or other limited-time offers.
Toast’s using AI to prompt servers to offer add-ons and suggestions.
No shade to the upsell; if a server suggests something that sounds legitimately great, I’m in. But now these suggestions might come from some new tech dubbed ToastIQ, which offers prompts using AI and historical patterns pulled from millions of transactions. In an early test of this upsell feature, Toast says sales at an Atlanta cocktail bar testing the feature went up 6 percent over one weekend.
ToastIQ does more than sell. It also helps with automated email and SMS marketing, and digital ad tracking, connecting ad performance to transactions.
In a statement, Steve Fredette, Toast’s president and co-founder, called ToastIQ “the beginning of a new stage of innovation” to help restaurant workers “elevate their craft.”
