FoodFund International Generates 654K AED With Automated Emails in 9 Months

In a competitive market like Dubai, where unique and compelling dining concepts are considered the norm, cultivating guest loyalty is crucial if you want to succeed.

Alberto Carello, Head of Innovation & Special Projects for FoodFund International, knew that guest data was the key to winning loyalty at scale — he looks after the digital experience for 10 innovative and vastly different restaurant concepts in Dubai alone. Sharing guest data seamlessly across all venues is vital for delivering memorable experiences. Still, the group’s previous reservation systems were plagued with inefficiencies, hindering their ability to control and personalise the guest experience.

After searching for a more robust reservation solution with a reliable guest database, they switched to SevenRooms in October 2022. The first FoodFund International venue to use SevenRooms’ integrated reservation and CRM platform was its vintage Italian concept, Ristorante Loren, in Dubai.

Just six months later, they onboarded 13 additional venues to the SevenRooms platform, finally unlocking three key strategies for winning loyalty: 

Before transitioning to SevenRooms, Alberto and his team were frustrated with their previous reservation providers. Their database was plagued with duplicate profiles and errors, limiting their ability to personalise guest service and create targeted marketing campaigns across their portfolio.

After switching to SevenRooms reservation system they were able to quickly clean up their existing database as the platform automatically spots and merges duplicate guest profiles and data.

Now when new guests book a reservation, they’re able to collect accurate guest data and leverage pre-built and custom Auto-Tags such as “first-timers” or “regulars” to help them spot trends and deliver more personalised service — no matter where a guest dines within their portfolio. 

Leveraging SevenRooms’ robust profiles, guest tags and guest feedback features, FoodFund International also unlocked new, more effective ways to communicate with their guests. 

For example, they can now filter and segment the guest database for specific tags to create targeted marketing communications for first-time diners or for re-engaging guests who haven’t dined in the last 30 days.

The group uses a variety of SevenRooms’ pre-built Marketing Automation campaigns to send personalised follow-up emails to guests to incentivise repeat bookings. In nine months, they generated 2,932 covers and 654,083 AED in incremental revenue from automated emails alone. 

Alberto shared, “Dubai is a very competitive market with thousands of restaurants, so no matter how good your restaurant is, it’s very hard [for guests] to be loyal. [Email] reminders are really useful because it plants the seed and reminds them that we are here and then people act on it. They see it and it immediately triggers a positive response.”  

Another challenge Alberto and his team struggled with prior to switching to SevenRooms was customising the digital guest experience based on each venue’s unique brand.

Alberto wanted more control over customising buttons, text and images because when it comes to branding, details are important.  

From customised reservation widgets and offer pages to branded emails, they now have the flexibility to showcase their unique concepts across every touchpoint ensuring a consistent guest experience. 

Alberto shared, “Every restaurant brand we create is made by us. They have unique identities and feels. So one of the big pluses with SevenRooms is the ability to have unique branding for each of the restaurants — even down to controlling the buttons and text.” 

Armed with proven personalisation strategies and the technology to help them build, Alberto says there’s no stopping their momentum as they leverage more of SevenRooms marketing and automation features to win guest loyalty and drive revenue. 

Interested in discovering how SevenRooms can help you forge deeper guest connections? Schedule a demo today to see our data and marketing capabilities in action.