Rail Catering OPINION
on our sales. We were offering a wide selection of good-quality meals and drinks but interestingly the statistics from the conducted surveys showed that, whilst a good proportion of passengers wanted to use these services, they would not leave their seats.”
The best inspiration often
comes from customers This group of travellers inspired JLV to start the development of an additional new digital customer service, turning a problem into an opportunity. JLV has called it the On-line Bistro with the basic premise to satisfy the needs of passengers at their seat to the same standard of quality as in a Bistro carriage. Very importantly, this meal service is delivered within guaranteed timescales to match the customer’s journey. This is critical as journey times differ by customer and they need to know the delivery of their food will be in time for them to enjoy it. The JLV system uses the onboard portal of the SC Pendolino through which passengers connect to the wifi using their tablet, smart phone or laptop. The intuitive menu includes a tab for ‘catering’ with a page showing a selection of meals and drinks. After selecting the item, the passenger identifies himself/ herself by the unique data from the train ticket so that catering personnel know where to deliver the chosen meal. The passenger selects a payment method (online payment, credit card or by cash) and identifies his/her destination so that the crew can prioritise the orders. Within real time the complete information about an
order is displayed to the catering personnel at the bar who deliver it within a maximum of 20 minutes. Dishes are served in specially- designed high-quality plastic plates with a cover suitable for use with a drop down seat table. Prior to closing the online
screen the customer can also fill in information for further communications (e.g. phone number or email) which provides valuable data for future sales campaigns and market research.
Tasty new sales for your
business? The launch of this service was supported by a massive on-train campaign (information panels and announcements), alerting customers to this new option to place orders online.
Such a new take on the use of digital technology by JLV has certainly attracted customers who would otherwise have simply used the trolley minibar service, but can now access a
JLV's 'On-Line Bistro' has already seen initial sales reach 8% of total revenues for the Czech Rail catering company
much wider selection from their seat. So, average spend and sales penetration is up, and after nearly a year of having the system, JLV’s results are above expectations with initial sales already more than 8% of their total revenues. As the share of digital sales
continues to grow further, I see great potential in connecting new technologies and gastronomy for the future. It seems certain to me that other railway caterers could benefit from a similar onboard at-seat ordering system, providing tasty new and increased revenues. Click here and send me your views!
viewfromthetrain@aol.com
WWW.ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM 71
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