Nathan's Famous upgrades tech, adds geotargeting and digital ordering

Dive Brief:

Nathan's Famous is revamping its focus on technology in a move to create more targeted ads, support daily operations and offer online ordering, the company announced this week.
The overhaul includes partnerships with vendors including Targetable, which uses AI and automation to create and distribute ads based on Nathan's latest marketing objectives. The AI tool produces creative ads by pulling in content that is popular across Nathan's channels, using geotargeting and audience segmentation to optimize who sees the ad.
Additionally, the company is working with PAR's Brink POS and Toast for self-ordering kiosks, which are in testing at franchised locations and will roll out nationwide later this year. New partner RestaurantMagic is responsible for inventory and food management, labor and scheduling, and reporting and analytics.

Dive Insight:

Nathan's is overhauling its digital technology systems and infusing its strategy with data to franchisees in a move to optimize advertising and build loyalty with customers.

The partnership with Targetable allows the company to produce ads on the fly based on what's trending across Nathan's online channels, and serve them to people within a certain radius of the restaurant locations using audience segmented data and geotargeting. The chain reported that after one month, more than 100,000 customers within a four-mile radius of the three test locations saw the ads. The ads have tracked a lower cost-per-click than the brand's typical digital ads with 10 times more efficiency than traditional mailers, per the company announcement.

Nathan's tech-forward moves follow a trend among fast-food chains around adopting newer digital tools to make ordering easier and ads more effective, potentially trimming wasted spend. Mobile ordering is expected to be a $38 billion industry by this year, according to Business Insider. Digital ordering and delivery have grown 300% faster than dine-in traffic since 2014, Nation's Restaurant News reported, pointing to a booming space in which Nathan's appears to be wedging into.

Earlier this year, Restaurant Brands International announced plans to similarly update its drive-thru experience at Burger King and Tim Hortons by placing digital menu boards at half of Burger King's U.S. locations and a majority of Tim Hortons stores in Canada. The effort includes testing dynamic content to offer guests more location-based or situationally appropriate menu suggestions and personalized offers.