Italian Restaurant Chain Expands into Delivery
Italy has been one of the hardest-hit regions during the COVID-19 pandemic to date, and like their U.S counterparts, restaurants there are slowly reopening with restrictions. To ensure a seamless customer journey while maximizing throughput, Milan-based Panino Giusto is embracing technology as it adjusts to the new normal.
Since its launch in 1979, Panino Giusto has been a staple of the Italian restaurant scene, known for its gourmet panini sandwiches. It currently operates locations in five countries, and became a Certified B Corporation, in January.
Panino Giusto is leaning on its tech stack, including Oracle Food and Beverage Simphony and MICROS Point-of-Sale, to help it pivot and deliver.
“Our mission has always been to bring everyone a slice of Italian life while respecting the individual and the environment. Now more than ever we want to protect our customers and staff,” said CEO Antonio Civita. “Technology is helping us to reimagine our restaurants and our customers’ experience without losing any of the quality and warmth they have come to know and love.”
With Simphony as its central information hub, Panino Giusto added new operating models to drive revenue, preserve margins and deliver a high-quality consumer experience.
With restaurants closed for dine-in during the pandemic, Panino Giusto added native delivery in partnership with electric car Birò. Based on business objectives, some locations partnered with third-party aggregators.
Other technologies added include multiple options for contactless payment and pickup that minimize wait times.
To help Panino Giusto reimagine every part of the business Oracle collaborated with Smart Technologies Limited (STL), Get Your Bill and Tas Group.
Specifically, Panino Giusto was able to expedite the addition of new technologies by exporting all menu items from Simphony POS to its web app and avoiding manual creation of the online menu.
Customer orders are automatically sent to Simphony and the KDS in near real time, allowing Panino Giusto to work the order immediately after it’s confirmed by the guest.
The new customer journey is possible thanks to cooperation between its loyalty app (STL), Simphony and its API (Oracle), mobile ordering web app (STL) and Birò for managing the home delivery.
All-in-One Loyalty App
Step one was extending Panino’s loyalty app, My Panino Giusto, so customers could order, pay and account for their loyalty points all in one place. While this project normally would have taken months, this collaboration between Oracle, Smart Technologies and the other partners had it completed in just weeks.
“Oracle moved quickly to mobilize a partner network that allowed us to navigate the crisis and prepare for the rebound,” said Civita. “Patrons will now be able to order and prepay for dine-in or take out, and payment will be tokenized so customers can be identified by their loyalty program membership to accumulate or redeem rewards with no additional effort. We could not have done this so fast without Oracle’s and our other partners amazing support and service.”
Time-Based Delivery
Orders from the app go directly into Simphony, helping ensure they are queued quickly and timed-based on delivery or pickup – even accounting for the distance from a Panino Giusto location the order will be delivered.
With dining rooms reopening, the next phase in the evolution of Panino Giusto’s customer experience will allow customers to pre-book tables and orders to ensure contactless service and social distancing based on local guidelines. All of this helps Panino Giusto better manage inventory and kitchen costs by gaining deeper data insights into what customers are ordering and when.