Tourist season in Canada is short, so small businesses in that sector need to make the most of the few months they have to welcome those out-of-town visitors. In this episode Al speaks with René-Pier Plourde, Head of the UEAT University to talk about how restaurants can improve their dine-in experience and increase revenue. He also speaks to Jordan Williamson, Director of Product Strategy & Development at Moneris about Dynamic Currency Conversion.
Tourist season in Canada is short, so small businesses in that sector need to make the most of the few months they have to welcome those out-of-town visitors.
In this episode Al speaks with René-Pier Plourde, Head of the UEAT University to talk about how restaurants can improve their dine-in experience and increase revenue. He also speaks to Jordan Williamson, Director of Product Strategy & Development at Moneris about Dynamic Currency Conversion.
Also in this episode:
Chapters:
Al Grego:
Coming up on Shop Talk.
René-Pier Plourde:
When you're using digital tools, these orders are going to be more profitable. And with an industry where the average profit margin is 4%, we want to bring them tools for them to increase their profits. And digital ordering is a great way for them to achieve that.
Al Grego:
Hello, everyone. I'm Al Grego.
Angel Zou:
And I'm Angel Zou.
Al Grego:
And this is the July 2022 edition of Shop Talk with Moneris. Welcome to Shop Talk, Angel.
Angel Zou:
Thank you for having me, Al.
Al Grego:
And congratulations on your recent nuptials.
Angel Zou:
Thank you.
Al Grego:
This must be the second most exciting thing that's happened to you this year.
Angel Zou:
I suppose so. I've never been on a podcast, so I'm very excited to be here.
Al Grego:
There you go. Angel, you're a product specialist here at Moneris.
Angel Zou:
That's right.
Al Grego:
So do you have any cool or interesting new products you can share with us today?
Angel Zou:
Of course. Last month we launched our first ever point of sale restaurant solution, and it's called Moneris Go Appétit.
Al Grego:
That's exciting. So to be clear, we've had restaurant POS systems before, but they've always been through partners.
Angel Zou:
That's right. Go Appétit is the first in-house solution.
Al Grego:
And why is that important?
Angel Zou:
Well, when it comes to being in-house, we're in a much better position to respond to our merchants. For example, we can develop features, create unique packages and pricing, and we can provide a much more end-to-end customer experience to help their business succeed.
Al Grego:
Sounds great. So what does the Go Appétit solution offer?
Angel Zou:
In a nutshell, it covers everything a restaurant would need. So for example, the POS app lets you manage front of house, which covers table management, reservation, sending orders, bill splitting, and lots more. And then the kitchen display app, it lets you manage back of house, which receive all the orders from POS in real time. And it officially organize tickets by dining, takeout, online ordering, and online order will be coming shortly. Now, lastly, we also have a merchant portal where you can handle all the admin activities. For example, reporting, inventory tracking, adding user profiles, and of course, as a manager, you can quickly pop back there and update your menu or floor plan too.
Al Grego:
That sounds pretty comprehensive.
Angel Zou:
We collected input from across Moneris, all the stakeholders and restaurant owners themselves. So we develop Moneris Go Appétit to be a full ecosystem of products that our restaurant owners want and need today.
Al Grego:
Well, there's definitely a need.
Angel Zou:
Yes. The restaurant industry has been one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, as we all know, and now more than ever, they really need the tools to help their business across multiple channels.
Al Grego:
It's funny you say that, because restaurants are a major part of a larger sector that's been hit really hard by the pandemic.
Angel Zou:
What's that?
Al Grego:
Tourism.
Angel Zou:
Ah, yes. Tourism has definitely suffered.
Al Grego:
But now as travel restrictions begin to lift and more events return, we're seeing more and more visitors to Canada again.
Angel Zou:
I'm sure that's welcome news for many businesses.
Al Grego:
It is. So for this month's theme, I thought we'd take a look at the tourist season, specifically summer tourism, which is such a short season in this country.
Angel Zou:
Yes, blink and you'll miss it.
Al Grego:
That's right. I thought we could provide some useful information to help business owners get the most out of this year's tourist season.
Angel Zou:
What do you have lined up?
Al Grego:
Well, our feature interview is with René-Pier Plourde from UEAT. He's going to talk about another great solution for restaurants.
Angel Zou:
Ah, yes. RP will definitely have a lot of useful information for our restaurants.
Al Grego:
I'll also have Jordan Williamson on to talk about dynamic currency conversion.
Angel Zou:
That's a must have, especially if you have a lot of customers visiting from outside of Canada.
Al Grego:
Indeed. And we'll have our regular visit from Sean McCormick, who will bring tourism consumer spending data.
Angel Zou:
It's always good to have actual data to drive informed decisions.
Al Grego:
Agreed.
Angel Zou:
So who's first?
Al Grego:
Up first is my chat with RP.
Speaker 4:
Featured interview.
Al Grego:
I'm joined by René-Pier Plourde. He's the head of UEAT university at UEAT. René, thank you so much for joining me today.
René-Pier Plourde:
Allan, it's a pleasure. Thank you for welcoming me.
Al Grego:
Let's talk about UEAT for a second. What exactly does UEAT do?
René-Pier Plourde:
UEAT, we are a white label online ordering platform, and we serve thousands of restaurants across Canada. So we are providing an online ordering platform directly on the restaurant's website, fully customizable, fully personalized to each restaurant, their logo, their menu, their brands.
Al Grego:
Excellent. How long has UEAT been around?
René-Pier Plourde:
We are officially in business since 2017, and last year in 2021, we were acquired by Moneris, so we're beyond excited to be joining the Moneris family.
Al Grego:
Excellent. Yes. Welcome to the team. So this month's theme for the podcast is tourist season, and obviously one of the big components of a tourist season for any city is the restaurant industry. Patios are open, it's summer, it's mid-summer, patios are open, restaurants are thriving, especially coming out of the pandemic, I think people are itching to get out and dine out again. So let's talk about some of the struggles that these businesses have been having. How does UEAT help with that?
René-Pier Plourde:
For sure. So let's talk really about the restaurant industry, as you said, with COVID made things particularly challenging. When you factor in that the average profit margin of a restaurant in Canada is around 4%, and that dates all the way back to 2019, so we're already thinking that probably in 2022, we're still waiting for the official numbers, that's probably going to be a lot lower, unfortunately. Restaurants have been dealing with multiple challenges, and just COVID made these even worse. I think one of the top challenge right now obviously is going to be with labor shortage. Employees are tired, exhausted, even burned out, and it is particularly difficult to hire new employees and keep these employees on board. But as you said yourself, customers are beyond excited to finally be able to meet again, have a drink on a patio, and their expectations have never been higher. So you can probably tell that this is beyond challenging when you're dealing with labor shortage and high customer expectations. And that's where we come in.
René-Pier Plourde:
So we are, as we said, we provide online ordering tools, for takeout and delivery, but we are also providing digital ordering tools on-premise, such as table ordering. So it's a great way for customers to browse the menu, take a look at what's available, and they can even order from said menu and pay without waiting for any employees, they can really do it themselves if they wish to do so.
Al Grego:
Excellent. So it's like you're ordering takeout, but you're actually in the restaurant at the table, waiting for the... And let's rewind a second here. People came back to restaurants, and in the beginning there was a lot of patience and understanding by customers, knowing that these restaurants have been closed for a while, and they're reopening, and maybe they're understaffed. Eventually that patience may start wearing thin. And so this tool, this product, sounds like it might help that situation.
René-Pier Plourde:
Couldn't agree more. And just to put things in perspective, just the way it works, when COVID hit, obviously paper menus be gone. Restaurants were using more and more digital tools, such as a simple QR code, which is a code that you scan using your phone, and you could use that to see the menu, instead of touching a menu. But what we're providing is a way for restaurants to... Yes, they could use a QR code to showcase the menu, but from the same menu guests can order and pay, and that order will be pushed to the restaurant's kitchen. And then you just have one employee who will bring over the food to your table. It's about giving customers a choice.
Al Grego:
Yeah. It makes a lot of sense. For sure, whenever I would scan that QR code, look at the menu, I've thought more than once, "Man, it would've been cool if I could just order right now for my phone." So you guys are providing that. That's amazing. But for restaurant workers who might look at this as a threat, maybe, to their jobs, what would you say to them?
René-Pier Plourde:
I think it's a preconceived idea of that digital table ordering is, in a way, taking away jobs. And truth be told, I do understand that. But the reality is, table ordering is about optimizing jobs. You still need employees to welcome guests, answer menu questions, bring the food. But table ordering is about optimizing their jobs by removing mundane tasks. And at the same time, it's about giving the choice to the customers. Because as I said, many restaurants are already using a QR code to show the menu. So if they're able to allow these customers to order, this is a great way to align with their expectations. They no longer have to wait for an employee to take in their order, and [inaudible 00:08:27] it's patio season, if you want an additional drink before you go for the theater or something, you can order, pay and get it.
René-Pier Plourde:
But when I say it's about giving the choice, it's because there are some customers who prefer the old fashioned way. They want to order the old fashioned way. That's fine because, for many restaurants, these customers' experiences on-premise are what made them extremely popular in the past, these relationships with their customers. But we need to understand that it is now about giving the choice. The customer will get to choose. Do they want an old fashioned way, or they want a new way?
Al Grego:
And really any business you have, customer-centric experience is, first and foremost, the most important thing.
René-Pier Plourde:
Couldn't agree more. And truth be told as well, when you're thinking of using digital ordering tools, it is proven that these orders are going to be more profitable because the system can use... For example, UEAT, we used artificial intelligence. So artificial intelligence, making smart recommendations that guests actually want to add more to their cart, and since you don't have that pressure of making a decision right away, do you want an extra dessert or do you want something, when you're using digital tools, these orders are going to be more profitable. And with an industry where the average profit margin is 4%, we want to bring them tools for them to increase their profits. And digital ordering is a great way for them to achieve that.
Al Grego:
That sounds great, RP. Do you have any numbers that show this?
René-Pier Plourde:
Yeah, for sure. Restaurants using the UEAT platform, they see an increase in the average ticket size that can go as high as 40%. That is increased profitability right out of the box. So whether it's all night ordering, table ordering, or on-premise ordering, the average ticket size will be higher. And this is a common occurrence. It is not an exception.
Al Grego:
That's amazing. That's an impressive number. Thank you so much, RP. If our listeners wanted to learn more about UEAT and your products and services, where could they look?
René-Pier Plourde:
For sure. So check out our website, ueat.io, or you can follow us on social media. We post quite often tips, tricks to make [inaudible 00:10:30] transformation easy and profitable.
Al Grego:
And if you're already a Moneris merchant and you're interested in learning more about UEAT, you can always contact your Moneris rep for more information. Thank you so much, RP, for your time today.
René-Pier Plourde:
Thank you, Allan. It was great. Thanks.
Mat Belanger:
This podcast is brought to you by Moneris. Today has shown us, tomorrow has changed. Changed how we'll live, work, and do business. Because now we're more open to what's possible. Open to contactless payments, online bookings, curbside pickups, and more. Open your business to more opportunity, with solutions to help you succeed online, in-store, or on the go. To talk to one of our business advisors, call 1-866-MONERIS, or visit moneris.com today.
Speaker 4:
By the numbers.
Al Grego:
I'm joined by Sean McCormick, director of sales and marketing at Spendscape. Thank you, Sean, for joining me today.
Sean McCormick:
Good to be on again, Al.
Al Grego:
So we're going to talk about tourism spend this month. Restrictions are lifting, we're seeing more and more people coming into the country. Does that show in the consumer spending data?
Sean McCormick:
Yeah, it does. Actually, there's been a lot of talk in the news about Pearson Airport, how the processes have been relaxed when it comes to COVID testing, and it's generally becoming a more consumer friendly environment, a passenger friendly environment. And when we look back to the beginning of the year at foreign spend data, year over year change in volume, we were trending at about 80% year over year increase for each of January, February, March, and April. So that's to say that it was basically a flat line, that was consistently 80% above the levels seen one year ago. Then in May we saw a jump up to 104%. So it went from 80% one year ago, up to basically double the volume of a year ago. So we were seeing more foreign spend in Canada over the course of 2022, and then a big jump in May.
Al Grego:
What sort of merchant segments are we looking at there?
Sean McCormick:
That would be total spend across all merchant segments. I can tell you that hotels, for example, year over year versus May of 2021, hotels are up over 600%.
Al Grego:
Wow.
Sean McCormick:
Entertainment up over 500%. Restaurants, remember talking foreign spend in Canada, restaurants are up 925%, so 9x what it was this time last year. If we combine all of the different spending categories, it's about double. It's 104% where we're at this year, as it relates to total foreign spend here in Canada.
Al Grego:
So those are significant numbers obviously, and good signs that the economy and especially tourism is rebounding this year. It doesn't hurt to have major events coming back, and for example, a couple of weeks ago we had the F1 return to Montreal. What did that look like for the local economy?
Sean McCormick:
Yeah, that was interesting. F1 is an international crowd. It's probably similar to the type of fan that you would see for a World Cup event. We have all of these teams, international teams from all across the world, fans from all across the world. What we saw in foreign spend volume in Montreal was that 54% of the foreign spend volume on F1 weekend came from the United States, which serves to reason. Montreal, close to an American border, just generally close to the U.S. The hardcores make the trip up to Montreal for that race.
Sean McCormick:
Second on the list of the top ten countries spending money in Montreal that weekend, number two was China at 7%, which is interesting when you think about all of the restrictions that are still in place in China, 7% of the foreign spend volume in Montreal came from that country. Followed next by the UK at 4%.
Al Grego:
And obviously an event that really brings in a lot of money in the local economy. Let's talk about some of those segments, like bars and restaurants.
Sean McCormick:
It's an interesting number here when you compare bars and restaurants. So we're talking about restaurants that don't serve liquor, versus bars that do. So on the foreign volume, restaurants... And we're looking at 2022 Grand Prix versus 2019 Grand Prix, so pre-pandemic Grant Prix. In 2022, foreign spend at restaurants was up 34% over 2019. Great stuff. Foreign spend at bars declined 12% over 2019. So, lots to unpack there in terms of reasons. But it seems to me that those foreign tourists aren't partying the way they were in 2019. Just at a really high, unscientific level, that's what would be inferred on that.
Sean McCormick:
Now, if you take foreign spend out of that and you look at total volume growth, 2022 Grand Prix versus 2019 Grand Prix, bars were down 24% versus 2019, and that restaurants were down 6%. And that's just overall, that's domestic spend and foreign spend.
Al Grego:
So there's still a little bit of work to do to get back to 2019 levels. But what we saw was, foreign spend in restaurants at least was up.
Sean McCormick:
Yep. Definitely. Baby steps.
Al Grego:
Excellent. Thank you so much, Sean, for your time today.
Sean McCormick:
Thanks, Al.
Speaker 4:
Ask an expert.
Al Grego:
I'm joined by Jordan Williamson. He's the director of product strategy and development at Moneris. Jordan, thank you so much for taking some time for me today.
Jordan Williamson:
Of course, I'm happy to be here.
Al Grego:
So the theme for this month's podcast is tourist season. Restrictions are lifting, tourists are starting to be allowed into the country again. What sort of tools can you recommend that might help small business owners maximize on the tourist dollar?
Jordan Williamson:
One of the best would be dynamic currency conversion. And that comes from a few different angles. So to briefly explain what dynamic currency conversion is, what this is is when a tourist comes to a merchant's location and they use their card from their home country at a Moneris merchant, they're prompted in the middle of the transaction, whether they'd like to pay in their home currency or in Canadian dollars. So for example, if you're an American tourist and you're in Canada, it'll just say, "Do you want to pay in American dollars or Canadian dollars?" Pretty simple.
Jordan Williamson:
The benefit for the cardholder is, they're not going to have that sticker shock. I know I've had that before, where I travel to another country, I put something on my credit card, and when it's converted to Canadian dollars later on, I'm like, "Oof, I spent a lot more than I thought." So what this will allow is the cardholder to see the dollar figure up front, and be able to opt in to pay in their home currency, so that they're reconciling all their bills and their cash flow on their statements accordingly. Or it could just be a great reference point for them, and then they choose the Canadian dollars anyways. So it's basically a convenience factor for the cardholder, and it allows a small business merchant to offer that service that you might only commonly expect to see at a large national merchant. You have that same level of service down in the small business [inaudible 00:17:46].
Al Grego:
That's great. So it happens at point of transaction, when you've got the device in your hand, it'll show you the price in Canadian, but if you want to pay in your own currency, it'll show you the exchange rate right there.
Jordan Williamson:
Yeah, exactly. And it's real time. So we reach out in essentially a blink of an eye, and we see what the current FX rate is, and we present it back to the cardholders so that they're making the most informed decision at that point. And for the merchant, it doesn't matter to them what they choose. No matter what, they're going to be settled in Canadian dollars, it's not going to impact the funds deposited the next day or anything. Moneris handles that whole process. So although the cardholder's paying in American dollars, they're still being settled in Canadian dollars.
Al Grego:
That's great. So what cards are accepted right now with dynamic currency conversion?
Jordan Williamson:
So the two card brands that allow dynamic currency conversion are Visa and Mastercard. So obviously all card brands can do this FX in the background after the fact, but Visa and Mastercard understand the value to cardholders, so they're opening up and allowing the dynamic currency conversion. So that would be for Visa or Mastercard credit, which we're all used to, but in some other countries, Visa and Mastercard actually issue debit cards, so it'd work for those debit products as well.
Al Grego:
That's great. So if I'm a Moneris merchant and I wanted to add this feature to my payment processing, how difficult is it to do that?
Jordan Williamson:
It's very simple. So if you have one of our legacy products, one of the older terminals, or if you have our Moneris core platform, all you do is you call into Moneris, you ask them to add the service, there might be the typical sales process, a form you might need to sign, but in terms of actually enabling the solution, Moneris updates in the background, your terminal will sync, and it'll pull that update. And the next time that someone inserts their card, they'll be able to benefit from the service.
Al Grego:
Great. And is there an extra fee to this?
Jordan Williamson:
No, actually dynamic currency conversion is a very unique product where, because FX has... It's essentially a commodity, being able to transfer a foreign currency is a commodity that you would pay for on your credit card, or if you went to a money exchange, you would pay for that service anyways. So we put that same type of fee to the cardholder during the transaction process, and it's fully visible, they can see what the markup is, but essentially 1% of that transaction goes back to the merchant as a revenue share. So a merchant who enables this service right can actually have it as a revenue generating service on their behalf. There's no hard fees to them.
Al Grego:
Interesting. So it doesn't cost you extra, and it could actually make some money back for your business.
Jordan Williamson:
Exactly.
Al Grego:
That's great. Is there anything else we're forgetting here?
Jordan Williamson:
So through dynamic currency conversion, we actually see a decrease in chargebacks as well.
Al Grego:
Really? How does that work?
Jordan Williamson:
So using the example that I used before, if you travel and use your credit card overseas, or in another country, you might not recognize the merchant name or the amount that you spent, where doing that currency exchange upfront allows them to see exactly how much they're going to be charged, which then allows, when you see your credit statement a month later, you can say, "$75 for dinner, I remember spending that," because you're not being hit with that conversion after the fact. So we actually see a decrease in chargebacks for merchants who use dynamic currency conversion, specifically for foreign cards.
Al Grego:
That's great.
Jordan Williamson:
Obviously in the ever competitive market, no matter what your business is, whether it's a restaurant, retail, if you're in services, we have to look at ways that we can deliver more value to our customers. And one way is by reducing friction and giving a better payment experience. And dynamic currency conversion can really help with that, especially in heavy tourist areas. Not every tourist who comes into Canada has French or English as their first language, so the payment process can be a little bit anxiety inducing as it is. When they see their home currency, and we mark it out very nicely with the flag of their home country, it can translate the entire thing into numbers and allow them to understand the payment process a lot better. So it can help with not only the settlement [inaudible 00:21:24] transactions later on, but also seeing upfront exactly how much it costs in your home currency can really help.
Al Grego:
It certainly sounds like a no-brainer for anybody who might have customers coming in from out of country.
Jordan Williamson:
Yeah. Exactly.
Al Grego:
Thank you so much, Jordan, for your time today.
Jordan Williamson:
No problem. Thank you.
Speaker 4:
Save the date.
Al Grego:
I'm joined by Amanda Ibrahim. She's the communications specialist on our events and ESG team. Thank you for joining me today, Amanda.
Amanda Ibrahim:
Thanks for having me, Al.
Al Grego:
So what do you have in store for us for July?
Amanda Ibrahim:
All right. Another busy month. On July 15th, Moneris will be at the Immigrant Women in Business conference network. This conference is all about women's empowerment, social impact, diversity, equity, and entrepreneurship.
Al Grego:
And where can people learn more about this event?
Amanda Ibrahim:
You can find out more on Immigrant Women in Business's website.
Al Grego:
Very good. What's next?
Amanda Ibrahim:
On July 21st to the 23rd, Moneris will be at the Canadian Medical Veterinarian Association Convention at the Halifax Convention Centre.
Al Grego:
Is there a link for that one?
Amanda Ibrahim:
Yeah, you can come check us out at booth 202, and to register, you can check out the CVMA website.
Al Grego:
What else do you have for us, Amanda?
Amanda Ibrahim:
On July 28th, Moneris is hosting the second webinar of the three part series this summer. Madhu Manoharan, senior product manager at Moneris, will be chatting about how to prepare your business for the holidays, because it's never too early to start planning.
Al Grego:
Oh, boy. We're already talking about the holidays.
Amanda Ibrahim:
Yep.
Al Grego:
Where can we learn more about that?
Amanda Ibrahim:
You can register at smallbusinessbc.ca.
Al Grego:
Excellent. Anything else?
Amanda Ibrahim:
Yeah, I just want to call out the third cohort of the eCommerce North accelerator applications are still open, but this is your last call to apply. Applications are closed on July 13th.
Al Grego:
Excellent. Last call for the eCommerce North. So if you want to apply, apply now. Where can they apply?
Amanda Ibrahim:
ecommercenorth.ca.
Al Grego:
Perfect. Thank you so much, Amanda.
Amanda Ibrahim:
Thank you, Al.
Al Grego:
And that's all we have for this month. I hope you found this episode informative. Before we sign off, I'd like to let you know that there are now two seasons of the Yes, We Are Open podcast available to binge right now. Each season features eight stories from eight different small Canadian businesses. I tell their origin story, the story of their greatest struggle, and how they overcame that struggle. Here's a little taste from the latest season two.
Al Grego:
Right now, you can binge season two of the Yes, We Are Open podcast. Eight Canadian businesses with eight stories of perseverance.
Speaker 9:
Yes, we're open.
Speaker 10:
Yes, we are open.
Speaker 11:
Yes, we are open.
Speaker 12:
Yes, we are open.
Speaker 13:
Hell yeah, we're open.
Al Grego:
[inaudible 00:24:15] now to Yes, We Are Open. Available wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 14:
(beep) yes, we're open, and we're not going anywhere.
Speaker 15:
I love it. That's great.
Speaker 14:
We're here to stay.
Speaker 15:
Perfect.
Angel Zou:
If you haven't already, you can subscribe to this podcast and Yes, We Are Open wherever you get your podcast.
Al Grego:
And if you'd like to support this show, share this podcast with your network, or review us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. And finally, if you have any payment related questions you'd like to submit to one of our experts, you can email us at podcast@moneris.com.
Angel Zou:
Join us again next month for more expert insight and data to help you grow your business.
Al Grego:
Angel, thank you so much for co-hosting.
Angel Zou:
Thank you for having me.
Al Grego:
On behalf of Angel, myself, and the rest of Moneris, thank you for listening to Shop Talk. Talk again in August.
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