Hospitality Marketing needs to evolve. Nadav Solomon, Co-Founder and President of Tabit Technologies, tells Portada that hospitality marketers need to embrace social media as a key component for customer acquisition and retention. They also need to own their own data,  which will allow them to improve customer relationship management and execute new loyalty programs. Tabit recently announced a partnership with the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Florida International University (FIU) to help educate students in restaurant operations, management, and profitability.

By Alex de Carvalho

Hospitality Marketing needs to evolve due to major changes in consumer behavior and new opportunities provided by Marketing Technologies. Due to the pandemic, the U.S. restaurant industry, a subsector of the hospitality industry, finished  2020 with total sales of around US $659 billion, or US $240 billion less than the  US $863 billion achieved in 2019. Following the pandemic restaurant owners are seeking new efficiencies to improve the top and bottom lines as they adapt to new economic and social conditions. After long periods of lockdown and reduced occupancy from social distancing rules, the food and beverage industry must now respond to new challenges; consumers are working remotely from home and dining out less as they stopped commuting and as they got better at cooking. Industry surveys indicate consumers favor eating at home more frequently, and restaurants must respond to new customer demands and expectations for both online and contactless reservations, ordering, and payment solutions. Hospitality technology solution provider Tabit seeks to help restaurants improve their profit margins by increasing the efficiency of operations, by providing more payment options, and by protecting against the transaction fees charged by online reservations and delivery aggregators.

Tabit Technologies kicked off its expansion in the United States after becoming the dominant player in the food and beverage space in Israel, with a market share of over 45 percent. To support its North American expansion, the company raised US $35M in its Series B round of venture capital funding led by Vertex Ventures Israel in April 2020. Nationwide customers include fine-dining restaurants and large chains, food service businesses, hotels, cruise lines, and local mom-and-pop operations.

Hospitality Marketing: Emphasis on Social and First Party Data

Portada spoke with Nadav Solomon, Co-Founder and President of Tabit, about their recent participation at

the SoBe Wine & Food Festival, where Tabit sponsored the 2021 Bacardi Bar Project hosted by FIU. “Tabit provided the technology implementation for the student’s model of the future of hospitality. Our mobile POS and operating system served as the cornerstone for the student’s customer-focused concept.”

Our mobile POS and operating system served as the cornerstone for the student’s customer-focused concept.

What’s next for the food and beverage industry? Looking ahead, Solomon sees three strong trends which restaurants must inevitably adapt to. The first is the implementation of cloud-based solutions with wireless systems in a new contactless world that prioritizes hygiene and distancing. The second is the adoption of social media as a key component for customer acquisition and retention, with seamless and integrated options for online reservations and ordering. The third trend is the expectation from hospitality businesses to own their own data, which will allow them to improve customer relationship management and execute new loyalty programs.

Cloud-based solutions with wireless systems in a new contactless world will prioritize hygiene and distancing.

Partnership with Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at FIU

Tabit has partnered with the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Florida International University (FIU) to help educate students in hospitality marketing, restaurant operations, management, and profitability. As part of the partnership, Tabit has implemented its cloud-based and mobile-first operating system in the Wine Spectator Restaurant Management Laboratory teaching facility at FIU. With this partnership, Tabit joins recognized brands like Southern Glazers Wine & Spirits, Bacardi USA, Marriott, Carnival Cruise Lines, Badia Spices Inc, and others in bringing educational resources to FIU’s Chaplin School.

Nadav Solomon, Co-Founder and President of Tabit, moved to Miami and established North American headquarters close to FIU’s Biscayne Campus in North Miami. “We are excited to bring the latest in digital and mobile-first hospitality technology into the teaching environment at FIU’s Chaplin School,” said Solomon. “Students will be prepared with both the customer service and the business management skills required to operate restaurants profitably in today’s economic environment.”

We are excited to bring the latest in digital and mobile-first hospitality technology into the teaching environment at FIU’s Chaplin School.

Students enrolled in the school’s Advanced Food Production course learn how to integrate technology into restaurant operations. Tabit’s point-of-sale (POS) and back-office functionality use tablets and smartphones as the primary touchpoints, allowing student servers to take customer orders in a mobile environment. Along with the supporting TabitKitchen digital kitchen displays, the wireless technology eliminates delays and errors associated with the use of handwritten or printed food tickets.

Some of the specialized features Tabit brings to the curriculum include key actionable elements of successful hospitality marketing like online guest registrations, upselling opportunities while taking the order, contactless tableside payment options, curbside pickup solutions, post-dining customer loyalty and relationship management, and the use of digital dashboards to analyze restaurant performance metrics. Through the use of technology, students learn to increase efficiencies in restaurant processes, food prep accuracy, speed, and customer service. Tabit’s team mentors students during dining sessions, showing them best practices in managing reservations, creating menus, taking orders, improving service and curbside delivery, and optimizing for profitability. Students learn how to create workflows by leveraging operational data that could not be collected manually with traditional order-taking methods.

Restaurants Must Adopt Social Media and First-Party Data as a Key Component of Customer Acquisition and Retention.