System and method for reducing excess capacity for restaurants and other industries during off-peak or other times
a technology applied in the field of system and method for reducing excess capacity for restaurants and other industries during off-peak or other times, can solve the problems of general lack of customer level information, difficult to achieve customer level information, and many restaurants do not have detailed information about their customers, etc., to achieve the effect of increasing the prominence of the display and generating additional revenu
Inactive Publication Date: 2013-07-09
MOUNT HAMILTON PARTNERS
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AI Technical Summary
Benefits of technology
The invention allows restaurants to collect more information about customers by requiring them to register and provide identification and demographic information during the registration process. This information can be used for marketing campaigns and to issue incentives to customers without the need for a paper certificate. The incentive can be sent electronically to the customer and can be automatically deducted from the amount to be charged. The customer can also pay the bill using a registered credit card and receive a confirmation message with the incentive amount. This eliminates the need for a certificate and provides other advantages.
Problems solved by technology
Among the many challenges that restaurants face are the challenges of reducing excess capacity during off-peak times and the general lack of customer level information.
Typically unused seats translate to lost sales for a restaurant.
Many restaurants do not have detailed information about their customers.
This lack of information is a lost opportunity.
However, this is not the most efficient way to advertise.
These and other drawbacks and challenges face the restaurant industry.
Similar problems are faced by other industries that have excess capacity issues.
Method used
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Embodiment Construction
[0065]One embodiment of the present invention enables a restaurant (or other entity) to offer (e.g., auction) gift certificates valid for a predetermined period of time so that customers or potential customers may bid on these certificates. The predetermined period of time may include off peak hours of restaurant attendance. For example, some restaurants may have excess capacity on Monday-Thursday nights between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. This results in empty seats and lost revenue. The present invention provides a creative and interactive system and method for auctioning or otherwise offering discount certificates or other promotions at restaurants where the time period of use may be set for off peak hours, days, nights, or even weeks or months.
[0066]The present invention may include at least a registration module, an auction module, a request module, a restaurant guide module, a restaurant manager module, a rewards and referral center module, a reservation system module, a feature auction...
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A system and method for reducing excess capacity for restaurants and other industries during off-peak hours is provided. Customers or potential customers may bid on gift certificates redeemable at restaurants during a predetermined time. Users may register with the system and provide identification and demographic information which may be used by restaurants for targeted marketing strategies, promotions, and special offers. The system may include a registration module, an auction module, a restaurant guide module, a restaurant manager module, rewards and referral center module, restaurant reservation module, and advertisement displays.
Description
[0001]The present application is related to, and a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 849,935, filed May 21, 2004, which was a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 580,546, filed May 30, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,741,969, which was a continuation-in-part of, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 461,336, filed Dec. 15, 1999, each of which are hereby incorporated by reference into the present applications in their entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTIONBackground of the Invention[0002]Among the many challenges that restaurants face are the challenges of reducing excess capacity during off-peak times and the general lack of customer level information. Restaurants typically have a fixed number of seats. During certain periods there is greater demand for those seats than others. At some times there are people waiting to get seated (for example, on weekend evenings during dinnertime) and at other times there are unused seats (for example, 4-7 p.m. during the week). Ty...
Claims
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IPC IPC(8): G06Q30/00G05B19/418
InventorCHEN, DAZHIBEREAN, ELAYNA
OwnerMOUNT HAMILTON PARTNERS