Whether you run a trendy BYOB in your neighborhood or you’re building a chain of fast-casual restaurants, the resounding message from consumers these days is pretty much the same. Your customers expect personalization.
“Going out to eat is expensive,” observes Back of House restaurant tech expert Spencer Michiel. “Your customers may be willing to tolerate some of these rising costs, but they expect a bit more in return. They expect dining experiences that cater to their preferences.”
How widespread are these consumer expectations?
In a recent article, the Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN) went so far as to call 2026 “the year of personalized dining experiences.” According to the article, 62% of surveyed consumers said that brands that don’t cater to their personal preferences would actually lose their loyalty. That’s a statistic none of us can afford to ignore.
So let’s talk a bit about what this means for your restaurant. How can you be sure that you’re personalizing the customer experience? How can creating restaurant customer profiles help? And what role can technology play in helping you develop effective restaurant personalization strategies?
“Before you can provide this level of personalization you need to understand who your customers are and what they really want out of their dining experience,” Spencer explains. "That's why building meaningful and data-driven customer profiles is so important.”
Let’s start with the basics.
Restaurant customer profiles are detailed personas for each of your customers. A profile will typically include some of the following:
Creating restaurant customer profiles requires you to collect data. But what does that mean exactly? What kinds of data points are we talking about and how can you gather them?
“This is where the technology you’re using really comes into play,” Spencer explains. “In most cases, you’ll be taking in data and information from a few different sources. And as usual, the biggest piece of the puzzle will be your POS [point of sale] system.”
“If you’re using an all-in-one POS system like Square or Toast, then you already have a lot of tools at your disposal for collecting data and information about your customers,” Spencer notes.
Leading POS systems typically track data points like:
Square even provides a customer directory application that is specifically designed for creating restaurant customer profiles.
Digital tokens have become an extremely important source of customer data. But what exactly are tokens and how do they work? We’ll try to explain without getting too technical about it.
Every time a customer completes a mobile, credit card payment, or contactless payment, your POS system sends this payment information through a digital gateway. This digital gateway turns every transaction into a secure, encrypted token.
The point of this token, Spencer explains, is to “provide a higher level of encryption beyond just the magnetic stripe on the back of the card. So if you need to go back and, for example, process a refund, you're not looking at any sensitive data. You're just looking at this token.”
However, in addition to the security they provide, these tokens have proven to be an incredibly valuable source of data about individual spending habits, transaction history, dining preferences, and more.
That’s why POS systems like Square include customer data platform tools, which make it extremely easy to collect, interpret, and use data from transaction tokens. These data points are incredibly useful when it comes to creating restaurant customer profiles while still protecting customer privacy.
Many leading POS systems include hardware such as handheld tablets or mobile payment devices. These let your staff gather and access customer information tableside. Likewise, many POS systems include inbuilt applications for customer relationship management (CRM), loyalty programs, and direct marketing campaigns.
We’ll explain these applications in more detail below.
There are a number of other tech-based solutions you can use to gather customer information. Your POS system may already provide a lot of these tools.
However, third-party providers often offer specialized features, new innovations, and a high-touch level of customer support that you won’t get with a bigger POS provider. Therefore, you may want to incorporate some third-party tools into your tech stack.
For example:
“Obviously, you don’t have to use every single one of these solutions to gather customer information,” Spencer notes, “but the right combination of tools can give you a much clearer picture of who your customers are and what they expect from their dining experience.”
Now that you know where your data is coming from, let’s talk about how you can turn all those data points into something you can use.
First and foremost, you need to consolidate all of your customer data in a single place. If you’re using the tools provided by an all-in-one POS system, you already have a user-friendly dashboard that allows you to do this.
Any third-party tools you use should integrate with your POS system. Spencer explains, “It’s absolutely essential for your POS system to be able to share and receive data from your online ordering system. And in an ideal situation, your loyalty program and your reservation system would also be compatible.
“But,” Spencer warns, “you need to know whether your systems are compatible before purchasing any platform. Integrations actually need to be developed and maintained by the software engineers in both companies — your POS provider and any vendors you use for add-on products. So be sure to ask providers about direct integrations before you purchase any tech.”
Whatever tools you add, make sure you’re using them to their fullest potential. This means you’ll need to prioritize the right data points — the kind of information you can use to learn customer preferences, personalize promotions, and reward customers for their repeat business.
Focus on data points like:
Your POS system and many of the other tools you’ll be using can also provide detailed reporting and insights to help you understand and make sense of your data. Take advantage of these reporting features.
Communicate directly with your customers through channels like social media, email/SMS (text), loyalty programs, and reputation management tools. Use these channels to:
Use the data you’ve gathered on individual customers to identify “segments” of your customer base. Transaction tokens can be an especially helpful resource for segmenting your customer base, and many customer data platforms include tools that can help you identify customer segments.
This means you want to group individuals based on things like frequency of visits and ordering preferences. You can use these data points to identify regulars or pinpoint former repeat customers who haven’t visited in a while.
With some CRM tools, you can even customize customer segments. This means you can create segments, or groups, for vegan or gluten-free diners, happy hour regulars, and weekend brunchers. The better you can identify customers by their behaviors and preferences, the easier it is to personalize your offers and outreach.
“Now that you have these rich customer profiles, use them to show your customers that you’re actually paying attention on a personal level,” Spencer advises. “Use that information to deliver on what they expect, what they want, and what they’ve earned through their loyalty.”
POS systems with handheld tablets make it possible for your staff to access customer profiles before guests with reservations arrive. This means you can greet them by name, identify dietary restrictions in advance, and highlight specials based on their dining preferences.
Send targeted promotions to your loyalty club members through email and SMS based on individual ordering history.
Use each guest’s dining history to suggest new menu items, drink pairings, and add-ons that align with their tastes and dietary restrictions.
Of course, that’s not all you can do with all of this customer data. You can also use this information to improve other aspects of your operation. For example:
Each of these operational improvements should also contribute to an improved customer experience, one that is not only personalized but also consistent, efficient, and of the highest quality.
So how exactly can you take all of this information and turn it into a system for creating restaurant customer profiles? There are actually a lot of different options, whether you integrate tools from a handful of reputable vendors or you choose to do everything through a single, all-in-one POS system.
Not sure which is the best option for your business? Reach out for your free, personalized consultation with Spencer or another of our seasoned in-house restaurant tech pros and we’ll work together to figure out what makes the most sense for you.