This is a special message from American Express.

Despite the recession, 2010 proved to be a good year for a large segment of restaurant owners. According to the National Restaurant Association (NRA), 51 percent of restaurant operators reported same-store sales gains from October 2009 to October 2010, up from 44 percent of operators in September. The NRA also says that restaurant operators remain solidly optimistic about sales growth in the first months of 2011, with 43 percent of restaurateurs expecting higher sales¹.

This potential influx of business brings with it several challenges alongside opportunities for growth. As recent years have financially impacted the restaurant industry, owners, managers and chefs have all had to make many tough decisions regarding staffing and operations in order to maintain profit margins.

Some have even gone so far as to make potentially perilous decisions, such as switching to a cash-only policy or not accepting certain credit cards. Yet as noted in a recent New York Times write-up, such policies may be limiting their opportunities for growth – and doing their bottom lines a major disservice. Essentially, it’s important to accept as many methods of payment as possible – thus providing a service that can build lasting customer relationships.

Transitioning from Survival to Growth in the Digital Age

As with many other industries, the restaurant business is being altered and enhanced by technology. Mobile “check-in” applications have opened new channels for building customer relationships, and there has been substantial industry and technology sector buzz around the burgeoning usage of iPads as “virtual” wine lists and menus. With these and other similar trends on the rise, it’s important that restaurants ensure that they are taking advantage of less newsworthy, but perhaps more practical, technology solutions.

As the restaurant industry prepares itself for a surge in business, it often does so without as much manpower or flexibility. Yet this affords the individual restaurant and its management an opportunity to maximize any tools and resources that can organize and streamline processes: what has up until recently been essential for survival can now serve as a blueprint for business growth.

One such platform is Online Merchant Services (OMS) from American Express – a 24/7 account management tool that tackles a wide variety of transaction processes and can be adapted and customized to fit the needs of almost any restaurant. It’s ideal for helping to manage business growth in the often fast-paced, multiple-ticket restaurant industry, facilitating the management and organization of payments, settlements and pending settlements. The tool organizes a wide variety of data in one location, provides transaction-level detail for American Express charges, and streamlines the dispute resolution process.

A Foundation for Building and Managing Business

OMS is an easy-to-use, dedicated web platform for managing a segment of restaurant business that can be key to future growth. American Express Cardmembers are known to be more affluent, higher-spending consumers². They’re also more loyal, both to the Card itself and to those establishments who accept it³. Essentially, they have the potential to become the repeat customers that can help grow businesses.

The OMS platform was developed to efficiently facilitate all the payment, dispute and account details a restaurant manager might otherwise handle on the phone or through mail – customizable payment views can help track and estimate sales, account alerts are essential for proactive dispute resolution and avoiding chargebacks, and information can be coordinated across multiple franchises. By reducing the need for paper reporting and telephone inquiries, OMS can help managers save time and gain greater control over all aspects of an American Express account.

Both franchises and independent restaurants that are considering branching out to additional locations will welcome many of the streamlined capabilities of this tool. Payment information can be viewed and downloaded at any number of locales, simplifying the coordination of payments across multiple business locations. They can also customize the tool based on preferences, limit access rights to certain users for security purposes, and view up to twelve months of payments history to analyze and chart sales trends.

By accepting American Express and taking advantage of OMS, restaurants can open their doors to the opportunities and challenges of 2011. With streamlined and customized account management, they’ll have more time to get back to taking care of patrons and building the kinds of customer relationships that help grow businesses.

To learn more about American Express and Online Merchant Services, visit americanexpress.com/omstour.

^{1  NRA press release: http://www.restaurant.org/pressroom/pressrelease/?ID=2027.}

^{2  Brookfield Research, August 2009: American Express Cardmembers’ average household income is $95,000, which is 1.4 times higher than Non-Cardmembers’ average household income of $66,000. American Express Cardmembers spent, on average, $4,286 on purchases using all types of cards in the past 3 months, which is 2.5 times as much as the $1,736 Non-Cardmembers spent, on average in the past 3 months.}

^{3  Brookfield Research, August 2009: 46 percent of American Express Cardmembers say they purchase more and/or spend more with merchants who accept American Express than with merchants who do not}