By Kate Fuller, Senior Marketing Manager at IRIS - 4.1.2025
With spring in full bloom and summer fast approaching, now is the perfect time for hospitality operators to implement a tech-forward F&B strategy that maximizes seasonal opportunities. Mobile ordering, digital menus, and guest engagement platforms have revolutionized how hotels and resorts manage food and beverage operations—delivering greater efficiency, personalization, and profitability.
As you prepare for the busy summer season, here are five ways to leverage technology to boost F&B revenues and create memorable guest experiences:
1. Spotlight Seasonal and Local Produce—Digitally
Summer menus thrive on fresh, vibrant ingredients—and guests increasingly seek seasonal, sustainable choices. Integrate locally sourced items into your digital menu with rich content that highlights their origin, producers, and freshness. Interactive descriptions and dynamic tagging in your digital menu system can help guests filter for seasonal items, while QR-code menus or mobile ordering apps make updates quick and seamless.
Promote on-site activations such as local wine tastings or guest chef takeovers via your mobile guest directory or push notifications. Not only do these events enrich the guest experience, but real-time promotion through your tech stack can increase attendance and revenue.
2. Let Visual Content Drive Conversions
Today’s mobile-first guests expect a visually compelling experience. Strong imagery can significantly influence ordering decisions, so be sure your digital menus and in-room tablets include high-quality photos of summer cocktails, vibrant salads, and grilled specialties.
Use digital signage, in-app banners, and pre-arrival emails to surface seasonal F&B imagery across multiple touchpoints. Some platforms allow A/B testing of visuals and layouts—leverage this to find the most effective presentation style and boost average order value.
3. Promote Smarter, Sell More
Whether it’s a poolside lunch discount, a pop-up BBQ event, or a limited-edition cocktail series, tech makes F&B promotion easier and more effective. Use mobile ordering platforms to highlight time-sensitive offers or location-based promotions (e.g., “Order now from your lounger”).
These promotions can be easily scheduled and updated through the back end of your ordering platform, ensuring you’re always delivering relevant, revenue-driving offers without operational friction.
4. Dive Deep Into the Data
The smartest F&B strategies are driven by data, not guesswork. Mobile ordering platforms provide rich reporting dashboards that let you analyze sales performance by menu item, outlet, time of day, and guest segment.
These insights can help you identify best-sellers, optimize pricing, streamline inventory, and reduce waste. Use historical data to forecast demand for key dates and events—and adjust staff scheduling and supply chains accordingly for smoother operations and higher margins.
5. Personalization at Scale
With the right technology, personalization doesn’t have to mean complexity. Use guest profiles and past order data to recommend popular add-ons or upsell items—such as a seasonal cocktail with a salad or a dessert with a main course.
AI-powered recommendation engines can do this automatically, and in-app prompts (“Would you like to add a glass of rosé?”) can meaningfully increase basket size. Enable pre-arrival ordering to give guests the option of having their fridge stocked with preferred snacks and beverages upon check-in.
Additionally, integrate your loyalty program with your digital ordering solution to deliver personalized promotions and exclusive discounts to your most valuable guests. Not only does this enhance the guest experience, it increases repeat orders and brand affinity.
The Tech Behind the Taste
Ultimately, maximizing summer F&B revenue is about more than just seasonal menus—it’s about using the right tools to manage orders, personalize experiences, and track performance. A flexible digital menu, intuitive guest ordering system, and robust analytics dashboard are key ingredients in a successful summer strategy.
So before the heat sets in, make sure your digital ecosystem is ready to handle the season’s opportunities. With smart tech in place, your guests will enjoy a smoother, more personalized experience—and you’ll be soaking up the profits all summer long.
As Senior Marketing Manager at IRIS, Kate Fuller is responsible for raising the hotel solution provider’s profile and generating demand for its first-class software solutions that are trusted by the leading luxury and chain hotels of the world. IRIS is the global market leader in digital F&B ordering, guest directory and concierge solutions for hotels, working with many of the world’s leading chains including Marriott, Ennismore, Mandarin Oriental, IHG and Four Seasons. Prior to joining IRIS, Kate worked for Guestline, a global PMS vendor, to market their range of solutions to independent hotels across Europe and Asia. With over 20 years of marketing experience and most latterly in the technology industry.
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