Going ‘Behind the Firewall’ to Unlock Corporate Dining Revenue

Companies are using technology for expense visibility and control. To earn their business, restaurants need to adapt.

Gone are the days when companies simply set a per diem for their road warriors and bid them safe travels. They now use sophisticated technologies to save money on bookings, ensure travel policy compliance, and gain visibility into every expense category — including business meals.

Suppliers like airlines and hotels have long understood the importance of getting “behind the firewall” — partnering with companies to negotiate rates and become preferred vendors. Considering dining is one of the largest expense categories for companies, it’s also essential for restaurants to get behind corporate firewalls. But unlike large hotel chains and airlines, they typically lack the teams and infrastructure to manage partnership programs.

So, how can restaurants become preferred suppliers, too? The answer is actually quite simple: Join Dinova’s preferred business dining program.

How We Get Your Restaurant Behind Corporate Firewalls

When companies seek visibility and control over dining spend, their second-largest expense category, they turn to Dinova. Our program mutually benefits restaurants and corporations by connecting business diners with participating business-grade restaurants. Here’s how.

1. Travel policies and procedures. Companies want to maximize participation in our program. When their employees dine within our restaurant network, they earn rebates that curb T&E expenses. We become a part of their policies and employee training, and employees are incentivized to earn personal rewards by dining in-network.
2. Integration with travel management platforms. We’ve partnered with popular corporate travel planning platforms TripKicks and EmburseGo, which empower travelers to make informed booking decisions ahead of trips. These tools, along with our restaurant marketplace app for iOS and Android, help travelers find dining options close to their destination.
3. Official corporate communications. Our corporate partners actively encourage employees to choose our restaurants for dining, catering, and entertaining by promoting Dinova Restaurant Finder in emails, company intranets, and booking tools.

A Hands-Off Way to Drive Profitable Corporate Business

Many restaurants hesitate to adopt new POS systems that require operational changes and employee training. But our platform is different from typical rewards or loyalty programs. Using cardholder data from our corporate partners, we automatically track and report on in-network spending.

Partner restaurants can expect a significant business dining boost:

• Restaurants typically see a sales increase of 1-3x from business diners in the first year.
• Business diners spend about 50% more per check than other consumers and spend more on high-margin items like alcohol.
• 86% of business diners will visit mid-week, filling seats during slower days.
• About 71% of our business diners are from out of town, unlocking a new revenue opportunity outside of your “regulars.”