Empowering Restaurant Success: Laura Wilber on Dinova's Business Dining Strategy

In this episode, Jeremy interviews Laura Wilber of Dinova. Laura explains her role in connecting 560 global companies and the US Department of Defense with a network of 25,000 restaurants that cater to business travelers. She highlights the value of having a business dining strategy, especially when consumer confidence and traffic are trending down. Dinova helps restaurants attract business diners, who often spend more when using company-issued credit cards. Laura also discusses the program's inclusivity, extending benefits to quick serve restaurants and high-end dining alike. She shares how restaurant operators can join Dinova's network to increase their visibility and sales. The episode underscores the important role Dinova plays in driving restaurant success.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction

00:08 Laura Wilbur's Background and Role

00:53 Dinova's Services and Impact

01:42 Sponsorship and Event Details

02:04 Business Dining Strategy Insights

03:30 Incentives for Business Travelers

05:16 Restaurant Operator Involvement

08:09 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Jeremy Julian: 0:00

Laura, why don't you introduce yourself to our audience for those that might not have heard the full podcast that we did. But we're gonna talk a little bit about what's going on at RLC, but. I'd love for our listeners to hear who is Laura Wilber.

Laura Wilber: 0:08

Thank you so much for asking Jeremy. So my name is Laura. I believe that showing up is 80% of success, and when we show up consistently at places like this, we are unstoppable. And I'm in the business of showing up for my restaurant clients and bringing friends, and by friends 21 million expense account diners who are traveling for business. Looking for great restaurants for dine-in carryout, catering, and in some cases private events and even buyouts.

Jeremy Julian: 0:38

you're, you are so articulate, and one of the things I love about talking to you is just how articulate you are about what Dinova does. So I guess I, I buried the lead there. Tell me who do you work for and how does that even manifest itself in today's day and age?

Laura Wilber: 0:52

Okay, thank you. so I work for de. Corporate dining, and we are contracted by global companies and government agencies to find great restaurants for their teams traveling for business. The company started 16 years ago, and it started because one company said. hey, if we shifted our spending to this one restaurant, would they give us some consideration for that? Would they give us some sort of kickback or loyalty rebate? The answer was yes. And over the past 16 years, we've been working to grow that network. we're now hired by 560 global companies, incredible. Plus the US Department of Defense. And we have about 25,000 restaurants benefiting from incremental sales because these companies are shifting their spending to their partners.

Jeremy Julian: 1:41

Love that. So I guess first and foremost, I should say thank you. We're at RLC. While we're recording this, you guys probably hear some background noise, but. You guys ended up sponsoring the influencer alley, so thank you for that opportunity.'cause I probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for your organization, making sure that we could come out and record some of this content. So I appreciate that piece. You're

Laura Wilber: 1:58

very welcome and thank you for having me chat with you. It's always such a pleasure, Jeremy.

Jeremy Julian: 2:03

It's awesome. so we've been talking a lot or we've been hearing a lot this week at RLC, just about traffic and traffic being a struggle for people. Traffic is trending down, consumer confidence is trending down. I guess as a restaurant owner and operator, what value can Dinova bring to somebody like that might be seeing the horizon that says, Hey, I'm gonna need to make sure that I'm getting acquisition.

Laura Wilber: 2:26

Okay. it's really honestly a good time, to two. To really consider, do you have a business dining strategy? a lot of operators have benefited from taking price and, but traffic has remained relatively flat and now that it's almost down by almost 5% as of the omic talk that we saw yesterday morning or yesterday afternoon, it's really great time to invite these business travelers and diners into the restaurant. And thankfully there's a turnkey solution that's Dinova that helps them do that. the nice thing too is that if consumers are pulling back on how frequently they're dining out. They're still the restaurants I talk to every day. Still, the majority of them say that weekends they're still doing great. Yep. And that's, they don't want to cannibalize any of that week, that, weekend inventory. But the business traveler naturally wants to be home for dinner by Friday night with their family if they can. So they're dining out primarily early and midweek. Yeah. And then the other cool thing is that when somebody's paying with a company issued credit card, they spend 50 to 200% more than a guest paying with their own money. So they're just not as price sensitive.

Jeremy Julian: 3:41

and you and I talked, when we did the full podcast about just being in that selection criteria. When you're choosing to go out for a business meal, I get the privilege of taking clients and vendors out or choosing the restaurants oftentimes when we're going out and if there was an incentive. For me and the restaurant was part of my selection criteria. It changes the game. even quite frankly from a discovery perspective, especially when we're traveling. We happen to be in Phoenix right now. I know a half a dozen restaurants around here, but if there was something on my list, I. I would certainly be more apt to select that. Is that kind of what you're seeing from the business travelers?

Laura Wilber: 4:15

Absolutely. Absolutely. So last night we were at Ocean Prime. Oh, poor baby. I know. and it's Cameron Mitchell Restaurants. They've been a great partner for a long time at Dinova. And so that's when we are looking for where to entertain our clients. we co-hosted an event for. For restaurant operators. And then tonight we're also having dinner there again because we love it. It's also five minutes from this venue. They do an incredible job, but it really, it does help you narrow, narrow your focus. the companies, when people are given a company card, they're trained on, hey. here's our partner, airline partner, rental car, partner, hotel, and dine at one of these 25,000 restaurants as a good steward of company resources, but also you, the corporate card holder are gonna receive perks. my Dinova reward points. Okay? When you choose a partner restaurant, so there's. There's an incentive for the company as far as expense management, but also for the individual traveler.

Jeremy Julian: 5:16

And is that also relevant for restaurant operators that are traveling where they might not have, do you guys have any restaurant clients that you guys have on the program? I just want, this is literally a question that came up. Yeah. In my head, it's Hey, if I'm working for a national brand and I need to go out to eat, is that something that also would make sense to do? Because there's restaurant operators that are gonna be listening to this. That one wanna be on the platform to have people dine there. Yeah. But the flip side is also true, I'm assuming, but I don't know. Yeah, I'd love to understand.

Laura Wilber: 5:41

Yeah, so there is an option for smaller business owners, and that's MasterCard easy savings. Okay. They're a partner, so if you want to earn rewards on dining, I would encourage that. MasterCard, easy savings. The enterprise clients that we have to be an official company that hires Dinova To run your network, you have to be spending, you have to have an official company card policy and spend. I'm not positive what the threshold is now, but I think it's around$5 million annually. On spending at restaurants in order to, for us to say yes for it to be a

Jeremy Julian: 6:15

relevant thing. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, we'll run it. Okay. And so if I'm a restaurant operator, how do I get involved in this program? How do I get part of that selection criteria? Because Ocean Prime is a different kind of restaurant than some of the other ones. And I was a little bit, misled as it related to what you guys do. And I think it's not just the highest of the high end right type of experiences. Tell our listeners a little bit more about that.

Laura Wilber: 6:35

Thank you. I will. So right now we are, we are waiting for one of our partners at Jolly Beef Foods, Kevin, to be interviewed, for another podcast, and their leadership team is here at the Restaurant Leadership Conference That is an example of a quick serve restaurant. That is fried chicken and spaghetti. Exactly. it's, it's. That's an example of a restaurant that is obviously QSR quick serve. I remember when I first brought them on, there were some, people that were saying, that's not business dining, but absolutely it is because when we're traveling for business, we need morning coffee. Quick drive through if that's all we have time for. last call at the bar, Michelin starred restaurant. entertainment. That's an, that's something else that we're getting a lot of requests for Yep. Is people who want an experience. So we've been having requests for, golf type experience, like mini golf. And hopefully we'll be adding. That as an option soon. But as far as a, you asked the question about if a restaurant operator listening wants to get involved with Inova or find out more, it's as easy as reaching out to me, hopefully. I am on LinkedIn, very active

Jeremy Julian: 7:51

on LinkedIn. I posted a fantastic article yesterday about the Technomic thing, so thank

Laura Wilber: 7:55

you. And you're probably sick of hearing, hearing about me or from me on LinkedIn, but it really is a great way to reach me. And it's just Laura Wilbur. I think I'm the first one that pops up Wilber with an er, so that's a great way to reach me. But, awesome.

Jeremy Julian: 8:09

Yeah. thanks for, sponsoring in, the influencer ally. Don't let anybody on my team think, call me an influencer'cause they'll gimme travel about it. But, very much appreciate your support for the restaurant industry as you and I have talked about offline. It's just amazing. How much you guys wanna see restaurants succeed. So I love that you guys continue to do that. And I, I would encourage all of our listeners out there to check these guys out.'cause even if you're a QSR, even if you're, it doesn't matter. You don't have to be a Michelin star restaurant in order to be part of the program.'cause everybody needs to eat. And depending upon what that corporate, occasion is, it's gonna be a different experience. It's gonna be a dined in, it might be a catering order, those kind of things. So lots and lots of different opportunities to partner with you guys. So thanks for hanging out.

Laura Wilber: 8:44

Thank you.