In the restaurant industry, building strong relationships with guests is just as important as what’s on the plate. That’s where a CRM—Customer Relationship Management tool—comes in. For hospitality venues in Australia choosing the right CRM can mean the difference between a one-time visitor and a lifelong regular.
So, what should you look for in a CRM, and which options stand out in the ANZ market?
Popular Restaurant CRMs in ANZ
Several CRMs are commonly used across the local hospitality scene:
- SevenRooms – Known for its table management and guest profiles, SevenRooms is popular with high-end venues. It helps personalise service but requires a significant time investment to set up and run.
- Impact Data – A long-standing player offering automated guest communications and integrations with POS and booking systems. Useful for basic campaigns and guest lifecycle triggers, though setup and data syncing can require external support.
- Connect by Me&U – Me&U’s Connect product is newer to market and currently focused on loyalty and engagement features. While promising, it’s still evolving as a full CRM alternative and depends heavily on using Me&U hardware in-venue.
- Lightspeed CRM (formerly Kounta) – Offers CRM-lite features through the POS, such as guest visit history and loyalty data. Best used in conjunction with another platform for marketing automation.
These tools offer parts of the CRM puzzle—guest notes, email lists, basic segmentation—but none are truly built with marketing simplicity or automation in mind.
Enter nollie: The First AI-Powered CRM for Restaurants
nollie is the only AI-driven CRM purpose-built for hospitality. It was designed for busy venue owners who don’t have time to create marketing strategies, segment databases, or test campaign performance.
Here’s how it works:
- Connects to your existing systems (POS, bookings, etc.)
- Automatically creates guest profiles using real customer behaviour—not just names and emails
- Suggests and sends campaigns (like “Rainy Day Wine Specials” or “Haven’t seen you in 30 days”) based on real data
Tracks actual ROI, so you know which campaigns are bringing in covers—not just clicks
All without needing a full-time marketer.
Curious how your venue could benefit? Book a quick demo with nollie.
Why It Matters
Many CRMs expect venues to do the heavy lifting—create content, build audiences, analyse data, and manually follow up with guests. For most hospitality teams, that’s simply not realistic. Marketing gets pushed aside in favour of service.
With nollie, the CRM does the work for you.
- Your guest data is used intelligently
- Your campaigns are always running in the background
- Your customers keep coming back—with little effort on your end
Looking for a CRM that actually helps grow your venue? See how nollie works.
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