Las Iguanas, the home of Latin American vibes and boldly spiced flavours, has revealed a series of innovative initiatives to improve guest experience and support its team members.
First up is the introduction of service robots at two restaurants. Through a trial partnership with Cambridge-based Soft Bank Robotics, six new bots have been introduced to the new restaurant at Center Parcs Elveden Forest, while two robots have been added to the brand’s Cambridge restaurant.
The robots will support team members with everyday tasks such as delivering food and drinks to tables, and returning used dishes to the kitchen, allowing team members to spend more time interacting with guests and delivering an optimum experience.
The trial follows a similar pilot at another Big Table Group brand, Bella Italia, in partnership with Pudu Robotics, which saw retrieving robots being trialled in its restaurants in Dudley, and at Center Parcs Whinfell Forest, which was specifically chosen due to its large footprint, with longer distances between kitchen and tables.
On average, each day the robots travel 6.2km, complete 257 tasks, and ‘work’ for five and a half hours. Since launch, the Bots at the Whifnell Forest site have travelled more than 1,000km in total.
The service robots haven’t been the only ones travelling great distances. American competitive eating superstars, Katina Eats Kilos and Randy Santel – who have more than 3m total followers on social media – visited the UK and helped the Latin American brand launch the Triple Grande Nachos Challenge, to celebrate the launch of its biggest ever grande nachos on the Autumn menu.
Coming soon to all restaurants, the challenge has already gone viral thanks to Katina and Randy’s YouTube videos, filmed at Las Iguanas Royal Festival Hall, which have racked up more than 200,000 views in a few days.
Brave and hungry eaters have just 25 minutes to finish 3 servings of Las Iguanas’ new Grande Nachos, covered in jackfruit, black beans, chili con carne, chicken tinga, and chipotle beef, accompanied by generous amounts of sour cream, guacamole, cheese, jalapeños, pickled onions, and the brand new ‘fundido’ cheese sauce.
Winners of the challenge will earn their £45 nachos platter for free, a free t-shirt, and a spot up on Las Iguanas’ Wall of Fame, while diners who manage to beat Randy's time of 22 minutes and 14 seconds will also win a gift card to use at the restaurant on a future visit.
Alan Morgan, Managing Director, Las Iguanas, and CEO, The Big Table Group, said, “Las Iguanas is a fun, vibrant and innovative brand, and we’re always looking for progressive ways to deliver the best possible experience for our guests, whether that’s by exploring new technologies, or through new product development.
“With the robots quite literally doing the heavy lifting, our serving staff will have more time to do what they love, engaging with customers and delivering amazing experiences, which in turn will lead to bigger tips and better guest feedback.“
Las Iguanas is one of the best-performing brands in the casual dining sector, consistently outperforming its competitor set and the wider casual dining sector both on customer feedback and sales metrics.
With great demand for Las Iguanas across the country, the business is looking to capitalise on the popularity of the brand by opening as many as thirty new restaurants in the next three years.
Recent openings at Elveden and Canterbury will be joined this autumn by a new site in Peterborough, with a 160-cover restaurant, bar and terrace spread across 4,500sq ft in a historic Grade II listed building in the heart of the city centre, and early next year by a 269-cover restaurant and bar in Center Parcs Sherwood Forest.
The business is proactively speaking with landlords in a number of towns and cities about further opportunities to expand the thriving brand.