11 Technologies that Save Restaurants Time and Money

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected industries of all sizes worldwide, but perhaps none has been more impacted than the restaurant and foodservice industry. The effect of this pandemic on the restaurant industry isn’t short-term, and even as we begin to see eateries reopening, things will look different for quite some time.

Restaurant industry profit margins are significantly slimmer compared to other types of businesses. Since restaurants were forced to close, they were left with no choice but to adapt and shift towards online ordering for takeout and delivery, among other survival strategies.

Several new technologies are now being adopted worldwide in the restaurant business. In the upcoming years, the once futuristic trends like the Internet of Things, automation, and Artificial Intelligence are predicted to become a normality in the industry and will reshape the way restaurants operate.

Let’s look at the innovative technologies that can help restaurants save time and save money in these uncertain times.

A Modern Point-of-Sale

An upgrade to a modern point-of-sale system (POS) can make the difference between a restaurant’s success and failure. POS technology isn’t top-of-mind for many businesses, but there are enormous benefits for those who choose to make the most of modern features. Not taking advantage of these capabilities can also cost restaurateurs hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars.

A modern POS can produce automated daily, weekly, and monthly reports to track critical business factors like revenue per customer, peak hours, and popular menu items. Data insights such as these can help businesses identify opportunities and competitive advantages at a click of a button.

Automated Employee Scheduling Software

Restaurant management styles vary, but there’s one thing that all businesses have in common: they exist to make a profit. Automated employee scheduling offers benefits such as saving money and resources. When restaurants automate scheduling, they reduce labor costs and free up time to focus on other tasks such as improving customer experience.

An employee scheduling software takes labor spending goals into account and builds a schedule that is almost 100 percent accurate. The software can be integrated with your POS to make decisions based on the restaurant’s historical sales data. By scheduling just the right amount of staff, businesses can avoid losing money on overstaffing.

Employee Incentive Program Technology

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics , staff turnover in the leisure and hospitality industry is much higher than in other industries. The numbers are increasing by the year. It makes sense to invest in current staff as this leads to labor savings over time because you’re not spending money on training new staff every few months. Implementing employee incentive program technology makes it possible to retain talent.

Technological advances have also made important strides in mitigating the process of implementing an employee rewards program. Until now, restaurants had been using an offline staff rewards program, but the issue is that data becomes difficult to track. Consequently, businesses ended up throwing money at a program that does not get the job done.

The new employee incentive program technology can make nominating employees for recognition simple. Peer-to-peer recognition used to take days, but technology can streamline the nomination process and forward applications directly to the staff responsible for approving nominations. The software can also integrate with your POS and help staff track their performance in real-time.

Digital Inventory Tracking

Properly managing inventory is critical within the restaurant industry. Failing to do so could lead to several issues such as overstocking or shortage of ingredients and supplies. Over time, this leads to losses of thousands of dollars. Thankfully, businesses today can leverage digital inventory tracking systems.

Modern software enables restaurateurs to automate and optimize their supply chain, making tracking and ordering inventory more painless than ever. Many of these tools can integrate with a POS system to give an accurate and up-to-date picture of inventory, helping businesses reduce costs and improve the bottom-line.

Handheld Order-taking Devices

Mobile technology has become more prevalent among consumers today, and many view it as an intuitive and engaging part of the dining experience. More and more restaurateurs are turning to handheld order-taking devices due to the proven benefits they offer.

Handhelds have changed the way order taking happens. Orders are routed to the kitchen way faster than with fixed terminals, and there’s also an improvement of order accuracy. With less running back-and-forth, the staff can spend more time with the customers and attend to their needs.

By using handheld order-taking devices, restaurants can reduce costs by hiring fewer employees – as more tables can be assigned to servers without compromising service, reducing training times – since servers do not have to memorize the menu, and spending less on stationery – because the need for pencils and pads is eliminated. The advantages of wireless handheld order taking are clear, and many businesses have adopted this technology over the past years.

Restaurant Owned Mobile App/Mobile-Friendly Website

These days, the number one marketing strategy for businesses is building their online presence. Almost any business, regardless of the industry, considers having a mobile app or mobile-friendly website in order to increase brand awareness, boost sales, and show loyalty to their customers. The restaurant industry is no exception. People today want to be more informed before visiting a restaurant, and an app provides the information they need.

According to Statista [https://www.statista.com/statistics/201184/percentage-of-mobile-phone-users-who-use-a-smartphone-in-the-us/], more than 83 percent of mobile users in the U.S. own a smartphone. There’s a massive marketplace waiting for your restaurant app. Many of them use at least one restaurant app or food delivery app. Consumers are using apps to order food and check for hours of operation, reserve a table, purchase coupons, and collect bonuses.

While restaurant apps may be created for the customers, they provide numerous benefits for the restaurant as well. For one, apps can handle more orders, as the staff doesn’t have to take the customer’s order physically. The ordering accuracy also improves, and what’s even more important for businesses is that customers are reportedly spending more through an app than in person. As such, apps are an excellent tool for achieving current and future business objectives.

Kitchen Display Systems

How do you run your kitchen operation? Some restaurants still use printed tickets or even handwritten paper. These antiquated systems are about to change because more and more businesses are turning to new technology that can replace their manual processes to pursue greater efficiency. One of these technologies is the kitchen display system (KDS).

A KDS can manage meal coursing – ensuring that all items are ready at the same time, cook times – making sure that the food is fresh and at the right temperature when it is brought to the customer, and recipes – with the recipe viewer function, restaurants can manage their recipes and procedures from one central location.

By supporting enhanced order accuracy and faster delivery of beverages and food to the customer’s table or home, kitchen display systems can help restaurants reach higher customer service levels. And the higher the level of customer satisfaction, the higher the sales and profits.

Chatbots

Chatbots are becoming mainstream, and several industries are already utilizing them because of the less intrusive opportunities they provide when it comes to customer engagement. We are not that far from the time where most of the interactions will be automated completely.

Using chatbots, restaurants eliminate the need for customers to call to make a reservation or wait for staff to attend to them. Bots can also be programmed to carry out many tasks ranging from answering questions to processing payment. And the best part? These tasks can be taken care of around the clock with zero downtime.

Today, chatbots are well integrated with platforms such as Facebook, websites, in-built mobile apps, and WhatsApp. Large restaurant chains such as Taco Bell and Burger King have already successfully introduced the technology. Experts predict that chatbot technology will only continue to evolve and will deliver even more value and enriching experiences to customers.

Digital Wait Management Systems

Paper-based queue management systems are becoming a thing of the past. The demand for waitlisting can now be met with simpler digital methods such as a waitlist app. The number one benefit of using a digital wait management system is the reduction of wait times for customers.

Customers can check into line using their mobile devices, computers, on-site kiosks by leaving a voice message over the phone or checking in with a member of the staff in your waiting room. The need to check into a physical line is sometimes eliminated completely, as customers can “wait” in a virtual queue. This also frees up space in the restaurant and eliminates unnecessary staff interruptions.

Restaurants can also gain valuable insights into their processes with features such as tracking and reporting. This is yet another technology that allows businesses to learn about and to improve their operational procedures. When you identify processes that need improvement, you’ll then find ways to cut costs and boost earnings potential.

Self-Ordering Kiosks

Self-ordering kiosks have become a staple at fast-food chains worldwide and are becoming the secret weapon for successful restaurants. A few years back, McDonald’s reported [https://www.businessinsider.com/what-self-serve-kiosks-at-mcdonalds-mean-for-cashiers-2017-6] that its diners that had been digitally enhanced with self-ordering technology experienced an average of 5% to 6% lift in sales.

Until now, independent restaurants have been much more hesitant to adopt this technology, but the COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed the way restaurants view self-ordering kiosks. What was once considered a technology that was too costly and impersonal is now viewed as cost-effective for the business and safe for the customers. Restaurants are now using self-ordering kiosks to streamline their takeout orders and reduce human contact, preventing the spread of the virus.

Self-ordering kiosks can also make it possible for the restaurants to improve order accuracy, decrease wait times, and increase check sizes. Not only this, but this technology has also proven helpful in addressing the issue of productivity by giving businesses the flexibility to move staff around. Even after the pandemic has subsided, the demand for self-ordering kiosks is expected to be on the rise.

Marketing Automation

Restaurant marketing automation is a technology that enables restaurants to nurture potential customers. Through the use of highly personalized and relevant content, businesses can convert prospects into customers. When used wisely, marketing automation gives your business the tools to send individual communications to each customer, giving them exactly what they want at the right time.

Some of the other benefits of marketing automation for restaurants include time-saving – as daily tasks are placed under the control of an automated program, standardization of procedures, and money management. An automated program also creates useful reports and analytics that allow the marketing staff to measure their campaigns’ results.

Marketing automation done well adds value to your restaurant experience, upsells to customers at the ideal time, and increases your social proof. And because everything is automated, it gives you additional time to focus on other essential chores such as creating excellent food experiences for your customers.

Bottom Line

Over the years, technology adoption has increased considerably. Innovative technologies are shaping the restaurant industry for the better. Although some would argue that restaurants don’t need high tech instruments to run their operations, if you’re not embracing the latest innovations, you may be left behind.

Making use of automation, artificial intelligence, and digital tools to make restaurant operations run easier, faster, and more efficient can only benefit your business. We live in the digital era, where customers have come to expect technology-enabled services. Failing to cater to your customers’ needs could mean disaster for your business, especially in difficult times like these where social distancing has become a demand.

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Tony Lagana

Chef Tony is a 42-year veteran of the food industry and is often known by his peers as “The New Product Guru.” Throughout his illustrious culinary career, he’s earned several notable titles and positions including Acquisition International’s “Most Influential Product Development Expert, U.S.” in 2019.

In 1997, Tony also founded Culinary Systems Inc., a group of culinary consultants that assist with culinary training, restaurant start-ups, concept development, and more. Since then, Tony and his team have generated over two billion dollars in sales for their clients in restaurants, retail, and manufacturing.

The strategic, technical, and culinary skills of Tony and his team can be seen on the menus of national chains, in the portfolio of national food manufacturers, and on the grocery shelves of products produced by major retail companies.