By Mushahid Khatri
Running a successful restaurant business demands efficiency. This means you must ensure seamless coordination between accepting orders, working backstage to prepare those, and delivering the same. And one of the major restaurant trends in 2022 is that of digitization.
Today’s technology is highly advanced and tweaked to offer multiple advancements to restaurant business owners. Therefore, leveraging restaurant technology for automating and optimizing the delivery operation is a key to establishing yourself as a business leader.
According to a new analysis by FSR magazine, various futuristic technologies have helped restaurants drive productivity and plummet expenses. For instance, a robotic chef uses sensors to cook food in a wok and serve it in a bowl at a restaurant in Boston. Chipotle is testing a phone ordering system driven by AI at 2,500 locations to increase efficiency and accuracy.
Ultimately, modern restaurant technology helps improve customer happiness and adapts to the requirements of a fast-paced consumer by leveraging on-demand restaurant delivery software. This will save customers time by placing an order, scheduling the delivery, and even paying their bills through an application.
Below are a few key technologies your restaurant business can adopt to stay ahead of the curve.
1. Automated billing
Restaurant billing is one of the key activities in its day-to-day functioning. Once the customer has finished ordering, they need to get the bill. Here, having a Point of Sale (POS) system helps in automatically creating a bill.
This ensures that customer orders and vendor invoices are never mixed up since the POS bases the bill creation on the Kitchen Order Ticket (KOT). An instantly generated bill guarantees on-time payments and enhances customer service. Customers may pay for their orders more easily because most Restaurant POS systems offer the splitting of the bill option.
2. Digital inventory
Automation can transform the restaurant industry. You can easily track your inventory from a smartphone with digital inventory tracking software. POS systems include a built-in mechanism to order supplies or notifications when stock levels are low automatically. By using this innovative technology in restaurants, you can be sure your restaurant’s essentials never run out.
3. Loyalty programs
Rewarding loyal consumers will encourage them to stick to your business and recommend your restaurant to others. Designing loyalty programs is time-consuming and unreliable. Getting new customers often costs more than keeping existing customers. The goal should be to keep your patrons intact and drive them to order more from your restaurant.
Thanks to technology, you may keep a database of all the diners who frequently visit your restaurant. Metrics for rewarding performance might be based on specific factors — number or repeat orders, frequency of orders, type of meals/food, etc. Additionally, it is simple to maintain track of loyalty programs for each client as you can customize the same based on their ordering patterns.
4. Online ordering
Many restaurants debated whether and when to allow online ordering before COVID-19 struck. Numerous eateries started using online ordering services like DoorDash and Uber Eats after the lockdown when dine-in for customers was banned. Thanks to this technology, they could easily place orders, pay their bills, and get their orders delivered.
Small restaurants are finding it difficult to manage multiple orders offline, so they integrate restaurant delivery software into their restaurant management system for effective order management. Therefore, many are increasingly leveraging this technology to handle all of their internet orders from a single intuitive dashboard.
You can also use a free online restaurant website builder to create a website in seconds with no technical skills required.
5. Employee scheduling
Restaurants require a quick and simple way to communicate with staff regarding scheduling. When it comes to urgent alerts like shift changes and event updates, it may be impracticable to contact a large number of employees by email or phone calls.
Therefore, restaurant owners may efficiently reach workers using an automated text message system or app notifications. Apps enable workers to send messages, prepare their uniforms, switch shifts, request, and arrange vacation days, among other scheduling tasks that can be completed instantly.
6. Customer relationship management
Customer Relation Management (CRM) is crucial for increasing customer engagement. A trustworthy CRM database can help your restaurant business develop tailored offers and discount campaigns based on your customers’ buying patterns.
By sending tailored newsletters, emails, menu updates, and events to your customers, the CRM capabilities also help you increase customer engagement and retention.
The benefits of having everything in one place are unmatched. It is something that restaurant owners appreciate by integrating CRM systems, allowing them to make better client loyalty, marketing, and upselling decisions.
Choose a CRM that meets your restaurant’s requirements and where the price range is not expensive. Here are some significant advantages to consider while selecting a CRM for your restaurant;
- Access to important client contact details, particularly an email address.
- Customer’s order history.
- Specific sales information, including order totals, average spending, and total spending
- Connected to the rewards program at your restaurant.
- Use it for customized marketing initiatives for your restaurant offers, birthday coupons, etc.
7. Instant communication
Whether it’s an early closing due to bad weather, a new pay schedule, the launch of a new franchise, or any other concerns, managers frequently need to communicate time-sensitive information to members.
Mobile texting is an effective technique to communicate with staff members and ensure your message is sent immediately. Instantaneous mobile communication can be automated using an internal communication app like Slack, Teams, etc. They can integrate various restaurant tasks within the app as well. Moreover, managers can organize staff into different groups, schedule SMS, and use automated templates to answer frequent inquiries.
8. Table reservation
Customers may use online applications to reserve their favorite tables at eateries well in advance. The app can provide a virtual tour of the restaurant, helping patrons select tables before arriving at the restaurant. As a result, users are more likely to be delighted since they may choose their preferred table well in advance and save time by not having to explain their seating preferences.
The majority of table management programs provide the following capabilities to help with that;
- Models the front-of-house of your restaurant to proffer a more precise digital floor layout.
- Continual table monitoring maximizes table coverings and value.
- Provides staffing, transfer choices, reservation features, and other means of streamlining table management.
9. Voice ordering from a smartphone
A restaurant food delivery software can have a Voice-based artificial intelligence (AI) that transforms how humans engage with technology. We know how app developers use AI with voice, fetching information and executing tasks simpler than ever. It enables people to control devices and applications with their voices. This is especially beneficial for restaurants that receive orders over the phone.
Instead of recalling a large list of menu options, customers may tell the restaurant what they want to order using artificial intelligence (AI) for voice. This not only saves time but also lessens the chance of making mistakes. Voice AI may also assist firms in upselling by making suggestions depending on the customer’s order.
Voice AI technologies like SoundHound serve as a great option for businesses who want to enhance their voice ordering system because of their user-friendly platform and wide range of capabilities.
10. Data analysis
Reporting and analytics are the most important components of operating and managing a restaurant. Modern restaurant technology can leverage data analysis that offers interactive charts and graphs for accurate data representation.
All sales-related information and transactions are reported, documented, and frequently analyzed to make data-backed decisions. Restaurant managers can identify patterns by creating reports and planning further activities.
By analyzing client data, restaurants may create personalized bargains and offer to lure more customers into ordering food. Restaurant owners can rely on analytical feature findings based on consumer ordering patterns to provide specials and discounts.
Wrapping up
Now that you’ve read the blog from beginning to end, you can see that restaurant automation is a market with significant growth potential. You should automate your eatery at this time. If you have automated, now is the time to evaluate, analyze, and improve.
Make the restaurant business successful by staying on top of the latest developments as technology continues to transform how digital kitchens function.
Online ordering is one of the latest trends, and restaurants that can’t keep up with the demand for delivery orders risk missing out on significant growth.
Even though handling orders might be challenging, there is plenty of growth if you adopt modern restaurant technologies. Delivering food orders more efficiently lowers the possibility of errors, which helps you have good ties with your consumers.
About the Author
Mushahid Khatri is the Chief Executive Officer of Yelowsoft, one of the leading On-demand delivery solution providers. He is a visionary leader who believes in imparting his profound knowledge that leans on business and entrepreneurship.
