You have heard about the need to eliminate paper-based systems in your business – and it’s not just about making sure your next inspection goes smoothly. It’s a major time saver across your operation, which comes in handy at a time when you need everyone on a shift to be working at full capacity. Francine Shaw of Savvy Food Safety advises operators to use digital quality management systems for a range of reasons: They allow for the fast and accurate updating of compliance information and instructions (and distribution to employees across all locations when time is critical). They make records easier to search and analyze, providing faster access during a food safety incident and enabling operators to quickly identify trends across locations. Finally, they ensure you’re up to date on safety checks – and that they’re being done correctly so you can step in with training on the spot when problems occur.
Independent restaurants have been in an especially tough position throughout the pandemic, lacking much of the resources and scale of a multi-business organization while also being hardest hit by the commission fees of third-party delivery companies. But as a result, independents are emerging as a segment of the restaurant industry that is ripe for innovation. Business at BentoBox, which helps restaurants build more robust, ecommerce-ready websites, has been booming since the pandemic started. It focuses on helping restaurants harness their customer data – and it has nearly doubled its client list in recent months. Grubhub, in addition, just launched a new web offering aimed at independent restaurants that includes a branded website, as well as the ability to create loyalty programs and promotions, process and manage orders, and view customer names, email addresses and past orders. The company says it is waiving its one-time setup fee for a year and will charge restaurants a $49 hosting fee per month, per location. Then there’s the commission fee if the restaurant opts to use Grubhub for last-mile delivery. Still, it may make sense for restaurants looking for a quick means of updating technology and offering delivery without sacrificing access to data.
The past year has changed how restaurants compete. Restaurant success has become less about décor or even brand and more about how smooth, fast and engaging the process of ordering and accepting food is for the consumer. These changes may be permanent. This QSR magazine report predicts a more tech-focused future for the industry – with less differentiation on price across restaurant categories and more differentiation on the efficiency of customer interactions than there has been in the past. That means it’s become all the more important to have digital architecture and a user interface that presents your food in a compelling way, makes it easy and fast to place orders, enables customization to customer preferences, and includes a reliable “last mile” off-premise solution for getting food to customers.
As the contactless restaurant experience has become the norm over the past year, some restaurant operators may worry about permanently losing the kinds of quality in-person connections with consumers that once helped them build and sustain relationships. As we emerge from the pandemic, how will restaurants be able to deliver personal service in an era where physical distance, minimal conversation and touch-free experiences continue to be encouraged? The good news is that while technology enables more low-contact experiences, it also helps businesses get more personal – and restaurants can use it to build relationships in new ways. To a great extent, consumers have lived their lives online throughout the pandemic. They have become more accustomed to the Amazon experience – being able to order an item in a minimum number of clicks, having the site predict what they are apt to enjoy, and being less suspicious about having companies track the items they buy and enjoy. Some restaurants are literally using Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide an Amazon-style experience. Using that kind of approach – and there are many services that can provide it – a restaurant with a strong command of its customer data can direct different targeted promotions to people whenever they happen to be in the neighborhood or on the days they are apt to crave a particular order. What better way to deliver personal service than to predict what a person wants before they even know they want it?
What’s the best way for you to get take-away food to your customers? As operators adjust to new, late-pandemic conditions – including a lack of available labor and an increase in potential vendors and tech-driven solutions to provide support – they are making changes to how they handle delivery. Panera, long held up as an example of how a non-pizza restaurant can accommodate in-house delivery, recently announced it would be switching to third-party delivery – at least for now. In the meantime, the food delivery robot is becoming a far less futuristic concept than it ever was, with companies including Nuro, Kiwibot, Tortoise and Starship Technologies rolling out options for last-mile delivery. Those robots also happen to relieve some of restaurants’ labor, food safety, marketing and profitability pressures, so they could make the delivery landscape look a whole lot different in the coming months and years.
The pandemic has sparked innovation across every corner of restaurants – and outdoor dining areas, having become a critical part of the restaurant ecosystem in the past year, are no exception. Restaurant Technology News reports that smart pergolas, awnings and screens that can be controlled with the touch of a button are now helping restaurant operators manage everything from shifting sunlight to inclement weather to insects. Having a fast, low-touch means of adjusting your outdoor dining area to accommodate the elements may make sense as business builds back up again – and if your outdoor dining area has become a year-round (or near-year-round) part of your restaurant.
Automating and remotely monitoring problems and processes in your kitchen – whether it’s a malfunctioning appliance, a cooler door left open or equipment using too much energy – isn’t just about saving time and staff resources. This monitoring of different devices online, also known as the Internet of Things, has ripple effects across your business and allows you to make incremental, cost-saving improvements in indirect ways. Consider your use of cooking oil. If you received real-time updates about how much you’re using, you could be alerted of spikes that are damaging food quality and leading to poor reviews, identify equipment problems early before they become larger expenses, and fine-tune your inventory management so you’re only ordering (and paying for) the amount of oil you need when you need it. As we emerge from the pandemic, your ability to harness technology will enable your business to flex with challenges down the line. Where are the biggest inefficiencies in your kitchen?
A whopping 91 percent of restaurants plan to invest in kitchen automation technology this year, according to a new survey data from the payments company Square. To be fair, Square is among the players providing back-of-house tech tools in restaurants and retailers, but their research still provides some helpful clues about where back-of-house tech is heading in the near term – and it’s not so much about robotic chefs and servers. The key theme restaurants are focusing on is adopting an efficient hub-and-spoke model where the kitchen is at the center and can seamlessly manage customer orders coming from a growing list of sources, including the curb, the drive-through, the dining room and beyond. This tech can also enhance flexibility by enabling a restaurant to integrate a new channel where needed – or scale back on another.
At a time when operators may feel removed from the customers they serve, technology is what can create the personal experiences that help customers feel appreciated (and instill loyalty). According to Technomic’s 2020 Foodservice Technology Consumer Trend Report, 36 percent of consumers say they expect a restaurant app to be able to save their payment information and 39 percent expect the app to save their previous orders and present their preferred menu items. While it makes for a speedy, smooth ordering and checkout process, it’s not only helpful to consumers; it also feeds your knowledge about your customer and lets you know what they like and when they like it – so when you’re marketing to them, you have a clear sense of exactly what will entice them to return and when.
When various processes and tasks across your business must be done by hand, they are easier to put off until later – and that makes any lurking problems less visible, makes your results less accurate, and lets waste creep into your operation. Looking across your business, what tasks tend to fall behind schedule? Which ones are a slog to get through? If you put in some time up front, chances are you will be able to harness technology to monitor those tasks – or even complete them outright. This will not only free up time, but it will also ensure you have the kind of real-time business information at your fingertips that will allow you to make waste-minimizing decisions in the moment.
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