Artificial intelligence (AI) might still sound a little futuristic — or like technology that mainly large national brands can harness at this stage. But the next decade should be eye-opening: By 2030, almost 70 percent of businesses will use some form of AI in their operation, according to McKinsey research. Restaurants that readily understand how to adopt it and where it can provide the greatest value should be able to gain a competitive advantage. Restaurant Nuts suggests two areas that are ripe for AI adoption in restaurants of any size: improving sourcing and translating reams of data into sales. For example, when you consider your inventory, how accurate are you able to be about the items you will need? Do you rely on last year’s data mixed with some guesswork? AI can use predictive analytics that incorporate historical data from a range of relevant periods, along with weather, holidays and other factors that can impact demand, to help eliminate the trial and error that can waste money. Further, even if you have a POS system that gathers thousands of data points about your guests, that data is only useful to you if you’re able to analyze it quickly and apply it to strategies that will keep guests happy and returning. AI can help operators by collecting a wide range of data about everything from sales to purchasing, then assessing it against current consumer trends. As a result, you’ll be able to make decisions in real time, not weeks or months behind schedule. Forbes reports that the hospitality technology company Fourth, which supports such brands as TGI Friday’s, Eataly, Bar Louie and Dairy Queen, among others, is one that has expanded into AI recently. Other reports indicate that McDonald’s uses AI to find diverse employee candidates. Look for more restaurant technology systems to start to integrate AI functionality into their software.
Cybersecurity incidents have become so widespread and increasingly sophisticated that it may not be a question of if your business is targeted, but when. Smaller businesses tend to be easier targets than larger ones, but even the biggest players can be caught unawares. (Note the breach that recently impacted Marriott and wasn’t announced until 11 weeks after the fact.) But regardless of the size of your business, there are a number of steps you can take to fortify your operation against cybercriminals. Cybersecurity expert Steve Tcherchian told Restaurant Insider that operators should first manage the devices connecting to their wireless network. Make sure your operating system is up-to-date so you’re less vulnerable to security loopholes, your system is accessible via PIN or password only, your staff isn’t using POS devices to access the Internet, and that you use a firewall to separate parts of the business that have different functions. Train your team to identify phishing emails and to avoid clicking on suspicious attachments. Make sure your staff have access to just the information they need to do their job and nothing more — and that you use online password managers (Dashlane is one) to manage and monitor access to files. Any vendors you hire should have security practices at least as strong as yours, so stay aware of how they store and protect data. Finally, hold your staff accountable by conducting employee background checks (Team Four can help you here) and by issuing each person a unique identifier on your POS, which can help you pinpoint where data breaches and staff shifts overlap.
How efficient is your kitchen? Even if you’ve got a full dining room, your kitchen staff is busy and guests aren’t complaining, there could be room for improvement. The data you collect can give you the clearest idea of where those opportunities are. While you can manually collect information, your automated kitchen display system is your most valuable tool here. FSR Magazine suggests you collect such data points as estimated time needed for a menu item to get from order to completion, the difference in cooking time for two items on the same order so that both dishes are fresh and at the proper temperature when served, and the amount of time it takes for a prepared dish to leave the kitchen and reach a guest’s table. If you have data like this at your fingertips, it can have a beneficial ripple effect across your business, helping you minimize waste, manage your inventory better, expedite service and keep track of orders more efficiently.
Having systems to collect and assess data are critical for large businesses — but the payoff is significant for small operations too. Wouldn’t it be helpful to know, for example, the exact price point that maximizes guest demand and profit for a popular product you sell? Or which promotions generate the most interest? In fact, a BARC research report found that businesses that harness data effectively saw their profits increase 8 percent and costs decline 10 percent. The systems can be just as helpful in predicting what’s ahead as assessing what you have already done — predicting that your past guests want to order burritos for takeout on Friday night and might be tempted to tack on some caramel flan if you suggest it. Or predicting where you should place a promotion on your website, based on how visitors navigate through your pages. Finally, in an age when information breaches no longer make front-page news and businesses are blamed less for experiencing a breach and more for how they manage the aftermath of one, having systems in place can help you pinpoint where and when problems happen in different areas of your business so you can respond and address red flags more promptly. If your data management practices need a boost, take stock of your needs. An Entrepreneur report advises you determine which five or six pieces of information are most critical to the success of your business. Choose technology that addresses those critical needs and determine whether the cost can save time and money, in addition to generating more revenue.
What does your POS data tell you about the flow of guests visiting you each day? Do you have a large lunch crowd on Fridays? A reliable happy hour business on Thursdays? A steady stream of snackers all day? Use this data to empower your team. Cake suggests scheduling shift changes so they don’t overlap with your busiest times (e.g. if 12-3pm is busy, schedule a shift that runs from 1-4). If you have regulars on these days, learn their names and (with help from your POS) food preferences quickly. Using your data can ensure you’re less harried when guests arrive, can help you personalize the experience for them and reveal what foods might be most enticing for them to add to an order if you make a suggestion.
The practice of standing in line or waiting at a table to pay a bill is gradually becoming a relic of the past. As operators and tech companies have observed the valuable time often wasted at these common pressure points for restaurants, new solutions are popping up to hasten table turnaround times and minimize guests’ anxiety in their time spent at a restaurant — and they won’t necessarily require the guest to download an app to do it. Take Qikserve. Skift Table reports that the company is rolling out technology throughout this year to restaurants in California and Pennsylvania — including 3,500 partner brands — that will allow guests to make a mobile payment and eventually order at the table by either using the brand’s app or by visiting a web page loaded by scanning a QR code at the table. It’s aiming to make life easier for the occasional restaurant visitor not interested in downloading another app. (It also has the potential to turn that occasional visitor into a loyal regular.)
There is actually a tech trend poised for more substantial growth in the restaurant industry than the powerful mobile app. Gartner forecasts that more than 50 percent of businesses will spend more money on bots and chatbot creation in the next two years. Big Hospitality predicts that this efficiency-boosting technology will soon be an expectation for tech-savvy restaurant guests. Automated kitchen display systems that integrate with a restaurant’s electronic point-of-sale system, one application of the technology, can streamline kitchen processes, reduce waste, and help operators spot business trends more quickly. To consumers, that integration translates to a better experience. When investing in tech this year, avoid one-trick ponies and opt for tech tools that seamlessly connect different parts of your operation.
If your guests are game to load funds onto a digital wallet or prepaid gift card in exchange for a special offer, you can help cut back on the fees you have to pay to support credit card transactions. While retailers are charged a fee by credit card companies each time a customer pays with a credit card, Skift Table reports that many of those retailers are bypassing the fees by joining the lower-cost Automated Clearing House network, which was set up decades ago by U.S. banks to facilitate the exchange of money between banks. Other companies, like Starbucks, are encouraging customers to load funds onto a prepaid gift card — a setup that means Starbucks only pays a swipe fee when a customer loads funds onto the cards, not each time she buys a latte. Still others are joining networks (LevelUp is one) that help businesses band together and use their combined scale to negotiate more reasonable fees.
If you’re fine-tuning your technology in 2019, your point-of-sale-system — the nerve center of your business — is a natural place to start. Here are five areas you want to make sure it can manage, according to The Restaurant Technology Guys: It needs a customer relationship management and loyalty program so you can manage email campaigns, personalize offers and promotions, (which all have the potential to increase customer spending by up to 41 percent). Next, it needs to help you manage your staff rotations so you can track attendance and productivity, as well as keep staff informed. Third, your system should help you manage your inventory so you are alerted when you need to reorder an item. Finally, you need a system with reporting options that allow for customization and file exporting so you can monitor trends in relation to your goals — having the option for remote access can help you make business decisions more quickly too.
What’s your digital game plan? Your digital strategy can help you elevate your brand far beyond the walls of your restaurant by enhancing your connections with existing guests and helping you attract new ones. What’s more, the restaurant brands that develop a digital strategy and support it with the infrastructure it needs are likely to open up a wide lead over competitors in the months ahead — while those that don’t are likely to see their guest engagement suffer. (For example, two brands with robust digital strategies, Domino’s and Panera, currently receive a large portion of their orders via digital — 60 percent and 25 percent, respectively.) That’s according to research shared at the recent Foodservice Technology Conference Trade Show in Orlando. To put the industry in perspective when it comes to digital, restaurants leading the pack in this area are spending 30 to 50 percent (and sometimes much more) of their marketing budgets on it. Of the digital tools restaurants are using to engage customers and generate data, the most important ones to focus on are the mobile app, loyalty program, online ordering capability and delivery strategy. It pays to play offense with digital as well, with restaurants actively using digital seeing 5 percent annual growth over the previous five-year period as opposed to 2 percent annual growth for brands using digital more defensively. That is making it important for restaurants to invest in technology platforms, hardware and software to support their digital strategy, though the proliferation of cloud-based services is helping to bring the overall costs of investment down. Just make sure your strategy considers the needs of your front-of-house and back-of-house operations, all while helping you keep your guests engaged.
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