In the last few years, the world has made tremendous progress in the field of technology. Every industry is leveraging its benefits, and the food and beverage industry is booming. From gathering and analyzing the big data to understand the behavior of diners to streamlining the entire restaurant operation management, technology has been a big influencer in the restaurant business.
f you’re a restaurant business owner and wish to take your business to the next level and offer a personalized diner experience, you need to make friends with technology. Curious to know more? Here are five restaurant technology trends that are changing the way restaurant business was done a few years ago.
1. Quality Website and App Services
Restaurant website and app services are one of the top restaurant technology trends that are not to be ignored. To stay at the top of the game, restaurants are coming up with intuitive websites and apps. Such online websites and apps offer the full menus online so that diners can view the complete menu sitting at home. Plus, having the entire business online means customers have the opportunity to take their time to read the menu and order online from the restaurant app. Having a website or an app also gives diners a chance to purchase gift cards online that they can present to their loved ones. Many restaurants also run customer loyalty programs on their apps, which is a great way to engage their returning customers.
2. High-Tech POS
A restaurant point of sale (POS) system is a software system that helps in better restaurant management operations. From managing orders, payment, promotions to managing stock and labor control, a restaurant management platform strives to deliver excellent customer experience. As compared to the old legacy systems, high tech POS are becoming incredibly popular in the restaurant business. Cloud-based POS systems are easy to install and are cheaper.
A POS offers numerous benefits for restaurant businesses. From exceptional guest experiences to centralized control of menus and promotions, an all-in-one POS can do a lot for you. To help you streamline your business, look for a restaurant management platform that can take care of kitchen systems.
Your point of sale system should be able to integrate all the orders, track what’s happening in the kitchen, gather all the details of your past and present transactions, and offer mobility so that staff can take direct orders from the diners on their tabs which can minimize the scope of errors.
Furthermore, Forbes mentions that an efficient POS system should offer inventory management, able to track sales, automate tasks, provide rewards programs, and advertise at the point of purchase.
3. Ways to Pay
Be it a Sunday brunch or a casual meet up with friends at a coffee shop, diners are not just looking for something palatable to eat, but they also want to have a pleasant overall dining experience. When it comes to payment options, splitting the bill is a pain point.
There are many general payment apps that restaurants are leveraging for a smooth transaction experience. Apart from credit card options, you can even include e-wallets like Google Pay, Apple pay, Samsung Pay, PayPal as payment options.
Also, some restaurants are coming up with different branded payment options. For example, Cheese Factory released their branded payment app ‘CakePay’ to speed up the payment option for their guests. Apart from solving the problem, it also offers a personalized branded experience.
4. Self-Serve Ordering
Many restaurants leverage self serve ordering kiosks for ordering and payment of food. These kiosks help to reduce wait time while diners can order food of their preference. As a restaurant owner, you need to take into consideration your target customers and their needs to offer a seamless dining experience. You can include features like payment options, customizing dishes, and options to eat in or take out.
5. Interactive Tables
Interactive tables may sound like an idea from a sci-fi movie, but it is not! As the name suggests, a diner can interact with the table and order food of their preference anytime throughout the dining experience. The most significant benefit is, they do not need to wait for a staff to come and take the orders.
Apart from ordering food, multi-touch interactive tables are integrated with different apps like social media and games to take the dining experience to a new level. Diners can even pay securely through these unique tables without leaving their place and enjoy their meal.
Taking Advantage of Tech
If you are keen to take your restaurant business to the next level, leverage the technology trends discussed above and reap the benefits for years to come. Technology not only makes internal operations easier, but it also increases revenue and helps give customers high-quality dining experiences.
