It’s tough out there in hospitality land. Customers facing cost of living squeezes, labour hard to come by, costs soaring and competition at an all-time high. But the best operators are doing impressively well – and we know exactly why.
Big names like GAUCHO, Dishoom, Marugame Europe and Doner Shack – valued clients of NFS Hospitality – are leveraging the power of technology to support their thriving operations.
Read on to discover the tips you can take from the big names – and to know 5 ways technology can improve your restaurant operations.
Boosting efficiency and customer satisfaction
Both of these factors are major players when it comes to success, and as a result leveraging technology in restaurant operations has become indispensable.
From streamlining order management to enhancing customer experiences and promoting loyalty, restaurant technology is important in in optimising workflow and maximising profitability in restaurant operations of all sizes. It’s why restaurant pos system software represents a good investment.
5 ways technology can improve your restaurant operations
- Streamlining the ordering process
- Optimising your labour
- Enhanced customer engagement and loyalty
- Better inventory management
- Data-supported decision making
Streamlining the ordering process
Customers want convenience these days, and for many that means the ability to browse menus and order their meal online.
The best epos offers an online food ordering system, that integrates with online ordering platforms such as Grubhub or Uber Eats. This is not only quick and easy for customers but also provides increased accessibility to your services to a wider audience.
Customised mobile apps allow customers to browse the menu and make their selection effortlessly whether they are at home or in your outlet, leading to improved engagement and driving up the possibility of repeat ordering.
Optimising your labour
Labour is at a premium these days, and restaurants are working hard to ensure a good working environment where staff are happy to stay. It’s also crucial to operations and the bottom line to make the best use of the staff available.
That’s where epos comes in. Implementing tableside ordering tablets for either the diners or your serving staff enables orders to be sent immediately to the kitchen, eliminating human error that gets food sent back and reducing the time it takes for the order to arrive. It also reduces the time staff need to run back and forth to the kitchen, so they can put their valuable efforts into engaging with the diners and upselling.
POS systems also streamline order processing, simplify payment transactions – payment can also be taken at tableside – and provides valuable insights into sales trends and staff performance thanks to comprehensive reporting.
Your data can be used to organise shift scheduling, ensuring that you have optimal staffing levels and busy and less busy times – it’s a good way to minimise staff costs while maximising efficiency and offering the best customer service. Providing good training alongside the epos technology equips your staff with the necessary skills to give great service and enjoy their work.
Enhanced customer engagement and loyalty
All the big-name NFS clients we mentioned above (and many others) have exceptional reputations for customer engagement and effective loyalty programmes that reward diners and build up a valuable bond.
They use customer loyalty program software to achieve the best results, and also enable their customer base to act as ambassadors by using gift card management software to treat their friends and relatives to a meal.
Implementing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems allows restaurants to gather incredibly valuable customer date and personalise interactions with them. This means marketing offers are targeted to people who are likely to make the most of them, and encourages a sense of belonging.
Feedback management programmes allow restaurants to collect, analyse and respond to customer feedback promptly. It’s a great way not only to head off complaints at the pass, but also to foster a culture of continuous improvement across the whole organisation.
All of these facilities can be accessed online by managers anywhere, reducing the need to duplicate head office functions in multi-location groups and creating an end-to-end view of the business at all times – something that can otherwise be hard to achieve in the hurly-burly of hospitality operations.
Better inventory management
Reducing food waste is high on the agenda of any hospitality business seeking to create a sustainable environment, and it also makes huge sense financially.
Restaurant management software, with its real-time reporting, enables excellent inventory tracking so stock levels are accurately recorded and wastage is drastically reduced. It also enables your staff to quickly understand when a dish becomes unavailable, allowing them to manage the expectations of guests by offering an alternative.
Predictive analytics is a further ingredient in the recipe for restaurant success, helping forecast demand trends so you can optimise stock levels and make proactive decisions and cost savings.
Integrating with your suppliers via technology streamlines your procurement process, making sure deliveries are timely and inventory levels are kept up to scratch.
Data-supported decision making
Business intelligence tools designed specifically for hospitality operations enable restaurant owners to analyse key metrics for performance, identify upcoming trends and make data-drive decisions that will improve operational efficiency and the profitability of the business.
Leveraging the real-time reporting capabilities of epos provides managers and owners with up-to-the-minute insights into sales performance, inventory levels and customer feedback so you can take timely corrective actions where needed and create long-term strategies for continued success.
Integrating various restaurant technology solutions into your epos platform, such as a table reservation system ensures seamless data flow across the different operational functions, taking the guesswork out of decision-making and providing firm foundations on which to grow your business.
Conclusion – technology is the special sauce
What does real restaurant success look like these days? Great food, outstanding customer service, costs and wastage under control and happy, motivated staff who are not run off their feet meeting diner expectations every day.
No surprises there – but supporting all these excellent ambitions in today’s hospitality industry is technology, the special sauce that brings it all together and makes the magic happen.
It’s why the most successful restaurants and groups in the UK have deployed epos technology and its integrated facilities, and are reaping the benefits even as we speak. It’s an investment that makes perfect sense – a gift to operations that will keep on giving however circumstances in the industry evolve.
