You may think you can have a low-tech restaurant because you aren’t a franchise or a fast-food chain. You cook everything yourself and wait on your customers personally. However, avoiding technology is unknowingly damaging your business.
Technology can make operations run smoother, faster and give you the accountability you crave from your employees. It can also protect your inventory and cash from theft, which is a problem in the food service industry.
For restaurant owners considering wading into the technology waters, there are some products that are better than others. Certain technology is must-haves while others can be purchased down the line. Below are three of the best technologies for your restaurant.
1. Digital Restaurant Management
There are a couple of variations of software for this purpose. Most restaurants find the tablets beneficial as employees can view tables in real time, look at the various menu items with all ingredients listed, process sales, and send orders to the kitchen. Some restaurants are using this tech to take orders and payments while customers wait in line, so their food is ready before they get to the top of the line.
Other types of software allow customers to make reservations directly online, suggest great seating for them for their size group, and text them when the a table is ready.
2. Food safety software
This is helpful in maintaining a clean, sanitary kitchen especially when you are not there. This type of software includes employees wearing devices during work hours that notifies the system when they wash their hands or perform other tasks. It also notifies the system when they do not follow basic food sanitation protocol.
Software that monitors food safety standards to this degree may seem extreme but when you think about the potential of litigation or the damage a bad food safety score causes for a restaurant owner, this technology makes sense.
3. A POS system
This is a key technology element that increases your revenue. Many people use credit or debit cards today and you must have a good way to process them. A good POS system does much more though. It can send orders to the kitchen, track your customers’ buying trends, and keep up with valuable data that helps you market and run your business on a daily basis. A great POS system makes your employees’ work life easier because it takes less time to process orders and payments. That means more happy customers too.
A good software program can also include things like online ordering and mobile ordering, both which are becoming increasingly important in today’s competitive environment. A great POS system can boost your restaurant but a sub-standard system can kill it.
You may want to switch POS systems your restaurant’s needs change. Some of those changes include:
- Needing a better delivery system to get orders to the kitchen
- Needing a system that implements server tablets
- Needing a system to handle more volume
There are good POS systems for every level of restaurants, from startups to large franchises. To read more about how the right POS can help your business, please visit….
