Tech Trends to Help Your Restaurant in 2019
Unless you’re an active part of the global restaurant industry, you might not understand its sheer scope. Allow us to elaborate. The restaurant industry in 2015 employed an approximate 14 million individuals and recorded earnings of a staggering USD 745.61 billion in the US alone according to statistics. This figure jumped to approximately USD 766 billion in the following year and remained on a steady rise. In the last year, quick-service restaurants alone in the US earned a total revenue of USD 299.6 billion, no small figure. Halfway across the world, the Asian restaurant industry shows a 10% growth rate according to sources.
Suffice to say, regardless of where in the world you are, the restaurant business is a lucrative one. At the same time, large industries such as this are often highly competitive. If you’re not one of the currently existing food giants, you probably need to do your bit to ensure that your restaurant gets there soon.
Doing What’s Best for Business
Whether you’re someone starting a restaurant business or an owner trying to keep your brand afloat, there are a few things that you might find helpful. An article published by Entrepreneur Asia states that most restaurant businesses don’t do too well in their first year of operation and stresses the importance of adequate marketing. Apart from marketing, something that is great for business is quick and easy customer access. Finally, embracing available technology is something that can seriously help streamline your daily operations and help your restaurant find, establish and maintain a permanent spot on the local culinary map.
Tech Trends that are Helpful
Since we’re a company that specializes in technology and have worked with numerous businesses, restaurants included. Due to this, we’ve got some service industry tech trends that we feel will help your restaurant business flourish.
Tech on the Table
Starting with the basics, we’ve got what we like to call, ‘tech on the table.’ What we’re referring to here is the use of technology such as tablets and other devices to help streamline your in-house waiting. Whether it is simply taking orders or making special requests concerning ingredients, devices like tablets can be quite helpful.
These reduce the chance of errors occurring on your end due to flustered or tired servers and can even be used to place orders directly from the counter to the kitchen. The fact that this is convenient is a massive selling point.
Invest in a Chatbot
We’re assuming that you already have an official webpage or site for your restaurant business. We haven’t mentioned why you need one here as it’s not really a trend – in 2019, it’s a bear necessity! A chatbot, however, is something you would likely do well to have on your restaurant site. A chatbot can be programmed to attend to any customer queries at any time. Apart from providing basic assistance, a chatbot may also be developed and programmed to take orders, update customers on order statuses and even lodge complaints regarding food and service.
If you don’t already have a chatbot on your restaurant’s website, now would be a great time to get one!
App-ifying
A trend we would like to encourage is having customized apps developed for your restaurant business. The simplest apps allow people to place orders from the comfort of wherever they are, which is great because most people today place orders via mobile phones or the internet. That’s not where app facilitation ends though.
Personalized loyalty apps are growing in popularity as these help save important customer information such as food preferences, possible allergies, and delivery addresses. If you have an app custom-designed for your restaurant, you make things a lot easier for your customers and employees hence raising efficiency. If your restaurant is running well and is easy to order from, people are bound to keep coming back.
Inventory & Data Software
An integral internal function at any restaurant is keeping stock of what comes in and what goes out, or, taking inventory. Investing in data recording and inventory software is highly advisable as this makes an otherwise tedious task a lot simpler.
Furthermore, having information on restaurant regulars is always a good idea as people respond well when they feel remembered. Both inventory and data storing software can help streamline your internal operations immensely.
Augmented Reality
We suggest you look into this one after you have the particulars mentioned above in order. That said, augmented reality can be a fun thing to have at your restaurant. Augmented reality allows you to superimpose visual images on real-life backgrounds using a phone or tablet.
In a restaurant setting, this could help give customers an idea of what they’re ordering visually and hence a clearer sense of what to expect. It can also be used at restaurants where customers get to construct their dishes and can be extremely helpful for situations where language may be a barrier!
Tying It Together
It’s not that you can’t run a restaurant without implementing some of the suggestions above. It’s just that without them, you might have a little trouble competing with the thousands of food places already out there and the thousands more looking to establish themselves. Even if you’ve got a menu that’s on point, adding attractive elements in restaurant menu templates, there are other factors to consider when running a business, and your use of tech is one of them, there are other things that come into play when running a business and your use of tech is one of them.
Use technology that is available to your advantage, and add your culinary expertise, and business acumen to the mix. If you’ve got all three, chances are, your food or restaurant business will thrive in addition, make an attractive menu for your food or restaurant using menu maker to catch the audience’s attention.
