If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that restaurant technology is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s a necessity for building a modern and future-proof restaurant. The first technologies that restaurants often invest in are the cloud-based point of sale (POS) systems and payroll processing. After that, the most popular back-office technologies were accounting software (52%, up from 31% in 2018) and payroll software (50%, up from 28% in 2018), according to a study from Toast.
The restaurant tech industry is a growing one, with software and services designed to streamline almost every aspect of your business. Delivery, scheduling, inventory management, reservations, and guest management have seen technological advancements over the past few years, and it’s just the beginning. Here are some lesser-known ways to add to your technology stack and evolve your restaurant for the future.
Evolving Your Restaurant Technology Stack
1. What is Restaurant Inventory Management Software?
Restaurant inventory management software is a tool that helps digitally track your kitchen inventory. Think about it: no more stacks and folders full of invoices, no clipboards and checkmarks, no guessing when it comes to food costs. That’s where a cloud-based inventory management system comes in. There’s a wide range of options available that take the entire process online. Restaurant inventory management software digitizes your invoice and purchases, allowing you to better compare costs and make more informed purchasing decisions. Many services also allow you to add your recipes in and calculate actual food costs.
2. Advantages of Restaurant Inventory Management Software
The restaurant industry is notorious for operating on razor-thin profit margins. Inventory management software is one great resource to help cut down on food waste, food cost and ensure that everything in your back-of-house is streamlined for transparency and profitability.
Examples of Restaurant Inventory Management Software
3. What is Restaurant Audience Management?
Restaurant audience management software is a tool that helps track guest preferences and contact information. In his book Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business, restaurateur Danny Meyer outlined his low-tech-process of keeping up with his customers’ preferences and things about them to remember and personalize their experiences. It involved hand-written ledgers and note cards. But that was the 90s. According to a study from Toast, 29% of restaurateurs still use manual comment cards, and another 31% ask for feedback on their printed receipts. Just 25% use a rating scale in digital receipts.
With modern technology platforms, there’s no need for physical cards or receipts. Guest feedback can be much easier to obtain and process—making for less time collecting and organizing, and more time using data to improve your guest experience. Audience management software keeps track of your repeat customers and their orders, dietary preferences, favourite drinks, and more, and keeps it all in one centralized place. If one guest is a big fan of martinis, having the data to let anyone on staff know can make for a special experience.
Audience management software can also aggregate data from all sources like Yelp!, Google Local, TripAdvisor, and delivery. This will help outline a complete picture of your guests’ feedback all in one place, allowing you more time to address their concerns or double-down on what makes them happy.
Delivery can also benefit from an audience management system. Think QR-code based feedback on takeout bags, or text-message follow-up. These can go a long way in making sure your customers’ voices are heard and their experience better every time.
Gone are the days of institutional knowledge, or keeping guest preferences in the heads of your front-of-house staff.
Examples of Restaurant Audeince Management Software
4. Social Media Management & Metrics
Social media for restaurants is no longer optional. The pandemic has rendered digital real estate as important as the four walls of your restaurant. It does take time, and unless you’re a larger restaurant group, it may be unrealistic to have full-time team members oversee your social platforms. In a busy restaurant, it can get lost in the shuffle. That’s where social media management platforms. Usually web-based, these services connect with all of your accounts—Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more—and allow you to pre-schedule posts days, weeks, or even months out. Many also allow you to view and respond to comments from the comfort of your desk.
Recommended Reading: 10 Simple & Effective Social Media Ideas for Restaurants
You wouldn’t prep new ingredients every time a new order comes in—so why treat social media the same? With a social media management system, you can plan out a week’s worth of posts across platforms in just a few minutes. Many platforms also track your metrics—likes, comments, views, and more—so you can see what content your followers like the most and double down on it.
Examples of Social Media Management Software for Restaurants
5. Smart Devices in Your Restaurant
Smart devices and the Internet of Things is not just for the home. Restaurant technology has seen innovation in the form of smart devices for the commercial kitchen. If your lowboy refrigerator goes out while you’re out, you can know about it. Smart ovens can help make your team more efficient behind the line, and boost your capacity for off-premise dining. And a live Kitchen Display System can cut down on the back-and-forth with tickets and keep your line efficient.
And those smart devices for the home? They have restaurant applications, too. Eric Parsons, Owner at Coffee Culture Café & Eatery in Cambridge, uses his smart speaker as an assistant: “I have the new Apple HomePod Mini in my office and just tell Siri every tiny reminder and appointment and she updates my Outlook. My life has definitely gotten more organized and easier,” he says. Color-adjustable lighting can change the look and feel of your restaurant’s decor, and smart thermostats can help save on heating and cooling costs.
Examples of Smart Kitchen Equiptment for Restaurants
6. Restaurant Employee Scheduling Software
Not only are pen-and-paper or spreadsheet schedules costly when it comes to your time—they are useless when it comes to data. That’s where restaurant scheduling software comes in handy. Restaurant scheduling software allows you to easily make schedules and track your employees’ time and attendance for easier payroll. Scheduling software like 7shifts can also pull data from your POS to track labor against sales and get a more accurate picture of your labor cost—saving your restaurant money and time.
Restaurant Scheduling Software
for managers that want to stay in control
The easiest way to spend 80% less time scheduling your restaurant staff.
Top Tips For Making Technology Work For Your Restaurant
There is an ever-expanding list of options for technology in your restaurant. With some requiring lengthy onboarding or high annual fees—not to mention the time to learn the software—how do you know if a platform is right for your business? Here are a few tips for making sure you find the right partner.
Integrations
A perfectly in-sync back and front of the house is a restaurant owner’s dream. That dream should also extend to your technology partners. Make sure all of your software can talk to one another and push and pull data to make your life easier. A well-connected tech stack is essential to making sure you reap the benefits that restaurant technology provides—or else it becomes a fancy way of doing things the old-fashioned way. Here are a few examples of how your tech may integrate:
- A scheduling tool that integrates with your point-of-sale for real-time labor cost tracking.
- An inventory management system that pulls sales data and makes automatic purchasing
decisions. - An audience management tool that gives a regular their preferred table whenever they make a reservation.
These are just a few examples of the transformative power that restaurant technology can have on your business. When you’re searching for the right partner, integrations are a key to maximizing effectiveness.
Staff Buy-In
No matter how revolutionary or powerful you may believe new software or systems to be, If your team isn’t into it, it won’t be a success. When shopping for new or upgraded tech partners, keep your team informed. Meet with leadership or management to get their take. Opt for trial periods over longer-term contracts. Restaurant technology is only as powerful as your team makes it.
Closing Thoughts: Surprising Ways that Tech Can Help Evolve Your Restaurant
There is a wealth of opportunity for restaurants to adopt technology in 2021. In the past, you could get by without it. But now it’s become necessity to stay competitive. Look beyond the POS and payroll and for some innovative ways technology companies are helping restaurants evolve—you may be surprised at what is out there.
DJ Costantino, Content Writer
DJ Costantino
Content Writer
Hi! I'm D.J., 7shifts' resident Content Writer. I come from a family of chefs and have a background in food journalism. I'm always looking for ways to help make the restaurant industry better!