How Tech Can Help You Do More With Less

Restaurant owners are facing a one-two punch of rising costs and not enough employees. Not wanting to pass increased operational costs on to guests only compounds these challenges. What’s a restaurant owner to do? Embrace tech. Automation has been a growing trend in the restaurant industry, helping owners to do more with less. Read on to see how you can leverage tech from front of house to back of house, all while keeping a human touch.

The Guest Experience

73% of customers are looking for tech in restaurants, believing it improves their dining experience. They’re more than happy to use tech to place their order or pay their bill at the table as it gives them a sense of ownership over their dining experience. This benefits restaurant owners as they can now cover more ground with less staff by utilizing tech like hand-held card readers and menu QR codes. Tech also contributes to an improved guest experience in ways the guests never see. For example, QSR Automations’ ConnectSmart® Kitchen provides improved food quality with delayed routing, which ensures items are cooked in priority order to hit the expo window at the same time. This also results in less waste coming from the kitchen as orders are efficiently paced, cutting down on re-making inaccurate orders. Other tech working behind the scenes allows guests to book their reservation online, as well as get order status updates with two-way SMS texting, a feature that comes with QSR Automations’ ConnectSmart® Host. Embracing this type of tech frees up front of house staff for other tasks. As guests are willing to embrace new technology in their dining experience, however, they’re still very much looking for a personal touch. This especially holds true for older generations who may be more resistant to technology. Restaurant owners and staff need to strike a balance between allowing customers to be self-reliant and meeting customer service expectations as hospitality is still very much a factor when it comes to tips and customer loyalty.

Leveraging the Data

When it comes to data, simply collecting it isn’t enough. Restaurant owners are looking to fully leverage their data in order to maximize restaurant efficiency and profitability. From customer preferences to kitchen processes, they want to see the trends so they can make smart decisions quickly. From POS terminals to social media, data insights need to be fully visible. This means platforms that integrate are crucial, and platforms that integrate into one dashboard are infinitely valuable. For example, with a fully integrated tech stack, information flows from the host stand to the kitchen and back. This streamlines restaurant operations while increasing profitability, as well as improves the guest experience by providing them with to-the-minute updates on their wait time.

Looking to the Future

From skeleton crews to increased employee wages, the restaurant industry is looking for ways to do more with less. While AI isn’t taking over restaurants, tech is playing a major role in moving the industry forward. By utilizing tech like QSR Automations’ ConnectSmart® platform, restaurant owners can find their way through the current challenges they face and come out stronger on the other side with increased efficiency and profitability. Subscribe to the blog for more interesting restaurant content!

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About the Author

Caitlin Soard is a Content Marketing Strategist with over seven years of marketing experience under her belt. She joined the QSR Automations marketing team in June of 2022 and has been hard at work improving their social media and content ever since. She attended Franklin College where she received a Bachelor of Arts, focusing in Journalism and Public Relations as well as minoring in English. When she’s not lending her social media wizardry to QSR Automations, you can find her playing Dungeons & Dragons or TCGs at her local card shop, enjoying live local music, or spending time with her cat and two dogs, Ellie, Laney, and Orryn.