Two Brains Are Better Than One: Why Integrations Are Key in Restaurant Technology

You’ve heard the saying—two heads are better than one. It makes sense that when people work together, more gets done. But, that’s also true with the technology in your life. In the modern technology age our lives and devices are intertwined and connected. If you use an email account to link your devices together (like your phone and your tablet or PC) they are integrated. This saves you from entering your information over and over on websites you frequent. It can also save you if an unauthorized device tries to log into one of your accounts, you are notified via email. This is just one example of how integrations have played a part in our modern lives. Integrations are status quo in our personal lives, but they happen in the professional arena as well. So, let’s take the restaurant industry! In restaurants, technology can be used to:

• Track inventory, then integrate to the ordering system and build an order as items are needed
• Produce a team member schedule for next week based on sales from the POS this week
• Connect a loyalty program to your POS, to track your diners’ favorite meals

In every sense, it’s important to make sure your technology is talking to one another, and that’s where integrations with a powerful API come in. This lets you connect your front of house to your back of house to your training team to your diners, and more. How many connections can there be? Looking at a few of the products from QSR, you can see nearly endless possibilities, but here’s a quick run-down of what it might look like:

1. The restaurant reservation system, ConnectSmart®Host, can receive messages from the POS to help track meal stages
2. The POS can then talk to the kitchen display system, ConnectSmart® Kitchen, to display items and orders accurately and to the correct station
3. CSK can update ConnectSmart®Host when courses are marked prepared from the Kitchen to provide real-time meal stage information
4. A tableside POS kiosk and a mobile Assist app keep table statuses current
5. A recipe viewer that displays preparation and/or plating information to keep food preparation consistent no matter who is in the kitchen

I could go on and on! Integrations allow restaurants to work with the leaders in their fields across the entire operation seamlessly so team members, managers, and guests get the best experience possible. That’s why our partnerships are important to us at QSR Automations. We have multiple partners in the restaurant technology industry that integrate with us allowing our customers to create a custom solution that fits all their needs. Whether it’s a large chain that needs all of the bells and whistles, or an independent restaurant looking for cut-and-dry marketing, integrations are where it all happens. Subscribe to the blog for more interesting restaurant content!

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Shari McCauley is the Product Training Specialist at QSR Automations, where she focuses on educating employees and customers on the benefits and uses of QSR technology. You can reach Shari at smccauley@qsrautomations.com.