What’s happening with restaurants today? It seems like the old mom-and-pop joints simply can’t compete in any industry that can be improved by tech. Restaurants have become the latest industry to try machine learning and automated technology that is propelling them beyond their competition and bringing in new revenue streams. For instance, many restaurant owners have implemented point of sale cloud-based systems to improve efficiency, inventory management, and sales tracking.
However, there are many other tech gadgets and software being used to modernize the dining out process and saving restaurant owners a ton of time and money in the process. Technology can even improve a restaurant’s investment portfolio. Here are a few tech items that are showing up in successful restaurants today.
Guest Loyalty Programs
You may think that this is nothing new. For as long as there has been an email or EDDM list, you have been able to reach loyal customers. However, the ease and convenience, as well as the visibility of promotions, has changed with recent guest loyalty software. You can now use a checkout process that tracks your customer’s email and adds it to your email service, allowing you to instantly thank customers or send them a promotion for being a first-time customer.
You can also add guest loyalty to your website, allowing potential guests to sign up and become loyal followers without visiting your store or even buying something from you. It’s the simplest and fastest way to start exposing guests to your restaurant.
Tabletop Dining and Checkout
With new point-of-sale tech for restaurants, you can instantly upsell customers just by placing their options in front of them for ordering. Your wait staff doesn’t have to suggest the specials because they can be prominently featured right at the table. They can also play games, look at promotions, and pay for their bill right from their table. This is the easiest way to improve your restaurant if you are having issues with low ticket sales, wait times, and order accuracy.
Cloud-Based POS Systems
While you may not have updated your POS in the past few years, many restaurants are moving towards the cloud. This is because it gives you instant access to sales reports, live data tracking, promotion tracking, employee performance, and so much more.
One of the best things about this new tech is that it can help you learn about your customers, providing you with insights into when sales happen and what sales were achieved on a day-to-day basis. In addition, you can easily account for inventory problems with a POS system that hooks into your inventory management, making it possible for automatic re-stock orders when you’re going to run out of a certain protein or other essential item for your restaurant.
These digital POS systems were made to be more sophisticated for online ordering, take-out orders, and payment processing. You can now help your guests enjoy their experience even more with a system that lets them split payments and add take-out orders with a tap of a finger.
Online Ordering
If you want to quickly upgrade your restaurant, you have to think of the way people are ordering these days. Many people want to get take-out or order ahead, and with online ordering, you can increase your restaurant’s revenue, implement more accurate ordering, and get data tracking, allowing you to learn who your regular customers are and what they want to order. Typically, these hook into a point of sale cloud-based system and turn your restaurant into a smooth operation.
