Tech proved to be a key to unlocking success during the pandemic. And with current industry conditions, restaurants are powering up technology to increase efficiency and ease staffing issues.

From staffing to managing food and labor costs, figuring out what areas of your business to tackle first can be challenging. However, leveraging today’s digital tools can be a boost for your business, and they’re more affordable and accessible than ever before. Check out what’s new in tech this year to help increase efficiency, accuracy, and even improve the customer experience.

Menus Made Easy

Your food and drink menus are the bread and butter of your business. You spend time sourcing high-quality ingredients, crafting recipes, and creating unique dishes and menus to appeal to customers. Menus should be easily accessible on your site, with special diets or allergens clearly marked, and promoted on your social channels. Without these elements, your place could get overlooked by scrollers, searching for the best places to satisfy their cravings before they ever leave the house. With OpenMenu, you get an integrated platform to manage your menus across all your online channels, a nutritional analysis, and help to get your deals and promos in front of regular and potential customers.

Catering Efficiency

Catering is always a heavy task to organize. Trying to accommodate so many groups, going back and forth with the client on menus and last-minute substitutions, and juggling payments can be stressful. But if catering is a significant revenue stream for your business, instead of throwing in the towel, consider HoneyCart.

The Performance Foodservice One Source partner automates all your processes, so it's 100% self-service. You can set your calendar with availability and delivery dates, enforce policies, upload specific menus for client selection, and charge, all without lifting a finger. Making planning more seamless not only gives you more time to focus on the food, but it’s also a breath of fresh air for the client, who's likely to become a repeat customer based on the ease of the experience alone.

Special Delivery

Third-party food delivery was the name of the game during the pandemic. And with the increased demand, the associated fees can really add up and inconsistencies can turn off loyal customers. Save money and improve your guests’ experiences with Sauce, a delivery program that offers unlimited third-party delivery at a flat rate. Guests can easily order directly from any social media platform or the web with a 1-step system. You can also track customer data, reviews, and even utilize SEO to get your business rated higher on search engines.

Better BOH

Just as your front-of-house and off-premise operations could use some efficiency, so does your back of house. Jolt was created by restaurateurs and is geared toward operations management; things like food safety compliance, daily checklists, a remote monitoring system to provide inventory analysis, and even a centralized hub for on-the-spot training that can be accessed via smartphones or tablets. And with MarketMan, you can streamline your entire BOH operation from recipe costing to inventory management, vendor payments, waste tracking, and more.

Staffing Success

Tee up tech to attract and retain employees by bettering their experience. Any technology that can make life easier for your employees is going to benefit every aspect of your business in the long run.

With HotSchedules by Fourth Solutions, employees can get early access to wages they’ve earned and pick up and release shifts, while you can streamline team communications and save money on training and hiring talent. QR codes, contactless payment, digitized reservations, waitlist management, and cashless instant tip payouts are also great tech options that can support your staff and keep them happy.

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