The restaurant industry has been majorly impacted by technology and has been transformed by the rise in new technology. From booking a table online to ordering a takeout meal to your door through apps like JustEat, restaurants are now more profitable and accessible than ever before.
These advances have helped business management and customers’ experiences. We take a look into how these have helped:
Booking system
Years ago, if you wanted to book yourself a table in a restaurant you could only do so by ringing them up. Busy times meant that you could sometimes be waiting on hold for long periods of time. Even worse, you may have turned up to the restaurant and had to wait in the lobby. This is a major dissatisfaction to customers which will sour their overall experience.
Thanks to online booking systems and reservation managers this is no longer the case. To reserve table customers can click on the relevant tab on the restaurants’ app or website, choose a time and reserve a table that suits them, which in turn improves the customer service element.
Manpower can be reduced as this method of service is 24-hours, meaning that a restaurant is more likely to receive bookings due to customers being able to book their table any time of day. With such a tool, it’s likely that you’ll have data available to you that can keep track of every reservation, allowing you to plan and grow your business.
Payment
Nowadays all it can take is a tap of the bank card on a card machine to pay for a meal, making the whole payment process a swift and easy one and meaning you no longer need to carry cash on your person. This also means that there’s far more chance of upselling your product as the customer won’t be worried about how much money they physically have on them. Research has found that there is a higher willingness-to-pay when debit/credit cards are used instead of cash. This is especially the case when it comes to treating yourself and eating unhealthy food due to impulsive buying.
Inventory management
Behind the scenes, technology has been able to benefit significantly too, alongside improving the customer service experience. The majority of restaurants now rely on technology to keep their stock levels accurate. This has allowed them greater visibility of their assets almost immediately. Employees can directly submit and view their inventory via a device, leading to greater efficiency and accuracy.
Feedback
Trip Advisor is a great way for the public to plan their next trip, with hundreds of thousands of people leaving reviews on a range of things, for restaurants receiving high scores on these type of sites can mean an increase in sales. For many, they may not have heard of your establishment, but great reviews can push them in your direction.
Social media analytics
Food and staff, those are the two main reasons as to why a customer will continue to come back. If customers enjoy the dishes and the ambiance, they are likely to return in the future. Thanks to social media analytics you can discover exactly what customers are looking for and tailor your business to these desires.
Social media can be a great way for customer and restaurant to build a relationship, restaurants usually like to reply to its’ customers to help build an appreciation from the customers. However, if you’re unable to respond to all replies, self-service analytics tools allow you to collate all responses so that you can get the overall feel of the public and what it is they’re saying.
Special offers
Showing what great deals you have available online can be a good tactic to gain potential customers. This can be the difference of whether they choose the competitor or yourself. Another great way to gain the attention of customers are flyers, local restaurants tend to take advantage of leaflet distributors. These leaflets tend to include on them a discount code in order to draw in the intended customers to make an order.
Fast food industry
Mobile ordering has joined sit-in restaurants on taking advantage of the technology available, making it really easy for people to purchase their food on a whim. Thanks to apps such at Just Eat, you can now browse a range of takeaways and quickly order – and pay for – your meal as and when you like it.
JustEat had over 10 million people ordering through their app last year, and in 2017 the company seen its revenue rise 45{69d371dc3a7215af1cf70e657e96c7414241106804c5daaddb02eee3606ab22c} which meant that money being spent on fast food on the app hit the £1.9 billion mark.
With technology continuing to advance, there’s no doubt restaurants will have numerous new options in the near future. Whether they choose to pursue them is up to them, but for those who don’t, the end could very well be nigh.