Today, restaurants are open and functioning at full capacity in most states. However, things have not turned out the way many restaurant owners had envisioned. Although most places are fully open, restaurant operators cannot find enough employees. Hampered by this staff shortage, restaurants can’t function at 100% capacity. It is now common to see "Help Wanted" signs in nearly all restaurant windows.
Employees want to be paid better wages, and rightly so. Unfortunately, restaurants cannot afford to offer higher salaries. Paying more to the staff would cut into the already battered profits of a restaurant.
In-House Technology To The Rescue
Under the current circumstances, eating and drinking establishments need to find a way to manage with a smaller staff. The answer may be technology since it can take on many tasks previously performed by human workers. Automation is a cost-effective solution with long-term benefits.
Over the past two years, many restaurants had to go digital to do any volume, whether it meant launching a website with online ordering or a mobile app. This automation of the ordering process made it easy for restaurants to function with fewer staff members. Since then, many guests have adapted to conducting business online.
Continuing to automate in-house operations can circumvent the issue of an insufficient labor pool. As a bonus, in-house digitization can double a restaurant's revenue, helping them gain new customers.
Front-Of-House Automation Ideas
In-house automation can include digitizing front-of-house activities by having self-ordering kiosks take orders. Self-ordering kiosks cut down on ordering errors, and significantly increase ticket size by prompting upsells and cross-sells. They can also make personalized menu suggestions based on historical buyer behavior. Kiosks have been so beneficial to businesses that the executives have decided to stick with them. It is now time for smaller restaurants to adopt this new technology too.
Beyond accepting orders, kiosks also include self-payment options with advanced payment security and reliability. Kiosks can take over many of the front-of-house staff's duties, minimizing the number of people needed to attend to customers.
QR-code activated menus are another excellent digital dining solution. Guests can use their phones or tablets to access a restaurant's digital menu, place multiple orders and pay online without the intervention of wait staff. Going digital can help make a restaurant's customer service more efficient than ever before.
Connecting To The Back-Of-House
Automation is not restricted to front-of-house activities; technology can link the entire order process starting from front-of-house to back-of-house. With an automated system, digital orders can be pushed to the POS and into the kitchen on a Kitchen Display System (KDS). This seamless transmission of information eliminates the need for staff to run to and from the kitchen, reducing staff activities.
Phasing In Digitization
Many restaurant operators balk at automation because of a misconception that adopting technology is a complex procedure. This belief stems from the misguided notion that there must be a complete overhaul of the process, nothing can be further from the truth. Taking it one step at a time and automating the ordering process in stages can save money (and restaurant owners will be able to see this for themselves when they calculate their annual revenue).
Reaping Long-Term Rewards
In addition to resolving the current labor shortage, technology provides many other benefits: it reduces waste, gives insights into daily data, builds deeper connections with customers, makes customers happy, and more.
Although the labor shortage hopefully is a temporary problem, automation offers long-term gains. As more and more restaurants turn to technology, it gives them an immediate boost and sets them up to run a successful business for many years to come.
Dinesh Saparamadu is CEO and founder of Applova Inc. and is also CEO and founder of the hSenid Group of companies and chairman of the board of PeoplesHR.
Since 2005, Quikstone Capital has helped thousands of business owners with easy, fast, and flexible working capital for all their business needs. Whether you need to purchase new technology, hire additional staff, increase inventory or create a unique marketing campaign, Quikstone can help. We offer a no-cost or obligation consultation; contact us today to learn more.
