A Recipe for Successful Restaurant Management
Beat the Odds
The restaurant industry has always been competitive, and it’s challenging to make profits and stay solvent without a restaurant management solution. FSR magazine reports that 60 percent of restaurants don’t make it past their first year, and 80 percent go out of business within five years. These stats get even higher when you consider the global pandemic affecting the industry. The pandemic caused added pressure in 2020, with sales down $239 billion from expected levels and employment dropping 3.1 million. This carried into 2021 as 110,000 restaurants were closed either permanently or temporarily.
Making a profit and staying in the black while constantly seeing increases in product and labor costs can be challenging. Operational cost is a huge factor in the equation for restaurant success. With wages increasing to 34.6 percent of operating costs and ingredients rising to 32.5 percent, the cost to keep the doors open is skyrocketing.
Technology for Successful Restaurant Management
So how can the industry build itself back up after being thrown such challenges over the past few years? Keeping a restaurant successful heavily relies on restaurant management’s effectiveness. Streamlining processes will help restaurants run smoothly and keep costs low. These four leading technologies will help you build the success of your business.
Online ordering
Being able to offer more than just dine-in channels is key to bringing in new revenues. Due to the pandemic, many patrons have moved to online ordering to avoid contact with others. Additionally ordering online is always an option to customers with an internet connected device, offers them a higher level of convenience, and it helps restaurants reach a much larger audience.
What type of online ordering technology would suit your business best? An efficient restaurant management system will offer streamlined processes for managing and fulfilling orders. The best solutions will also have features that automate order entry so employees don’t have to do it manually. Also, the best system for your business will be integrated with your in-house system, automatically sharing orders and customer information for delivery, takeout, and dine-in orders.
Also, teaming up with third parties like Uber Eats or DoorDash allows you to deliver your products to customers without hiring delivery drivers yourself. Having a restaurant management system that can integrate with these delivery apps additionally offers a streamlined operation.
H3: A strong loyalty program
What’s better than having repeat business; and what’s a better way to get repeat customers than to offer them an effective loyalty program. Look for loyalty program software that integrates with your POS system, allowing you to collect important data points from your customers. Regardless of whether they are dine-in or curbside pick-up patrons, you want to be able to collect data to understand their buying habits and preferences better.
Personal connections can be lost when pandemic-related fears mean fewer in-person diners, but a loyalty rewards program can help your business overcome this. Having customer information from a loyalty program in your restaurant management software will allow you to tailor promotions for customers and build stronger relationships with them.
Gift cards and eGift cards
Providing traditional plastic gift cards are a proven way to boost business. A restaurant management system that offers patrons the added convenience of visiting the restaurant’s website, purchasing the electronic gift card, and entering the recipient’s e-Gift email address will allow for more purchases of gift cards, especially during the busy holiday season. Some eGift card solutions even allow the recipient to store it digitally in an Apple Wallet, adding even another level of convenience to the customer’s experience.
Contactless mobile payments
Restaurant management has to look at payment transactions differently since the pandemic. Being able to offer contactless options is huge to retaining those health-conscious customers that need that extra level of comfort. Even patrons that are dining in will enjoy the perk and convenience of being able to pay at the table while using their own devices.
Restaurants can also offer their customers the ability to use touch-free QR code payment with software like Focus QRPay. This option offers increased flexibility whether customers are in-house or curbside.
Use What You Learned During the Pandemic
With these technologies at your disposal, you can efficiently continue the creative ideas for bringing in revenues during the pandemic to build your business in the future. Consider continuing to offer:
- Family meals that are fully cooked or prepared for customers to cook at home
- Holiday meals
- Special menu items for online patrons only
- ood truck or catering options to take your menu to customers outside the restaurant
- Menu items featuring produce from local farmers or products from other local partners.
Find Partners Committed to Your Success
Being able to overcome the odds and operate a successful restaurant is simple when you have a restaurant management system that works with you. Providing customers with benefits like online ordering through third-party vendors, customers tailored loyalty programs, providing both traditional and digital gift card options, and allowing multiple payment options will allow you to set yourself and your restaurant up for success.
Contact Focus POS to learn more about all-in-one POS Systems that can provide you with the ability to offer your customers all of these technologies and more!
