Technology is having a widespread disruptive impact on businesses everywhere. Restaurants are no exception. But what important technologies are behind restaurant profitability?

Technology services for restaurants can make your business more efficient and profitable. Beyond that, it can help you make a lasting impression on your guests.

It’s fast coming to the point where not utilizing the right tech or leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) for your restaurant can harm your profitability.

You can easily get left in the dust by your competition if you aren’t staying up to date with new developments.

So, what trends should restaurants be watching? Let’s explore the technology behind restaurant profitability.

Mobile Delivery

According to ChefHero, mobile delivery orders represented 53 percent of all online restaurant orders in 2018, up from just 33 percent in 2013.

Whether it’s Uber Eats or DoorDash, having a mobile app capable of handling delivery integrations are fast becoming a must-have for restaurants that want to thrive in the digital age.

People love the convenience of being able to order directly from their smartphones and pay using their favorite method, whether it’s Apple Pay, Google Pay or otherwise.

And, it also means that people can order on the go, wherever they are. Maybe they’ve had a long day at work and want to place an order on the way home and arrive back at home with their meal waiting for them.

So, mobile delivery should be on your radar.

Kiosks

Self-service kiosk technology is growing fast and is already being used at many popular eateries – especially fast food joints.

Kiosks allow customers to place and pay for their order without even having to go to the counter. And, there’s often a screen indicating which order is being served.

All guests must do is keep an eye on their order number and step up to the counter to claim it. This is perfect for people who don’t want to wait in line to get the process started.

Self-service is becoming more popular in casual and even full-service restaurants these days. Tableside tablets aren’t just a convenient way for customers to place their order at their leisure.

They can even use it to summon a server, ask for drink refills, or even play games and surf the web while waiting for their meals to arrive.

Self-service doesn’t just benefit the customer. It can also make your restaurant more efficient, lower costs, speed up table turnover and track customer behaviors.

Scheduling Technology

Managing your staff can be a real challenge – especially if you’re still relying on outdated ways to track who’s working when.

Dashboards & business intelligence for restaurants can help make efficient operational updates when you have shifts that need to be filled.

And, if there’s so much as one hiccup in the schedule, it can cause pandemonium at your place of business.

Restaurants should no longer rely on:

• Paper-based systems
• Excel spreadsheets
• A mix of hardcopy and digital schedules
• Email

Your staff will need to swap shifts, want vacation time, and on occasion, not show up for their shifts due to miscommunication or other unforeseen events.

Scheduling technology eliminates the headache of having to track and update it all manually. And, this type of tech isn’t just for figuring out who’s working when.

It can even help you predict what your busy nights are going to be and how many people you’re going to need on a given day.

Plus, these apps can even generate schedules automatically and distribute them to your team.

So, if you’re looking to save time, optimize your schedule and distribute it without hassle, you should implement scheduling technology.

Final Thoughts

There are plenty of exciting developments, and the above is just a starting point.

Whether it’s supply procurement, inventory or POS technology, there’s a lot you can leverage to drive profitability.

So, if you’re still on the fence, now might be the time to make a leap. Your restaurant has the potential to be far more profitable than it is with the right tech stack.