3 Ways That Restaurant Technology Can Save Your Bacon
How to use environmentally and fiscally sustainable technology to reduce operational costs and boost your bottom line!
Bacon seems to be everywhere these days, from snack bar menus to ironic tee shirts, and this article will be no exception. We’ll take a look at three ways that restaurant technology can save your bacon (literally and figuratively), and in some cases, help you bring home more of it!
SAVE TIME by streamlining processes
To save one’s bacon traditionally refers to saving one from bodily harm. When you consider the hours kept by many in the industry, I think it’s fair to say that working in hospitality is a full-contact sport and that you’d be a life saver if you helped them get a few hours back in their day or week.
That’s why many restaurants are looking to technology to help automate tasks like basic training and staff scheduling. For example, apps like 7shifts allow restaurants to cut down on time drastically it takes to create and maintain staff schedules while providing the labour insights needed to optimize labour costs long-term without sacrificing service.
SAVE MONEY by reducing food and labour costs
As rising food and labour costs continue to squeeze margins, operators are looking for a lifeline. Some have chosen to cut hours or reduce food quality to make rent, but some steps can be taken before such drastic measures. Consider whether there’s some slack to be cut in other areas.
Without proper training, your online ratings would plummet, but labour isn’t cheap. Does all training need to take place at a Sunday morning seminar, or could you deliver menu knowledge to their phones? Does every new employee need THAT many shadow hours, or is there a more efficient way to deliver the straightforward elements of that training?
What about food costs? Are you running a tight ship on your inventory, or is there some waste that could be snuffed out? Inventory control systems like Fytics were created to cut costs, track and reduce wastage, and improve your bottom line. From counting to re-ordering, and even recipe costing, these systems are helping operators to right the ship without sacrificing food quality. If bar inventory is the bigger thorn in your side, check out Wisk Solutions.
BOOST SALES by growing your average check
Savings are important, but they’re only half of the equation. There are also plenty of opportunities to boost your bottom line by increasing your average check. For many restaurants, their most knowledgeable servers sell 10 to 20 per cent more than less savvy peers. Decreasing the amount of time it takes an employee to be running at full speed can have a massive impact (The Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell estimates that lost productivity due to turnover costs $3,000 EVERY time you hire someone new*), but optional product training sessions aren’t well-attended. Training technology is the solution, and it works.
Retail employers have used training technology to reduce their turnover costs by over 40 per cent relative to hospitality, and restaurants are now following suit by delivering information via mobile, where it can be accessed from anywhere, at any time, and is more likely to be consumed by today’s millennial workforce. Platforms like Spiffy also take out the guesswork by offering reporting options for measuring employee progress, so it’s well known which employees are prepared to perform.
To sum things up
Inventory, staff scheduling, and training are all necessary for the running of a restaurant, but these administrative tasks are not the reason that any of us got into the industry. Automating these tasks and streamlining operations—this is sustainability in action. * (Source: therail.media)
