Increasing Efficiency In Your Restaurant - Using Technology To Work Smarter, Not Harder

Seldom does new technology cause kitchen and front-end staff to work harder — it usually makes things easier. Consumers love to see new technology when they go into a restaurant, especially if that technology speeds up the process of paying the bill, getting their order or adding something to the order during the middle of the meal.

However, many restaurants are slow to use new technology, but it is picking up. For example, many pizza joints allow mobile ordering. Some set up kiosks so you can order your food via an iPad, then sit down and relax. Many are using or at least looking into using Facebook to order. Even using technology to pay the bill is a huge hit. “Hand [customers] a restaurant iPad they can self-checkout on where their card doesn’t leave their sight, and they’re happy … Customers are happy with the faster service, and restaurants can serve more diners per night,” said Carol Tice, a writer for Forbes.

If you’ve ever stopped going to a restaurant (particularly a fast food restaurant) for a while because you were tired of what was on the menu, you may not face that dilemma in the future. Fast food restaurants are starting to use digital menu boards, which makes changing the board easier than doing it manually. This allows them to add specials to the menu or change the menu completely.

If you want to use technology in your restaurant, it needs to be done right and it needs to be integrated properly. McDonald’s used iPads bolted to the table for order-taking, but that didn’t work so well, as it was “clunky.” However, integrated iPads and projection equipment works wonders, as Inamo, an interactive restaurant in London, learned.

Technology for the front of the house isn’t the only thing that can make customers happy by having things streamlined. No matter how fast you can get food orders in, it still takes time to prepare the food. New, upgraded kitchen equipment helps chefs and cooks prep for meals faster; and helps them get the meals plated and out of the kitchen faster.

Additional technology for the back of the house might also include tablets built into the wall so cooks and chefs can look up a new recipe on the fly, grab a conversion in mere seconds or even find a substitute ingredient list for a customer’s special request.

A programmable oven allows cooks to make dishes cooked the same way every time. The oven uses a program to store settings for each recipe. Other companies are coming up with more technology to use: several companies including Whirlpool and Texas Instruments are working to create motion- and voice-activated appliances and digital projectors, much like the system used in Inamo.

Over the next few years, customers will become used to getting better quality food at a faster pace, and will look for restaurants that offer digital ordering and bill pay to streamline their experience.