The Nationwide Restaurant Affiliation’s Restaurant Technology Landscape Report 2024 surveyed operators and shoppers to realize insights on the place expertise funding is occurring immediately and the way receptive diners are to those applied sciences.
Within the survey, three-quarters of operators (76%) stated they anticipated expertise to offer them a aggressive edge. Nevertheless, 1 / 4 (23%) fear that their operation is lagging behind in adoption of recent applied sciences, whereas solely 13% imagine they’re on the leading edge. Operators plan to put money into tech to boost the shopper expertise (60%) and to spice up productiveness or effectivity within the service space (55%) or kitchen (52%).
Listed below are operators’ prime priorities for tech investments in 2024, per survey responses:
1. Digital advertising/location-based advertising. Selling their restaurant on-line to draw and hold prospects is an funding focus for nearly two-thirds of respondents (64% of full-service operators, 62% of these in restricted service). That may embody social media profiles and advertisements, digital loyalty packages, electronic mail and phone-text advertising, and search engine marketing to steer potential prospects to the restaurant’s web site—now together with optimization of voice search.
Then there’s location-based advertising, which accurately meets shoppers the place they’re, focusing on potential prospects based mostly on their proximity to the restaurant. Be taught extra concerning the completely different types of location-based advertising and their makes use of here and here.
2. Loyalty/reward programs. Virtually six in 10 operators surveyed plan to take a position to maintain their greatest prospects coming again. Loyalty is at present a much bigger precedence within the chain-dominated limited-service phase (61% of operators polled) than for fullservice operators (52%).
Loyalty and reward packages are nicely accepted by the eating public; 52% of shoppers surveyed stated they at present take part in a loyalty or reward program at a restaurant, espresso store, snack place or deli, and virtually all (96%) admire these packages as a result of they assist them get extra for his or her eating {dollars}.
Be taught the most recent about loyalty and reward packages here. Additional tips about structuring a loyalty program can be found here.
3. Again-office applied sciences. These embody programs masking payroll, finance, tax compliance and meals security compliance. Simply over half of operators (52%) stated they plan to put money into back-office tech. Not surprisingly, labor administration is a prime precedence, with 47% of operators (and 49% of these in restricted service) saying they count on expertise and automation to be more and more adopted to take care of the labor scarcity. Virtually 4 in 10 operators (37%) count on to put money into automated labor administration, recruitment and/or scheduling programs in 2024.
Be taught extra concerning the newest in tech to make hiring and worker retention simpler here and here. Simplifying payroll accounting, doubtlessly with the assistance of expertise, is addressed here. Workers scheduling software program is mentioned here. There’s details about how synthetic intelligence (AI) can now assist with monetary, stock and efficiency measurement in addition to workers scheduling here and here.
4. Stock management and administration. Higher stock administration can scale back each meals spoilage and inside theft. Managing stock of meals and provides is a tech spending precedence for simply over half of these polled (52%). Integration of stock administration software program with level of sale programs and linkage to distributors are highlighted within the wide-ranging expertise dialogue here.
5. Level-of-sale (POS) programs. Expertise to streamline the purpose of sale is a spending precedence for round half of operators (48%), however it’s way more pressing for LSRs (53% of operators) than for fullservice (43%). Particularly, 42% of limited-service operators plan to put money into contactless or cell pay applied sciences.
Diners are comfy with POS expertise in eating places. Most stated they’re effective inserting an order through a smartphone app (70% in limited-service, 63% in fullservice) or QR code (52% when eating in an LSR, 48% in table-service restaurant). In full-service eating places, diners stated they’d be prepared to order through on a pill on the desk (60%), whereas in LSRs, patrons would order on a self-service digital kiosk (65%) or by speaking to a human order-taker through a video display screen (58%).
Shoppers are additionally prepared to deal with their invoice through contactless or cell fee (68% in LSRs, 62% in FSRs), or via a smartphone app (65% in LSRs, 55% in FSRs), digital pockets (61% in LSRs, 57% in FSRs) or QR code (48% in LSRs, 46% in FSRs). In LSRs, 68% can be prepared to position their order and pay prematurely on the restaurant web site, and 63% would pay through a kiosk; in FSRs, 65% can be prepared to pay through a tableside pill.
Ways in which POS investments can increase effectivity and income are highlighted in operator perspective profiles within the Expertise Panorama Report. Rob Conti, SVP of knowledge expertise on the breakfast-focused full-service chain First Watch, highlighted its new system that imprints every buyer’s examine with a QR code that may be scanned with a smartphone to allow fee through Apple Pay, Google Pay or a bank card. The 125,000 prospects who used the function in every week shortened their fee transaction time by an estimated 30 seconds, saving a complete of 1,000-plus hours for themselves and restaurant workers, he stated.
And Chef Erica Barrett, founding father of Dough Boy Pizza Co., talked about her model’s new POS system, which handles on-line orders from third-party supply providers and is built-in with digital menu boards that enable real-time modifications in menus and pricing, in addition to with self-ordering kiosks, which assist with labor prices (simply 11%-15% of gross sales as a result of there are not any cashiers) and order accuracy (fewer than 1% of orders come again).
Be taught extra about POS programs here and here.
Backside line, per the report: Adopting the most recent tech is considerably extra essential in LSRs, the place worker/buyer dealings are restricted and shoppers may very well want the comfort of tech of their interactions, than in fullservice venues, the place prospects are open to enhanced comfort however engagement with workers stays an integral a part of eating out.
