![]() How smart is your kitchen? While the Internet of Things (IoT) is making it possible for more restaurant kitchens to track food supplies and minimize waste, IoT-connected sensors are also enabling what can be a key selling point for today’s restaurant guests: hyper-personalization. Specifically, the connection of the IoT and your customer relationship management system can help you deliver more personalized service to the growing number of consumers who have food allergies or other specific dietary needs. By collecting and analyzing guest data, you can be reminded of a guest’s needs and preferences at the time of their order, which, in turn, can help you ensure their order is safe for them to eat, help your staff prepare it quickly without having to take time to confirm food sensitivities with the guest, and thereby drive guest satisfaction and loyalty. ![]() Across the foodservice industry, AI is impacting operators’ ability to pinpoint inefficiencies and make real-time adjustments. This year, look for the technology to help restaurants streamline menus during busy shifts – making it possible to focus on items that require less complicated preparation when a kitchen is at capacity or understaffed, according to TechHQ. In a similar vein, AI is allowing more restaurants to use dynamic pricing during peak periods so they can maximize the benefits of churning out orders at those times – or possibly encourage people to stagger those orders at off-peak hours. On the menu itself, AI can identify a restaurant’s most profitable items (or unprofitable items) and highlight the winners for guests in order to help drive more sales in that direction. AI has applications after the meal too: A recent Paytronix report says restaurants on its ordering platform will be able to use a ChatGPT-powered chatbot to automatically engage with guests after they finish their meal, then route their feedback to the store manager. ![]() Employee theft is a common problem in small- medium-size businesses. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 75 percent of employees have stolenhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-future-of-food-safety-matt-and-francines/id1673580302?i=1000639720769 from their employer at least once. It can be of particular concern in restaurants: One report estimates that quick-service restaurants, in particular, lose up to 7 percent of their sales to employee theft. There are plenty of ways for restaurant employees to steal from their employers – even if you are processing far fewer cash transactions than you used to. While the tech-based tools and systems you have adopted in recent years may not have been introduced for the purpose of identifying employee theft, they often provide that benefit by helping you get to the root of the problem more quickly and preventing theft from continuing. For example, a recent report from QSRweb.com says your tech-based systems for managing inventory and invoices can alert you to the theft of food and other supplies. Your POS may also help you detect voids, cancellations or other manipulations of your sales. At a time when loyalty programs are so widespread, your loyalty program can help you identify users who are generating more frequent discounts and reward points than would be legitimate. Informed use of security cameras can also discourage theft of cash and supplies. Of course, having a culture that is sensitive to the causes of employee theft can go far in preventing it, as can making staff aware of your policies in handling it if and when it happens. |
Subscribe to our newsletterArchives
January 2025
Categories
All
|