FOODSERVICE UPDATES
  • Foodservice Updates
  • Trends
    • Commodities
  • Digital Media
  • Technology
  • Safety
  • Management Tips
  • Free Newsletter
  • Recipes
    • Mains >
      • Handhelds
      • Pasta & Rice
    • Soups & Sauces
    • Salads
    • Appetizers
    • Desserts & Snacks
    • Sides
  • Foodservice CEO

​Tech-driven food labeling

4/25/2022

 
RFID
At a time when labor is stretched thin, something often has to give. But since that can’t be food safety, operators are leaning on technology for help. One technology to watch is radio-frequency identification (RFID). Chipotle recently announced it would be testing RFID case labels to track its ingredients’ path from suppliers to its restaurants. If and when food safety concerns arise, the labels can help operators track them to the source quickly. What’s more, RFID labels promise to save time on inventory management by limiting the need for staff involvement (and the chances for human error).

Step up your cross-sell tech

4/18/2022

 
dessert
​Using data to make menu recommendations to guests is now a given – but the restaurants taking best advantage of it are digging deeper than simply suggesting fries with a burger. According to a recent report from Fast Casual, restaurants can leave valuable opportunities on the table if they don’t use their data to cross-sell a wider assortment of items. For example, can your technology stack analyze the most-popular accompanying items ordered with a dish by your local/regional/national guests and then make tailored recommendations reflecting real-time data? Prompting a guest with a special beverage, appetizer or dessert – based on tried-and-true data on guest preferences – may help you connect guests with new favorite add-ons.

Could digital signage work for you?

4/11/2022

 
digital signage
​Nearly every aspect of restaurant operations needs to be flexible right now – and your technology is no exception. Having a means to get information to customers in real time can help you make sure people are informed about what’s happening in your restaurant, including changes to anything ranging from your menu to your operating hours. Digital signage can help you by providing a flexible tool to get information out to customers as they need it. You can promote limited-time offers that help get excess menu items out the door faster, or upcoming events at your restaurant. If you’re looking to hire new staff, digital signage can help you get the attention of the people who already support your restaurant and believe in your brand. And speaking of your brand, your digital signage can be used to reinforce your business values and express appreciation for both customers and employees at a challenging time for the industry.

Better management of kitchen backlogs

4/11/2022

 
backlog
As restaurants try to manage with fewer staff, it’s become more important for kitchens to have clear direction about what needs to happen when – especially as restaurants bring in new and growing streams of business. A new report on 2021 performance and 2022 priorities from 65 respondents at 59 fast-casual and quick-service restaurant brands indicated that 87 percent of respondents are looking for improved visibility into kitchen production backlogs. Kitchen display systems are a key growth area in restaurant technology right now because they can enhance the efficiency of a kitchen and potentially allow it to process more business with less staff. For restaurant operators, one of the main lessons to emerge from the pandemic is the need for diversified income. Do you have the tech tools to help you organize and prioritize those streams from a single dashboard? They may help you serve guests more efficiently and require less labor than you’d normally need.

From one screen, a consistent menu across platforms

4/4/2022

 
screen
​Technology should help make doing business easier and more efficient – not add a layer of extra equipment and complexity. It helps when you can use a single interface to manage many streams of business. One new tool from Nextbite makes it possible to manage their menus across a range of third-party delivery providers from one interface – kind of like a kitchen display system for managing external delivery streams. The single interface comes in handy when you have to remove or add menu items amid supply fluctuations, update pricing to reflect price changes from suppliers, and altogether make your menu consistent across many platforms at once.

​The benefits of serving the high-tech guest

4/4/2022

 
high tech
At a time when restaurants are having to run on especially thin margins, knowing who your most profitable guests are can be a big advantage. According to a new survey of more than 2,000 U.S. consumers, you will likely do well by focusing on your higher-tech guests – and serving and rewarding them through your mobile app. More than half of survey respondents cited mobile app availability as central to their willingness to spend more money. What’s more, your app can help secure their business for the longer term. An overwhelming 79 percent of respondents said they use mobile apps to connect with restaurant reward offerings. These guests are also the most likely to be interested in taking part in subscription offers.

​What’s your staff’s tech IQ?

4/2/2022

 
tech
As the labor crunch wears on, robotic kitchen assistants have quickly become less novel and more mainstream as a growing number of quick-service brands have them preparing menu items from scratch. While technology is weaving its way through more restaurant tasks these days, humans are still needed to oversee operations and troubleshoot some tasks. Is your staff up to the job? For many restaurants, tech oversight is becoming a larger role. While you can likely turn to external tech support when equipment malfunctions, being able to make quick fixes in the moment and intuit the reasons for problems is also valuable. As you interview applicants and look to develop existing staff, consider how to help them adapt to the evolution of technology in your business – and to answer their questions about what may be required of them as you adopt new tools to support your front and back of house. At the same time, ensure you understand your external tech-support resources and what will actually be available to you in the moment you need it.

    Subscribe to our newsletter

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    5G
    Accounting
    Accuracy
    Agriculture
    Agtech
    Ai
    App
    Association
    Automate
    Backlog
    Blockchain
    Budget
    Camera
    Carry Out
    Cashless
    Cleaning
    Cloud
    Communication
    Composting
    Credit Card
    Crops
    Cross Sell
    Customization
    Cyber Security
    Cyber Threats
    Data
    Debit
    Delivery
    Digital
    Display
    Drive Thru
    Edge-computing
    Efficiencies
    Efficiency
    Email
    Encryption
    Equipment
    Errors
    Face-recognition
    Food-safety
    Food-supply
    Foo-locker
    Forecast
    Fraud
    Geofence
    Ghostkitchen
    Ghost-kitchen
    Gift-cards
    Gmofoods
    Google
    Gps
    Green
    High-efficiency
    Hiring
    Host-kitchen
    Ingredients
    Insurance
    Integration
    Interests
    Internet
    Inventory
    It
    Kiosk
    Kitchen
    Kitchen Display System
    Labels
    Labor
    Laws
    Link
    Loyalty
    Maintenance
    Manage
    Marketing
    Menu
    Mobileordering
    Mobile-ordering
    Mobileorderingb02c87f4a0
    Monitoring
    Morale
    Network
    On-demand
    Online
    Ordering
    Outdoor
    Packaging
    Partnership
    Payables
    Payment
    Personalization
    Photos
    Planning
    Pos
    Pricing
    Processes
    Profit
    Promotions
    Qrcodes
    Qr-codes
    Rebate
    Regulations
    Renegotiate
    Repairs
    Reports
    Reservations
    Reusable
    Rfid
    Robots
    Safety
    Scheduling
    Security
    Signage
    Smartphone
    Socialdistance
    Special-offers
    Staff
    Supper-app
    Supply
    Supplychain
    Systems
    Takeout
    Take-out
    Takeoutfed487ce46
    Technology
    Tech Stack
    Tech-support
    Temperature-control
    Text
    Theft
    Thirdparty
    Touchless
    Traceability
    Tracking
    Training
    Upgrade
    Uses
    Uv-light
    Video
    Virtual
    Voice
    Vra
    Waittimes
    Waste
    Website
    Wifi
    Wi-fi

Get our Free Newsletter
Team Four Foodservice
​Recipes
Corona Virus Resources
Value 4
Quarterly Outlook
​Palette Foodservice
​
Foodservice CEO
© 2023 Team Four Foodservice
  • Foodservice Updates
  • Trends
    • Commodities
  • Digital Media
  • Technology
  • Safety
  • Management Tips
  • Free Newsletter
  • Recipes
    • Mains >
      • Handhelds
      • Pasta & Rice
    • Soups & Sauces
    • Salads
    • Appetizers
    • Desserts & Snacks
    • Sides
  • Foodservice CEO