You know there is power in the data you collect about your operation. In the coming months, expect to see developments in exactly how restaurant operators can slice and dice that data in order to draw clear conclusions about it (and then create more targeted, personalised marketing messages). On the Lunchbox platform, for one, digital customers are divided into active, regular and lost categories – and they receive different automated promotions designed to increase the frequency of their visits. After you collect data about your guests, how well does your technology help you connect the dots? It should help you convert semi-regular guests into loyal patrons and deliver increasingly customized offers to your best customers over time – ideally without much manual input from you.

If your restaurant has successfully used QR codes in recent months to enable guests to review your menu or place an order, consider doubling down on them – they provide not only a fast, contact-free ordering and payment option but also a digital window onto your guests and their consumption habits. QR codes connect your POS to your guests. You can use that connection to bring your menu to life on the guest’s phone through videos you share about special menu items. Further, when a guest is already on their phone to order, it’s that much easier to get them to sign up for your loyalty program or agree to answer a few survey questions – further feeding the insights you can use to make improvements to your menu and overall business.

Your restaurant’s technology is what allows you to quickly pivot with the many challenges of the operating environment right now – whether that’s managing supply shortages, scheduling staff, accommodating multiple delivery platforms or another aspect of restaurant management. Your online ordering system is a critical piece of your technology stack, both because it is the vehicle your customers use to interact with your brand and because it allows you to adjust to rapid changes in the market. Does your online ordering system allow you to adjust your menu on demand if you’re out of a key ingredient? Does it adjust delivery prices based on how far your customer is from your restaurant? Can it incentivize customers to collect an order from you instead of ordering delivery? Your system should allow you to flex to meet the moment.

Is the technology you use to present your menu, take and prepare orders, and collect customer information obvious to your guests? Or does it simply dissolve into the background? A recent report from Modern Restaurant Management says ambient technology is the future of restaurant technology. When you have an interconnected system that integrates new functionality with ease, your technology can blend seamlessly into the experience of eating at your restaurant. There is no need – or consumer desire – for obvious bells and whistles. If you’re able to use your technology to smoothly call up past orders, make informed recommendations based on stored preferences, and then reward consumers without hassle, you’re elevating your service and overall guest experience (and making the technology responsible for it all seem like an afterthought)

As restaurants look to attract and retain customers, offering opportunities to easily personalize orders has been a key recommendation. But it shouldn’t stop there. In a recent technology report from Nation’s Restaurant News, Matt Harding, Piada’s senior vice president of culinary and menu innovation, said offering consumers options for how they collect their orders is a natural extension of food personalization. That means using tech to create multiple options for order collection – whether in-store, curbside or via a drive-thru. The report predicts we’ll see this prominently in drive-thrus with different lanes for traditional drive-up orders, pre-made items, and to-be-delivered items and pre-orders.

Could today’s labor challenges turn the tide for robots in the kitchen? That’s what Gary Stibel, founder and CEO of New England Consulting Group, predicts in the recent “Restaurant of the (Near) Future” report in Nation’s Restaurant News. He said while robots will be more common in kitchens in the near future for labor and novelty reasons, they will also offer substantial value when it comes to micro-personalization. He says: “You’ll be able to more easily select exactly what you want and instead of a bunch of people running around the kitchen, a robot will do precisely what the customer asks.” If you look a few years into the future, how might your ability to offer micro-personalization to guests elevate your business? Could automation help take you there?

You likely have guests whose habits you’d like to change: The one who regularly orders delivery from you even though he lives in your neighborhood, or the couple who visits semi-regularly who you’d like to see more frequently. Understanding and mining your data can help transform some of those guest behaviors in the direction you’d like. Allison Page, founder and chief product officer of the restaurant platform SevenRooms, told the Spoon recently that data is changing the game for restaurants by empowering them to build better relationships with guests. When you know the regular customer who orders delivery from you lives nearby, for example, you can entice him with a promotion of his favorite appetizer if he collects his order in person. If you know the favorite dish or wine of the couple who visits you only every now and then, you can invite them to a wine-tasting event or other experience featuring the wine they like along with a new dish you’re promoting. What clues are your guests providing through the data they’re sharing with you?