Are monitoring food costs a significant challenge to your business? If so, you’re hardly alone: 60 percent of restaurant operators struggle to manage food costs, according to Upserve. It can be especially challenging if you have a long list of suppliers, as many operators do. When food costs comprise 28 to 35 percent of an average restaurant’s gross sales, taking control of your inventory can generate substantial savings. If you’re still using an Excel spreadsheet — and hours of your time — to keep tabs on your food costs, it’s time to integrate your inventory management and POS so you have real-time information at your fingertips when you are negotiating with suppliers and placing orders. Watch this space in the coming weeks for more information about a new program from Team Four that can help you manage food costs more efficiently and retain your competitive advantage.

Technology is increasingly making it possible for restaurant brands to successfully play matchmaker with guests looking for a place to eat. Geofencing is allowing a number of brands to identify when their loyal guests are in the vicinity — then making it worth their while to visit. Tavern in the Square uses its geofencing feature to identify loyalty program members within a set radius of the restaurant, then send limited-time discounts. One recent buy-one-get-one-half-price offer boosted sales by 50 percent in one day. OpenTable is now making a play to help a lot more restaurants accomplish this sort of feat. Skift Table reports that the online reservations company found that 25 percent of its bookings were happening within 90 minutes of their seating time. Their goal is to become more of a recommendation engine, so a sushi lover who uses the site is more apt to get Japanese restaurants and offers on his list of top recommendations.

​Could voice-activated ordering have a place in your business? The technology is poised to change the mobile ordering landscape in the near future. The consulting firm Capgemini expects consumers to use voice technology for 18 percent of their total spending within three years — up from 3 percent now. Forbes reports that Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks, Denny’s, Wingstop and Fazoli’s are among the brands that now offer voice ordering, with many using Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service, a chatbot or some combination to allow customers to place an order. The tech startup Orderscape, which currently works with brands including Fazoli’s, reports being in discussions with more than 20 other brands looking to build business via voice search. Orderscape’s CEO predicts the technology will soon evolve into a more interactive, frictionless conversation in which the customer can order the full menu — not simply place a reorder or choose from a slimmed-down variety of options.

A whopping 95 percent of restaurant operators agree that technology improves their business efficiency, while 73 percent of guests agree that tech enhances their experience at a restaurant, according to research from Toast. If you’re looking to advance your technology game, look to three brands that Restaurant Business is recognizing with Tech Accelerator Awards for their leadership in advancing back-of-house operations, data science, consumer-facing tools, automation and other technology to enhance business. The first is Domino’s, which reports taking nearly two-thirds of its orders through digital channels. The brand is innovating delivery by launching its Hotspots delivery service to parks and other locations that don’t have an address, as well as testing self-driven cars in certain markets. TGI Friday’s has shown itself to be an innovator with AI and consumer data, focusing on its in-restaurant and online sales to capture guest information from their POS, social media posts, credit card transactions, mobile devices and bots to deliver more personalized experiences and messaging. Beyond that, the brand is exploring new ways for consumers to place orders, such as via Facebook, Amazon’s Alexa and OnStar devices offered through GM. Finally, the emerging brand Zume Pizza is being recognized for its robot-centric premise: Pizzas are made with the help of robots, cooked in mobile kitchens that are centrally located based on predictive demand, then delivered by car or scooter. (If you aspire to such a model, note that Zume is planning to license the technology at the base of its business.)

Technology that enables restaurants to take bookings — and encourages guests to show up for them — is taking off across the industry. If you struggle with no-show guests but think taking credit card information from them would discourage bookings, vendors are offering other options. The blog Big Hospitality reports that the reservations platform Quandoo uses pre-validation technology that asks for a credit card from a consumer making a reservation, but it encourages its restaurant partners to use a carrot vs. stick approach: For example, guests who pre-book a table with a credit card can pre-order their favorite drinks at a reduced rate and have them presented when they arrive at their table. The method increases check sizes, while decreasing the likelihood of no shows.