 Only 37 percent of consumers agree that more technology inside of restaurants means better customer service. That’s according to a PYMNTS Intelligence survey of more than 2,200 U.S. consumers conducted last year. That doesn’t mean that technology isn’t delivering better service – just that the guest-facing applications don’t necessarily make that clear to guests. So focus on using tech to operate as efficiently as possible behind the scenes – to keep guests’ favorite menu items in stock, automate repetitive tasks that occupy your staff’s time, and prioritize line prep tasks so your staff can effectively balance competing streams of orders. The better you can manage demand in the kitchen, the more time your staff will have to spend in the dining room with guests, making sure their experience feels like a positive one.
 The most appealing customer-facing tech doesn’t matter if your kitchen can’t complement it with speedy, accurate, safe order preparation and service. That may be why a number of casual dining brands, including the likes of Chili’s, are stepping back from sexier tech like robot servers and drone deliveries to focus more resources on tech that can help fine-tune kitchen operations, Nation’s Restaurant News reports. What may be most helpful are kitchen display systems that take the mental work out of juggling multiple order streams, as well as tech that can identify areas for improvement in food safety. Where are your bottlenecks in the kitchen? Even if you don’t know where they exist and how much of an impact they are having on your operation, there is likely a tool that drills down on that information for the benefit of your business.
 While so much customer-facing restaurant technology has been adopted in the past few years, many restaurant kitchens are still playing catch-up. If your kitchen is a place in your business that is struggling with inefficiencies, consider adopting tech that applies manufacturing processes to it. The Spoon reports that companies including Powerhouse Dynamics, Perfect Company and Orbisk are handling such tasks as monitoring kitchens in real time to optimize labor allocation, ingredient portioning, food waste reduction and other aspects of operation.
 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.
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