Tech in 2022 - 4
Continuing our series of insights by industry leaders into key tech verticals in the new year
By Kumar Vembu, CEO and Founder, GOFRUGAL*
The pandemic may not be behind us, but a new year is waiting at the door. December is the time for hope. A time for change. A time to alter old recipes to blaze new trails and taste new triumphs. How can restaurants stock up new things this coming year? What do they need to cook? How can they serve themselves a sumptuous success?
Here are five smart ways to ring in the new year for restaurants.
1. Contactless ordering for ceaseless success
While restaurants have started to prepare themselves for the future of dining, contactless or QR code dining helps get the diners back. With a QR code-based digital menu, diners can quickly scan the menu from their mobile, order, and pay contactless. It is a safer and easier option over the menu cards, minimizes the contact with restaurant staff, and helps in instant communication resulting in faster table turnaround times increasing staff's efficiency. Digital menu improves the customer experience as the menu is dynamic based on availability. They can entice them with visual images of the food while there is no need to download any app for ordering.
Bottom-line: Do contactless dining and, ironically, touch customers’ hearts by providing the experience they desire!|
2. In-house deliveries for enhanced relief 
Third-party delivery forces restaurants to play second fiddle. They  don’t understand their raison d’etre -  their customer. Also, delivery apps charge a bomb and blast their profits to smithereens. With in-house delivery, restaurants get better control, faster and efficient deliveries, and enjoy better profit margins. Moreover, it lets them avoid mistakes, delayed deliveries, order cancellations, and miscommunications and saves them money and stops them from ending up with eggs on their faces. With in-house delivery, restaurants can avoid such costly mistakes, get better control, enjoy faster and efficient deliveries, and enjoy better profit margins.
Bottom-line: In-house delivery is the thing to do understand customers better and maximise profits!
3. Automated inventory for better efficiencies
The business of food is the business of procuring ingredients right and using them optimally. You end up minimizing cost, sacrificing errors and maximising profits. Automated inventory helps you control your stock better so you reduce waste and resist pilferage. With Cloud ERP/POS it’s easier to track inventory in real-time, plan and optimize. Production planning helps estimate the ingredients and inventory needed for preparing the food. It also helps to arrive at the exact cost of the item (including the cost of ingredients, electricity, labour, packing etc).
Bottom-line: Automate your inventory, keep your business healthy and automatically enjoy success!
4. Conjure collaborative platforms for cool comfort
Omnichannel has always been the name of the game for restaurants. With the rise of cloud kitchens, kerbside pick-up, contactless-ordering, and contact-less delivery, restaurants need to consolidate with an integrated restaurant ERP for efficient working and proficient profits. While restaurants will continue to integrate with different market-aggregators, loyalty providers, e-commerce, mobile-ordering, digital wallets, the ERP provides this collaborative platform with a one-single consolidated view of orders, inventory, pricing, promotion, and more!
Bottom-line: Build collaborative platforms for a frictionless experience for customers and enjoy elaborate success!
5. Add menu-engineering to your menu
Gone are the days when restaurants tracked their stock, recipes in excel sheets and docs. It was time-consuming, error-prone, not accurate, and harder to scale. Analysing data is imperative for restaurants to sustain and grow. The pandemic has stressed the need for menu engineering where it is easy for restaurateurs to delve into their data and design the menu. They can analyse poor-performing items on the menu and eliminate them, thus reducing wastage and food costs. Analysing each menu item's popularity and profitability can help them design a profitable menu.
Bottom-line: Proof of pudding is in eating but preference for pudding is on the menu!
Restaurants are as much about trained chefs and tasty treats as they are about technology. It’s time restaurateurs begin to embrace efficient technology and proficient tech partners to avoid the problems of their past, help streamline their present and ensure they future-proof their businesses. It would also empower them with tools for accurate decision-making and enable them to integrate and grow, streamline operational efficiency, and enhance their customer experience. Bon appetit!
Gofrugal is a digital-first company offering cloud and mobile ERP solutions to Retail, Restaurant and Distribution businesses.