Life before COVID-19 is hard to imagine this far into the pandemic. It was a time of sit-down service, crowded bars and interactions free from safety concerns. Now restaurants provide a much different experience: Between increased sanitation and state-mandated social distance, self-service technology has taken off this past year. Restaurants wonder: Is it worth the investment?
Benefits of Self-Service
Projections show self-service still growing after the pandemic ends. Now that customers have gotten comfortable with mobile ordering and delivery channels, they’ll continue these practices even when sit-down meals no longer pose a threat.
Restaurants benefit from pushing self-service technology, as it typically leads to higher sales. Give customers the opportunity to look through your entire menu and add everything they want, in whatever size and with sides or drinks, free of judgement from outside parties. This also improves order accuracy by cutting out the middleman so a server doesn’t run the order to the kitchen. Paper tickets easily get smudged or damaged. The Kitchen Display Screen collects every order no matter which Point of Sale submits it.
Self-Order Kiosks improve operational efficiency. By diverting customers away from cashiers’ lines, order turnaround and table turns improve, so you can serve more customers per day.
Mobile and online ordering capabilities streamline delivery and takeout services.
Promote social distance during sit-down service with QR codes that bring up a virtual menu on guests’ phones.
In this digital age, self-service technology is no longer a cool bonus. Customers expect these devices and capabilities that cater to their evolving needs.
Scale Your Business
Restaurants who invest in advanced technology can adapt to the changing times. Flexibility will be key to acclimating in a post-pandemic world, as customer trends change and the restaurant industry as a whole continues to offer smart, socially distant alternatives to sit-down seating.
Some restaurants even see a completely self-service experience in their futures, with plans to fill the service floor with Kiosks and eliminate cashiers. This year, consumers have grown extremely reliant on self-service, far more than anyone could have predicted before this pandemic happened. Even technology itself has advanced so far in directions previously unimaginable to businesses, like with the introduction of QR codes and digital menus, by nature of necessity. Who knows what will come next?
Self-service reduces labor costs and supports customer convenience, so it’s understandable why restaurants favor this technology more and more. Moving forward, bake adaptability into your operations. No matter what happens next in this pandemic or the reopened world coming after, self-service will surely remain a critical element of business moving forward.
