It is now redundant to state that the Coronavirus pandemic has been a huge blow to the restaurant industry. Last month, the National Restaurant Association placed the cumulative loss in the industry since the start of the pandemic at $120 billion. Projections expect losses to go up to a phenomenal $240 billion by the end of this year. Grim figures indeed.
Navigating these unprecedented and unpredictable circumstances has been exceptionally challenging. There is still business coming in by way of takeout and delivery (statistics show a 65% jump in online orders), but revenue still remains much lower than the pre-pandemic days, first due to the extended closures and then the tight regulations for the operation of dining rooms. There is much eagerness among customers to visit their favourite restaurants, but this is tempered by worries about infection and so whether customers do actually decide to eat-in depends on the safety measures put in place by the establishment.
Face-to-face contact is one of the biggest risks in the spread of the novel Coronavirus and both staff and diners are wary of having to physically deal with each other. Overcoming this situation requires innovative restaurant tech that facilitates contactless processes. As restaurants cautiously open their doors, they have embraced the wonders of contactless tech and these new operational procedures are proving extremely successful in alluring customers back into dining rooms. Of the different approaches being implemented, there are three that are particularly noteworthy owing to their popularity and effectiveness.
Diners can select their food via free digital menus and then settle the bill online. There are plenty of restaurant tech options for this. Interactive websites and restaurant apps give patrons access to the menu allowing them to choose the items they prefer. Alternatively Quick Response codes (better known as QR codes) can be placed on a table and when scanned they can generate a menu and ordering function.
Most smartphone cameras have an inbuilt capability to activate a QR code. In the absence of such a function, there are many straightforward apps that can be downloaded fairly easily. Using one’s own phone eliminates the need for hard copy menus that are passed around from servers to customers. All virtual ordering options can easily incorporate payment as well, either through credit cards or mobile wallets.
A new and valuable advantage of these contactless tech portals is that even in groups, customers can place separate orders and settle their bills individually. While doing this they can apply their own loyalty and rewards program and benefit from them.
Given the cap on the maximum number of people allowed at any given time, most restaurants now operate on a reservations-only basis. This is a boon to crowd control. Incorporating pre-ordering into this process means less time spent indoors ruminating over what to have - another plus for all parties in the dining room, given that duration of contact is also a factor in the spread of disease. Guests can be informed of when their tables are ready through an SMS, preventing undue crowding in waiting areas. Geofencing could also be added, where, if a guest opts in, the restaurant WiFi can recognise when a customer has arrived and be in touch with them regarding the status of their table, encouraging them to stay outdoors if preparations are not complete. Alternatively, the website or app through which the reservation has been made can utilize a manual alert system for patrons to let the restaurant know when they have reached the venue.
Loyalty programs have proved invaluable in retaining customers. Studies have shown that there is a 25% boost to revenue when customer retention is increased by just 5%. This has been attributed to customer spending habits, where returning guests have been observed to rack up higher bills over time. While many retail outlets across the country have been successfully using loyalty programs and rewards points for years now, restaurants have been much slower to introduce them. With the kind of statistics available, this should become another mandatory aspect of new restaurant tech. The data generated by loyalty programs provide actionable insights for more targeted marketing. When a customer engages with a restaurant through their loyalty program profile, add-ons and special offers can be tailored to suit them, thus increasing the potential for more revenue generation.
The effective adoption of restaurant tech is pivotal for surviving this pandemic. Consumer behaviour is changing rapidly and restaurants need to adapt and do so swiftly.
Published August 10, 2020