5 Must-Have Restaurant Technologies to Improve Business Performance

A lot has changed in the hospitality industry within the past couple of years. The most successful restaurants are those that have been able to adapt to changing customer expectations and ever-evolving back-of-house processes.

Customers are no longer the same as they were five years ago, and the restaurant industry is even more competitive than it was previously. That means restaurants must look internally if they are to improve processes, exceed customer expectations and drive new profitability.

When it comes to continuous improvement, restaurant technology (such as restaurant and bar inventory management technology) is crucial. 

In order to meet the changing expectations of customers, as well as run a more efficient and profitable business, restaurateurs must continue to invest in technologies that push their businesses into the future. 

That’s why here at Sculpture Hospitality we’ve handpicked five technologies that will transform how your restaurant operates, enable you to improve the customer experience, as well as make better use of your assets to improve profitability. 

Many restaurants and bars are still managing their inventory through manual processes, which are not only incredibly complex and time-consuming but also extremely inaccurate. 

Food and beverage inventory systems can be integrated with your restaurant’s POS system to track and automate all inventory processes, giving you complete visibility and control of your restaurant inventory.

This helps your restaurant gain insightful analytics into your inventory, helping you to learn exactly where you are losing money through lost product, what your most profitable items are and how you can improve ordering decisions. 

Even before COVID-19, contactless ordering was becoming more popular among restaurants. Social distancing measures have made online ordering solutions even more common within the hospitality industry. 

While taking customer orders can be more efficient on pen and paper for some restaurants, others will find that it’s far more effective to provide their customers with a tech solution that allows them to order directly from their table - whether through a restaurant-owned system or a mobile app that can be downloaded by the customers. 

Online ordering can reduce menu costs, save time for servers, speed up table turnover and reduce your restaurant’s environmental impact - simply by enabling your customers to order through a website, mobile application or from a device on their table.

Point of sale (POS) systems have been used in restaurants for many years, helping to streamline business operations relating to sales, cashflow, food/beverage inventory, bookkeeping table reservations and order management. 

Yet these systems have evolved dramatically in recent years. POS systems now come with touchscreen terminals and, most recently, handheld functionalities. Handheld point of sale systems can dramatically speed up your processes, helping you to turn tables around faster and with a more seamless customer experience. 

Servers can perform multiple tasks in one visit to the table, instead of having to go back to the POS to get the bill ready, bring them the bill and manage the payment. With a handheld POS system, servers can do all of that and so much more in one visit to the guests’ table. 

Contactless debit and credit cards, smart watches, smartphones and many other consumer devices now have the ability to pay via contactless payment. This trend has been increasing over the past few years but has been further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the transition towards contactless service. 

Today’s restaurant POS systems make contactless payments a seamless process, with the ability to facilitate numerous integrations with popular payment methods such as Apple and Google Pay. 

There are many ways you can market your bar or restaurant to potential customers, but there’s no more effective way than simply advertising that you have free Wi-Fi. Free Wi-Fi enhances the guest experience, brings more customers into your restaurant and can lead to a higher sales revenue as a result. 

Want to learn more about how technology, and specifically food and beverage inventory management, can make your restaurant more profitable? Book a Sculpture Hospitality discovery session today. Our team of experts would love to help.