Case Study: The Effects of Tech Support for Restaurants

Of the many industries affected by the pandemic, the restaurant industry was arguably changed the most. Now, the changes almost seem normal. We’re used to terms like “contactless payment” and “curbside pickup”, when, two years ago, most had never heard of them. The pandemic expedited the tech migration into restaurants. In this post-pandemic world, every restaurant relies on technology as much as they do their kitchen. But, restaurant people are not tech people. With all that restaurant employees have to balance, adding tech issues to their plate led to major inefficiencies. Science On Call helped reduce those problems. Here’s how we helped. 

Let’s take a look at an example of a popular restaurant group, who we will call “Chicago Smoothie Shop”. Chicago Smoothie Shop has 13 locations offering healthy food options around the city. 

Case Study: Chicago Smoothie Shop

Smoothie Shop employees have busy jobs. From customer service to food preparation, employees have enough on their plates. Like many other restaurants, Chicago Smoothie Shop uses the popular point of sale (POS) system, Toast, to complete customer transactions. While Toast offers a valuable service, and one that’s necessary in today’s restaurant industry, it’s not always dependable. On several occasions, Smoothie Shop’s employees found themselves scrambling when Toast failed. After trying to solve the issue on their own, they did not know who to call to help fix the problem. If a POS issue takes 45 minutes of waiting for help from their IT manager, that store could lose up to $500 in revenue and even worse, creates unhappy customers.

Now with Science On Call, Chicago Smoothie Shop employees simply call or text one number  to get help with their POS problems. Science On Call agents respond to their calls within minutes. That 45 minute POS problem turns into a 10 minute problem, saving the restaurant $500 in lost revenue. This leads to higher efficiency, happier staff and satisfied customers. Even Toast agrees – Science On Call helps restaurants thrive. Science On Call is a trusted partner of Toast POS.

But what are the costs? Science On Call costs them just $179 per month per location. For Chicago Smoothie Shop’s 13 locations, they pay around $28,000 annually. A restaurant will typically pay an IT manager nearly $70,000+ salary, and their abilities are often limited. Let’s say Smoothie Shop hired two IT managers to handle their 13 locations. Even then, those two people can only do one thing at once, are gone for vacation and sick days, and not to mention – they are expensive. With Science On Call, agents with a wide breadth of knowledge will work together to solve these tech issues. This creates savings of over $100,000 per year, while speeding up the solutions to your customers, maxing out revenues and increasing overall customer satisfaction. 

The restaurant industry has changed. The restaurant tech stack has –and will continue to– be a crucial part of running a business. The industry needs labor support, but hiring an expensive IT guy won’t work. For happier customers, happier employees, and maximized revenues – get Science On Call.