4 Ways to Increase Productivity and Efficiency in Your Restaurant
Fast cars, fast cash, and fast…food? In the economy of today, the name of the game is speed. Literally. A 2021 case study on the restaurant industry by Deloitte showed how most consumers are willing to pay $4.99 in fees for speedy and convenient delivery. The world’s largest QSR brands know the importance of speed, and you should, too. Science on Call has been communicating with the wonderful folks in the food service industry, and they all make one thing very clear: Time is money. Of course, as a restaurant tech support company, we may be biased in telling you how technology can improve your pull through rate. We’re also food people, with every member of our team knowing what it’s like to work in the front or back of the house. In this week’s Lab Notes, we cover what it takes to curate a fast, strong, and happy work environment.
Build a Schedule Around Your Team, Not the Other Way Around
From personal experience, when working as a food runner in a French restaurant, I found myself being in the best spirits when working a weekday evening shift. Those were the times I had the most energy, was the least irritable, and as a result, gave my best effort. Now think of your restaurant and staff; you have probably noticed similar observations as to the one I made about myself. It can be very stressful for some employees when there is a big dinner rush, and for some, they may be completely bored by Tuesday Morning shifts. Switch those people. For one, a happier employee will make for better service. Those customers will remember the pleasant energy they received, bringing them back again and again. Good service makes for good tips, and good tips make people work harder. That’s going to result in more customers coming your way, and the rest is history.
Of course, technology can help you out here, too! Communication is vital for happy workers. Having a company wide communication channel is also useful for asking questions that are relevant to everybody, and updating people with changes to the business. Options for communication can be Gmail accounts for all employees, or more text-like apps like Slack.
Monitor Your Inventory (Through Your POS)
Point-of-Sale Systems have changed a lot over the last 10 years. Now with most newer devices functioning through a touchscreen tablet, you can also keep track of what and when you need to restock. Upserve, Toast, and Square devices can support some form of an inventory management feature. Basically, using these devices to track your inventory opens up hours in your schedule. The efficiency of your restaurant could easily improve with an easy-to-handle inventory management system.
Get with The Times!
It’s funny, these days technology is both the hero of the restaurant and the bane of its existence. When your technology is working for you, there is no question that everyone’s job is easier. When it’s not, it feels a bit like this. If there is one thing you can control in your restaurant, it’s what technology you are using, and more importantly, how up-to-date it is. Cloud-based point-of-sale systems are almost ubiquitous, but there are some who stick with their preferred and sturdy Micros. The reality is that those clunkier touchpad POS systems are becoming non-existent, and even more difficult to maintain (it’s hard to find an active support team for tech issues). Upgrading to a Toast, Square, Upserve, and really any touchscreen, cloud-based, point-of-sale will reduce inefficiencies on that side of the counter.
Science On Call readily offers opinions on how to best improve the tech stack in-house, but something that can go wayside when thinking about updating your business is how to optimize your Internet/Wi-Fi. Of course, Comcast or AT&T can give you the highest internet speed available, but you need to do research on all your local ISPs. However, when the internet in your area goes down, it doesn’t matter who your provider is. The internet is still down. Science On Line is our solution to that. A versatile redundant internet connection that will keep your business up and running regardless of the internet outages in your area.
Streamlining Onboarding
High turnover rates just come with the territory of this industry, but that doesn’t mean you should feel like you’re left hanging every time someone up and leaves. Labor management systems have come a long way from the days of employee records in file cabinets. Now it can be quite easy to move one employee’s pin number to the next, track punchtimes, fill in shifts at the drop of the dime, and more. Some modern POS systems already have labor management tools built into them. If a built-in labor management tool is not in the cards, using labor management software like 7shifts will be very practical. It’s all ten times better than putting sticky notes on your desk to remind you to find someone to cover the Tuesday Morning shift.
For advice on how to improve your tech stack, please drop us a line at scienceoncall.com/contact.