5 Ways to Overcome Your Restaurant Tech Problems

How restaurant operators and staff can turn tech headaches into triumphs.

Managing your restaurant tech stack typically…. sucks.

If you’re a restaurant operator/entrepreneur, you know the deal. Keeping up with your tech can be a real pain in your rump roast. You’ve got POS systems, loyalty solutions, inventory software, delivery apps, etc. Every one of these platforms is an essential part of delivering an excellent, modern experience for your patrons.

At the same time, each of these systems probably has you wanting to tear your hair out on a weekly basis.

Glitches and errors are inevitable. When something goes wrong, it causes undue stress for your staff and missed revenue opportunities for your locations. Fixing these systems either a.) pulls internal IT resources away from bigger-picture projects or b.) forces your staff to step away from serving customers to hack aimlessly at a screen. The current remedies (customer service lines, outsourced IT generalists) are nothing more than band-aid solutions.

There’s a better way to deal with restaurant tech — and it starts with understanding a few strategies and best practices. Science On Call’s team of restaurant technologists has helped hundreds of fast-growing QSR and fast-casual restaurants across the country solve their tech problems. Now we’re passing on those lessons to you. 

Let’s dig in:

Common Restaurant Tech Challenges

If you’ve been around the restaurant industry for a while, chances are you’ve seen your share of tumultuous tech.

Each of your restaurants is probably relying on a half-dozen or more tech solutions every day. All of these systems can cause trouble, but there are some usual suspects:

Network and WiFi

Whether your router is acting spotty or a possum chewed through an ethernet cable in your network closet (yes, we’ve actually seen this happen), internet issues can derail your entire operation. When your network’s down, everything from your printer to your POS might as well be a pile of bricks.

Point of Sale systems

What would you do if your Square or Toast tablet stopped working? It’s the lifeblood of your entire operation.

Will you try rebooting the system and miss out on the lunch rush? Will you wait on hold for 30 minutes while an inexperienced customer service agent tries to help you? Shut it down and only accept cash for the day? None of these options are good.

Delivery platforms

Everyone knows The Bear, the fine-dining comedy-drama on Hulu. There’s an iconic scene in the show where a faulty to-go order system causes widespread mayhem.

Orders come in at an astronomical pace. The line is overwhelmed. The cooks are trying to jam out hundreds of sandwiches as they nearly bite each other’s heads off.

But you don’t need TV-level catastrophe to cause headaches. Even something as simple as not being able to 86 a menu item on DoorDash or UberEats can ruin your day.

5 Strategies for Conquering Your Restaurant Tech Issues

So what is an operator/entrepreneur like yourself supposed to do? We’ve got five strategies that might help you sort out your restaurant tech troubles:

1. Conduct routine maintenance checks

A proactive approach can help identify and address potential issues before they become major problems. Regularly inspect and maintain your POS systems, tablets, printers, routers, etc. This might seem silly at first, but a little regular upkeep can make a world of difference.

2. Ensure a reliable backup internet connection

Backup internet can be a real lifesaver. 

Your point of sale system might have “offline mode” functionality, meaning it can process credit cards collected in person later. But if you rely on online ordering and delivery platforms to send live orders to your restaurant, that simply isn’t good enough. If your restaurant goes offline without a backup, you may as well be closed for the day. That’s why finding a reliable backup internet solution is so important.

3. Set aside time for regular staff training

Your staff members probably dread dealing with tech issues. They got into the restaurant world because they love food, hospitality, and being a part of the crew. They certainly didn’t sign up for IT troubleshooting. 

A little bit of training can help staff deal with issues quicker and more efficiently. Consider providing some simple training sessions on using POS systems, troubleshooting basic problems, and escalating more complex issues to the appropriate support channels.

4. Establish effective communication channels

Speaking of escalating issues: make sure you’ve established clear protocols and channels for when things go awry. Who is responsible for System X when it’s acting faulty? When is it appropriate to call your internal IT resources vs. an outsourced resource? 

It’s always good to have a plan and chain of command for stressful restaurant tech situations. Many restaurants find it effective to implement a primary tech-focused resource to call (more on that later!) so that no one has to bother the owner or general manager on their day off. 

5. Partner with restaurant technology experts

IT generalists and call centers simply aren’t reliable or quick enough for fast-growing restaurant chains. Neither is your brother-in-law’s friend who did IT for a dentist’s office.

If you try to patch together band-aid solutions, you can’t be surprised when your systems act up and cost you frustration and revenue. QSRs and fast-casual chains need IT partners that actually get the hospitality industry.

Meet Your Dedicated Team of Restaurant Technologists

Restaurant operators and entrepreneurs are dealing with so much as they grow their businesses. Don’t you deserve a partner that helps take tech off your plate?

Science On Call is the lightning-fast, AI-powered help desk for restaurants. Built with restaurants in mind, Science On Call offers 24/7/365 tech support services to anticipate and solve everyday restaurant tech issues from point of sale, internet, Wi-Fi, online ordering, email, and phone systems. 

Customers can text, call, or email our dedicated team of restaurant technologists, who leverage a proprietary database of technology resolutions from hundreds of restaurants to solve the most common tech problems in a matter of minutes.

Science can help you ease the burden on their staff, reduce internal IT spending, and make your tech work for you, not against you.

Schedule a quick chat with one of our restaurant tech mad scientists to learn more. Restaurant tech doesn’t have to suck — Science is just one call or text away.