IT in the restaurant business: online orders, table reservations and process automation

In the modern restaurant industry there are more and more new applications and services aimed at improving the quality of service. Restaurants constantly offer alternative solutions for ordering, paying and booking ... well, anything except, perhaps, the flavor and taste of food online. Recently, many of the new technologies have created a real sensation in the market - but how to determine which ones will remain popular and which ones will eventually disappear?

We present to your attention an adapted translation of the material on the main technological trends in the restaurant industry, which make it possible to improve the quality of service and increase the number of customers.

Booking

The rapid growth in the number of startups changing the usual booking procedure is probably the most controversial technological trend in recent times.
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And although the positions of the restaurant reservation service OpenTable, acquired by Priceline for $ 2.6 billion, are still strong, many startups are ready to compete with it. Such booking sites, like Resy and Table8 , book in advance at the most elite and “hard-to-reach” restaurants, and then sell the reservation to users. The price for a table is about $ 20, but it can vary depending on demand (like the Uber pricing model).

The following application - Reserve - performs the functions of a porter. Reserve does not reserve specific tables in restaurants, but with its help, users can get to popular restaurants at a convenient time for them. The cost of this service depends on the time and popularity of the institution. Reserve reserves a table for you, gives the restaurateur your name and photo, and pays the bill using the data you previously entered. Unlike other payment applications, with Reserve you will not have to get your phone to pay for the order.

Another innovation in the field of booking is the purchase of "tickets" to the restaurant by analogy with theater tickets. Thanks to this service, customers will be able to pay in advance everything that will be included in their order. Technologies, undoubtedly, help to realize such an idea, but no complicated technical equipment is required for this, since the main goal of such a project is to save customers from the problems associated with digital booking services . The most famous online ticket booking system for the restaurant is Tock , which was presented by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas, chefs at Alinea and Next restaurants in Chicago. The service has already been launched by them in their own restaurants, and in the near future other establishments will also be able to purchase a license for it. The principle is not very different from buying a ticket for a concert: you choose the date and time, and then pay the order. Tock limits the ability to resell someone else's bookings and allows you to minimize the situation when customers book a table and then do not arrive, as a result of which the restaurant suffers losses.

Despite the fact that some technologies in the field of booking can bring a good profit to operators (we are talking about services that cooperate with restaurants and pay them a share of the profits), the simplicity of online booking can lead to the fact that third-party companies will “boil down” on popularity restaurants. Services such as Killer Rezzy and the now-defunct ReservationHop, pre-book places on popular dates, and then resell reservations with a surcharge. In this case, the restaurants have no benefit, moreover, they may not even know that the price of the reservation was too high. (To be fair, it’s worth noting that at the moment Killer Rezzy cooperates with certain restaurants in the same way as Resy and Table8, but still still offers reservations to other establishments).

What's next?

Services seek to attract restaurants to cooperation and continue to improve their applications, so in the future the competition will become even tougher. I believe that new, more profitable restaurant services and solutions will replace the “speculative” booking. In the future, even more restaurants will introduce a ticket booking system, following the example of their successful predecessors, such as the Alinea restaurant in Chicago, where the Tock service originated and was first tested. Another great example is the Lazy Bear restaurant in San Francisco. Of course, don't underestimate the ambitions and plans of Grant Akats and Nick Kokonas regarding Tock - they announced their intentions to bypass OpenTable, which is still the leader in online booking.

Payment order

The second place in popularity is occupied by mobile payment applications, which are actively used by both restaurants and their visitors. More and more customers prefer to pay through mobile applications, respectively, more and more entrepreneurs accept mobile payments.

On the other hand, the introduction of such technologies may take some time, since they have different approaches to the payment service providers and terminal systems existing in restaurants, and also require the training and education of personnel. And this means that restaurants need to choose the right system to create the most comfortable conditions for both staff and visitors (and for that matter, do not waste anyone's time).

Thanks to the Cover application, visitors to restaurants in New York and San Francisco will no longer have to wait for the waiter to pay for the order. Simply register in the restaurant and inform the waiter about the payment through Cover. Thus, leaving the restaurant, customers no longer have to ask for an invoice. For the first time, the Cover app was launched in 2013, but in San Francisco it appeared only in 2014, and in Los Angeles in March 2015. At the same time, almost 200 restaurants in New York, 63 San Francisco and 36 Los Angeles accept payment via Cover. In addition, the application works with any terminal system.

Also, more than 5,000 institutions in the US offer to pay for orders through the TabbedOut app. A feature of this application is the ability to split the account, allowing customers to pay a specific amount of money or a percentage of the total amount, and not to divide the account equally with friends.

Similarly, the payment system Pay with OpenTable works, which is built into the OT (Open Table) application. At the moment, Pay with OpenTable can use only those restaurants that use the OpenTable application, but the company is seeking to expand its horizons. In 2014, the OpenTable application was used in eight US cities. This year, the number of restaurants using it is expected to increase. The payment system OpenTable works with the system of settlement terminals. After installing this program, staff can track payment orders directly on the screen.

Another service, LevelUp, is used predominantly by democratic restaurants, such as Sweetgreen and Chop't, and allows guests to install the application and register, indicating their credit card details. Thus, they can pay for the order by simply scanning the QR code or by entering their credentials. With LevelUp, restaurants can not only accept payments, but also track the progress of their marketing campaigns.

It is also worth noting the Apple Pay application, which is installed in each iPhone 6 and 6+. With it, you can pay for your order using NFC technology or through applications using Touch ID.

What's next?

Even a seemingly simple action like downloading an application can be difficult - especially when you are in a dimly lit restaurant. The Cover app allows you to share the check with your friends who have not yet installed this app (they only need to download it within seven days). Over time, these applications will become even easier and more convenient to use, so that absolutely everyone will be able to easily pay off the phone.

The creators of mobile payment applications will pay more attention to the separation of checks. So, for example, TabbedOut now gives users the opportunity to divide the total amount into shares in dollars or as percentages, and Cover allows you to split the check among several visitors at once - though for the time being only equal, not arbitrary parts. In the near future, many of these applications will be able to offer more “flexible” account division options. Of course, the number of people using these technologies in pursuit of new trends will increase. (And I can’t wait for Bitcoin to pay for dinner).

Payments operators are a reliable source of consumer information. For example, they can be used to find out the amount of money spent or customer preferences. Thus, processing companies will help restaurants better understand consumer behavior. Analysis of information about payments and customer orders will allow restaurants to track the main trends and will help to create a menu and set prices.

Restaurant at home

There was a time when I liked to go to restaurants so much that I didn’t even take takeaway. Now it is in the past thanks to the many services that are ready to provide full home catering service. Some of them simply offer delivery from restaurants of different levels - from democratic to elite, while others completely turn the concept of the restaurant on its head. This allows both restaurants and chefs to significantly increase the number of customers.

The Caviar service, acquired by Square in 2014 for $ 90 million, allows you to arrange delivery via the website or application from those restaurants where delivery was previously unavailable. And such culinary startups like Sprig , Munchery and Spoonrocket deliver healthy dishes from chefs right to the customers' doors in minutes. A San Francisco-based Din startup literally recreates your favorite restaurant dishes, and can also deliver ingredients to your home (up to every egg and piece of butter) so you can cook them yourself.

Moreover, startups such as Kitchensurfing and Kitchit will arrange a restaurant right in your home, providing the chefs, the necessary ingredients to prepare meals and cleaning products in the kitchen. Both services will select for you a cook who will come to you and prepare dinner for any number of guests.

What's next?

At the moment, food delivery services are still underdeveloped. Gradually, consumers will learn these new technologies, which, in turn, will become more convenient and easy to use. Chef David Chang, who owns the Momofuku restaurant chain, intends to expand the company's food delivery business by investing in Maple startup. Unlike other similar services, Maple will deliver its customers home-cooked food according to the recipes developed by the Culinary Board of Directors. However, the fact that consumers are gradually getting used to eating restaurant food outside restaurants allows this new industry to focus either on the dish itself or on restaurant food.

"Desktop" technology

Fast food restaurants and so-called “fastcas” (fast-casual) restaurants set tablets on the tables, which allow customers not only to place an order, but also to have fun. The launch of the application in the restaurant chain Taco Bell has become the largest advertising and marketing event in the company's history, and this says a lot, given its knowledge of digital communications. There are a lot of applications for processing and paying orders with you / take-away. Pizza delivery will never be the same - large national chains launch applications for placing orders. The international restaurant chain Dominos has installed voice guidance , so now you can simply voice your order to the application (you can even place an order via Twitter ). Currently, more and more restaurants use touch screens in their work, for example, the well-known Applebees and Chilis networks offer visitors to use tablets for ordering and paying for checks.

What's next?

The technology of interaction with visitors will become more common. Thanks to the experiments of restaurants with tablets and smartphones, customers can send their order on their own, thus avoiding personnel errors. Thus, the cooks prepare exactly what the customers wanted, and the latter are satisfied with the service. Today, every child knows how to use the iPad, so in the era of digital technology, placing orders through the touch screen (in the respective institutions) will become the norm.

Automation

Restaurant automation systems allow owners of institutions to solve a number of problems: to control employees, reducing the likelihood of fraud on their part, to facilitate accounting and increase the speed of customer service.

Currently, there are two types of restaurant automation systems: standalone and cloud. Each of them has its drawbacks - autonomous systems do not protect employees from deception of the owner, and cloud systems depend on access to the Internet and do not provide much flexibility in their work.

There is also a hybrid version of the automation system - this is how Jowi works, for example. The local module is installed in the restaurant, and then the data is synchronized and downloaded to remote servers. This allows you to keep the system working even if the Internet “falls” - when the connection is restored, the data on the server will simply be updated.

The system is modular - there are parts for hall managers, waiters, cooks, accountants. For example, when the waiter accepts the order, the system immediately displays the list of dishes on the screen to the cook, and when the dish is ready (the manager may include a countdown of cooking time), the waiter will receive a notification on the phone or tablet. Jowi is able to measure the cost price of a serving in real time depending on changes in prices for products and, analyzing incoming invoices, calculate the mark-up factor and the final price of the dish. For the convenience of accountants, any actions in the system can be “held” by the past date - in real life such a need often arises.

There are other automation systems on the market - their list is presented in this topic on Habrahabr .

What's next?

The automation systems of the restaurant business will become even more functional in the future, and the number of establishments using them will obviously grow. They will be implemented and functionality for solving related problems - for example, booking tables and collecting feedback from visitors. In addition, there will be automation solutions and the introduction of additional control over new aspects of the restaurant's operation - for example, the speed of response to pressing the waiter’s call button.