How influential is technology for restaurants?

Changing face of the industry

With increasing number of technological grievances in India, restaurant industry is not shying away in embracing and implementing latest technologies in its day-to-day business operations. When one starts a restaurant business, he/she develops a bond with his/her customers. Feedbacks and responses help restaurateurs increase productivity and grow their restaurant business. But these days, it is not easy to personally follow each customer. Hence, technology takes a lead here by providing restaurateurs certain apps and data, which can help them personally follow their customers.

Earlier, people preferred visiting a place while hanging out with friends and family. But today, mobile technology and apps have provided them a plethora of options in terms of deciding where to eat and booking a table in advance or ordering online from their mobile or tablets.

“Technology is creating a new norm in the Indian restaurant industry from ordering a food to booking a table. Today, we as a customer want technology running around us,” Kapil Malhotra, CEO, Total Solutions Pvt Ltd said.

So, today the restaurateurs need to understand that marketing is moving from radio, print and television to social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and other social media connects. They have presence across all these platforms to place their products in the market.

“The entire workforce which is attending to the guests at restaurant has become more and more cognizant that if he do not provide a good service and is not very quick to respond, things can go viral and impact the business in a big way. Thus, the technology has moved the restaurant business in many ways,” Anjan Chaudhary, CEO, Inquirly Technoogies said.

Mobile Technology: Creating a new norm

With smartphones getting smarter, bigger, and speedier all the time, concurrent advances in mobile technology are presenting restaurants the opportunity to make their business more efficient.

So far, mobile applications have been used primarily as a source of information and feedback. But now, there is an increased integration between different restaurant offerings with mobile platforms in areas like customer loyalty, placing orders and making payments and also promotional activities etc. For instance, Chaayos, a restaurant serving tea, uses the popular web chat platform –‘Whatsapp’ to take orders and customer feedback, thereby making the process simpler and less intrusive for the customers. The trend is bringing the customers closer to the restaurants.

Speaking on the trend, Vivek Kapoor, Managing Partner, Dineout shared, “We at Dineout have seen significant increase in our ordering numbers since we launched our app on IOS and Android. We are getting almost 30 per cent traffic through our mobile channels.”

Solving the supply chain challenge

New supply chain technology can power up existing operations, streamline inventory and increase revenue, if implemented correctly. Making sure new solutions integrate with existing technologies is very crucial. Integrating new technology into existing operations can help significantly increase customers service, reduce costs and streamline supply chains. The new technology must be fully synthesised with existing policies, practices and people to tap its full power.

Hence, we can say that restaurant owners can get their business to new heights, introduce new dishes on their menus and win customers loyalty by starting a restaurant blog for their business and adopting various technologies. Whether they are a new player or have been in this business for several years, it might be beneficial for both.