Three Ways Technology Benefits Restaurant Managers

Innovative restaurant technology has changed the way businesses operate and drive success. In many ways, this technology has impacted the way that restaurant managers conduct their day-to-day responsibilities such as taking inventory, tracking sales, and overseeing the floor.

POS and guest manager systems make owners’ and managers’ lives easier, but this restaurant technology can also improve guest experiences and loyalty: 80% of guests feel that technology has the potential to increase convenience and improve their dining experience.

Managers can then take advantage of innovative tech to improve service quality, streamline operations, and keep profit margins up.

Let’s take a look at a few ways tech is shaping how restaurant managers operate:

Data-Based Decisions

The transactional data stored in a restaurant POS helps managers identify trends, patterns and relationships to improve guest service. Some of the questions managers can answer with POS insights include:

• What are the most and least popular items on the menu?

• Which employees get the most sales?

• When is the best time to run specials so you drive sales?

Managers can create seasonal or holiday menus based on historical data or shift an existing menu to better suit guests’ preferences. In addition, sales data can help managers create staffing schedules to optimize sales and performance. They can also make decisions about what time to start happy hour or run specials based on the time of day with lower sales.

With a cloud-based POS system, this information is available in real time from anywhere in the world, allowing managers to makes sure sales are on track even when they’re not at the restaurant.

These decisions also have an impact the guest’s experience. Managers can make sure popular menu items stay on the menu, quality servers are on the floor, and more.

Automated Inventory Tracking

While a POS system collects sales data, inventory management software, like CorkGuru, can keep track of inventory levels. Not only does automatic inventory make a manager’s job’ easier, but it also eliminates human error when ordering supplies for the restaurant.

Ultimately, mismanaging inventory can mean lost revenue and bad publicity when guests come into the restaurant and their favorite dish isn’t available. Inventory software solves this problem with a transparent solution that allows employees to log into a centralized system before taking inventory.

Efficient Waitlist Management

A Guest Manager solution can help managers keep track of waitlists more efficiently. Instead of a messy handwritten list, managers can add walk-in guests to a digital list that the guest can access via a mobile app. When their table is ready, management can simply send a text message to let the party know they should return to the restaurant.

Another way this technology makes managers’ lives easier is by quoting accurate wait times. About a month after implementation, the guest manager software will begin predicting wait times based on historical restaurant dining data. This way, guests are generally happier as they are given the correct waiting time, and managers no longer have to worry about incorrectly quoting a walk-in wait time.

Guest management software also has real-time floor tracking so managers can quickly find out how long guests have been sat, which server is assigned to them, and if they are a returning guest.

Final Thoughts

Technology can help restaurants make better decisions, improve inventory management, and increase waitlist efficiency. While each of these things helps ease the day-to-day responsibilities of restaurant managers, ultimately this technology helps create and foster better relationships with guests to boost loyalty and drive sales.