The Smartphone as a Multitool for the Restaurant Industry

The majority of people in the information age own a smartphone. This handy device can perform the job of several gadgets. Moreover, as digital technology continues to improve, the smartphone is poised to accomplish more valuable tasks.

In recent years, the restaurant industry has been utilizing the impressive versatility of this device in elevating its processes, especially in aspects of marketing, daily productivity, research, and customer service. With today’s diners relying much on their own smartphones for a lot of tasks, it’s a logical move for dining establishments to harness its capabilities.

Nowadays, a lot of restaurants accomplish many tasks by making use of different smartphone apps for day-to-day operations, as well as tapping into the built-in features, Internet connectivity and other services provided by their business phone plans.

Rounded up below are the various ways smartphones aid in restaurant business processes.

1. As a POS system

POS or point-of-sale systems play an essential role in developing restaurant offerings and marketing strategies. Such programs are used for both cash registers and smartphones. Typically, in restaurants, the POS system is integrated with the cash register, while for deliveries, the smartphone version is used.

The POS system gathers valuable customer data that the business can use to understand customer behaviors and preferences better. At the same time, it allows restaurants to design their customer loyalty programs, which, to their customers, is a fantastic source of perks and rewards. Meanwhile, for restaurants, it’s a rich source of customer information to help them ramp up their services further.

2. As an inventory management system

Staying on top of inventory is one of the crucial tasks in restaurant operations. Knowing all the supplies available and how they are moving in everyday business helps restaurants prevent wastage, and also prompt them to be more creative with their menu items.

Keeping an eye on the ingredients and other resources of a restaurant is an effective tactic for cost-management and menu improvement. With an inventory management app for smartphones, chefs, managers, and restaurant owners can implement such strategies efficiently.

3. As a promotional tool

The camera feature of smartphones is perfect to use for regular promotions on social media platforms. There’s nothing like “foodtography” to keep a business’ target market engaged, especially when it’s paired with a well-formulated message or call-to-action.

Using smartphones as a promotional tool for restaurants is a clever way to develop patrons for the business. In fact, tech-reliant millennials say they like to follow restaurant accounts on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to determine where their next dining destination should be. Therefore, the regular notifications or updates with photos and promo deals they get on their phones through SMS are always appreciated.

4. As a digital payment system

More and more people nowadays use a digital wallet instead of cash, not only for convenience but also for safety. Thus, it is imperative for restaurants to have a setup that caters to digital payments, especially for their delivery services.

Fortunately, smartphones with an Internet package plan can accommodate a variety of payment methods — from credit card to digital wallet payments and even bank transfers. By being able to cater to various payment options, restaurants can net in more customers and boost sales.

5. As a digital menu and ordering system

Smartphones (especially those called “phablets”), and tablet PCs are slowly replacing traditional menus to expedite the process of viewing and ordering food. There are waiter digital menu apps that allow customers to view the full menu on a smartphone or tablet and just tap in their orders, which are automatically transmitted to the kitchen.

This is an absolute time-saver for dining establishments, especially during peak hours, when everything has to be accomplished in a speedy manner. They can rely not only on the automatic delivery of information, the menu and ordering system provides but also the accuracy, which rids of the occurrence of costly mistakes involving order-taking and billing.

Smart support for growing businesses

These are not all that smartphones do for the restaurant industry. They are useful for a multitude of other tasks such as table management, employee management, remote management, taking advantage of cost-saving deals from suppliers, and many others.

What is particularly remarkable about smartphones as multitools for the restaurant industry is, because of them, even small food kiosks can operate in a highly organized and productive way.

With the different functionalities of smartphones, new and small food businesses can run like big, long-established restaurants and grow so much faster.

AUTHOR BIO

Al-moottil P Antony is a C-Suite Executive Support Professional for Zain, a leading mobile and data services operator with a commercial footprint in 8 Middle Eastern and African countries.