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Is your restaurant up to speed with the latest best practices for back of house (BOH) management? Everything from decreasing food waste to exploring how automation can increase revenue for small business restaurants is related to BOH procedures. Here are some back of office trends to watch for in 2023.
A recent eBook by Softarex Technologies highlights all the main aspects of AI usage in restaurant operations, from customer service to back-of-house management. These systems can understand various accents and dialects, process orders accurately, and even upsell menu items based on customer preferences.
Steady Online Ordering Brings Food Waste, Donations to the Forefront of Priorities Orderingfood online increases restaurant sales, but it also can potentially increase wasted food if proactive measures aren’t taken – for both the business and consumers at home.
Scaling an artisan food business is no easy feat. Many small food businesses reach a critical point where they must decide whether to remain small and exclusive or expand into wholesale, manufacturing, and broader distribution. Looking back, I was optimistic—perhaps a bit naïve—about what scaling would require.
What can restaurant operators do to bring in new guests and keep them coming back for more? Minimizing Menu Price Increases : Just because diners are still eating out and ordering in, does not mean they are happy about higher menu prices. For back of house, operators should focus on tech that drives speed, efficiency, and cost savings.
In 2025, I expect automation to keep expanding beyond back-of-house applications into more guest-facing roles. Self-serve kiosks, QR-code menus, and personalized ordering systems will continue to redefine how patrons interact with venues. As we navigate these changes, one theme stands out: innovation.
From salted egg yolks and chili crunch fusions to mushroom-infused teas and freeze-dried fruit powder garnishes, Kimpton’s in-house experts share the standout ingredients, menu items and techniques that will come to the table in 2025.
With the rising costs of goods, consumers growing more conscious of spending habits, and private equity-backed brands popping up in communities large and small, mom-and-pops are in danger of adding to the failure statistics. Today, independent restaurants can and should tap into those same tools–without the massive corporate budget.
Adopting in-house technologies became necessary for restaurants to stay open throughout the pandemic, restart operations after temporary closures, and pivot services to maintain revenue while still following enhanced health and safety protocols. Too Much Tech Is Not a Solution. Want to be Tech-Savvy? Start with Your Staff.
One location might offer seamless mobile ordering, while another struggles with glitchy payment systems, creating inconsistencies that can frustrate customers and impact revenue. Customers crave simplified steps at the beginning and end of their food service experiences, and it’s not hard to understand why.
I came across an old quote from Phylicia Rashad (for those my age – the lead actress in the series “Fame” from many years back) that gave me another opportunity to think about the cooks that I know and have known over the past five (nearly six) decades and why I chose to stand in front of a range. Art is the basis of human expression.”
US Foods Holding Corp. launched its COVID-19 online operator resource, the US Foods Restaurant Reopening Blueprint. The Restaurant Reopening Blueprint is informed by interviews with key stakeholders such as diners, restaurant staff and US Foods consultants and chefs. Click here to view the application and instructions.
With rapid advances happening across various industries, including the food industry, you might be wondering: What does AI have to do with running my restaurant? It allows AI to understand and respond to human language, which is how virtual assistants can answer customer questions or take online orders. The short answer?
When properly deployed, they can transform the employee experience by improving daily operations, syncing front-of-house and back-of-house communication and execution, and delivering a memorable dining experience that won’t send staff to the walk-in cooler for a good cry. Hospitality is greater than the sum of its parts.
We like to say waffles “drip with success” for food service operators, and it's because of four key factors: profitability, versatility, consumer experience and operational efficiency. It’s a favorite of ours and pretty straightforward. Versatility: They are essentially a blank canvas. . Waffles saw a 15.4
Business begins at the endpoint, especially in food service and hospitality. This includes the entire order to pay processes, from employee collaboration to guest interaction, whether via smartphone, tablet, kiosk or VR headset. And this will take some time. Build Data-First Architectures.
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Train food, Ive come to learn, is its own distinct and expansive category. I often bring my own food on long train rides: okra stew and crab rice, or perhaps my dads spaghetti and meatballs, as well as fruits and cakes, all packed in my trusted backpack cooler, along with an electric travel Crock-Pot that has saved me on many Amtrak trips.
You are sitting in your favorite restaurant and have placed an order on a tablet at your table. After a few seconds of placing the order, a notification appears on your messaging app. Ding* ‘Your order is being prepared by Chef Bot 19 and will be delivered to your table in approximately 19 minutes.
That includes food prep equipment like mixers, food processors and slicers. Following some best practices for care and cleaning not only helps support the longevity of the equipment, but it also helps ensure staff has equipment that can produce consistent, high-quality food output. Check the operator’s manual.
Front-of-House. Henry is ready to order some dinner. He visits your restaurant’s app and orders his favorite dish on the menu. He visits your restaurant’s app and orders his favorite dish on the menu. He receives an estimated wait time for his order of 45 minutes. Let’s come back to Henry.
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We'll look at what artificial intelligence is and how it's being used in three different areas of the restaurant industry: back of the house, front of the house, and marketing. Let's start with the back of the house.
With 52% of diners saying that ordering takeout is essential to their lifestyle, its no longer just an optionits an opportunity. But getting customers to order once isnt enough. Repeat business is what drives real growth, yet many restaurants struggle to keep takeout diners coming back. In a recent survey by ChowNow, 54.6%
Even with this good news for restaurant operators, many challenges still remain – particularly around staffing in both the front and back of the house. ” They enter this demanding industry because they truly enjoy creating excellent guest experiences through outstanding food, atmosphere, and service.
Nearly every restaurant in the United States relies on a Point of Sale (POS) system for the majority of its front-of-house operations. That system needs access to the internet in order to keep functioning. Not only can that become frustrating for your guests, but it can also make in-house operations much more difficult.
Is online ordering inefficient? Do you lose money due to food waste? Do you lose money due to food waste? Experiencing over-ordering or last-minute shortages? With a modern cloud-based POS, restaurants can streamline order taking, reduce human error, and improve the overall speed of service. Consider your budget.
In the back of the house, rampant inflation and ongoing supply chain disruptions are cutting into margins. Simultaneously, staffing is an urgent and ongoing front-of-house concern. Until now, the restaurant industry has operated on outdated, analog technology like faxed orders and invoices in the mail.
Are you doing all the right thingsserving amazing food, delivering top-notch service, crafting perfectly balanced drinksbut the tables still arent filling up like they should? The problem isnt your food or serviceits visibility and customer engagementand were going to help you fix that. Optimize your Google Business Profile.
As part of creating that good environment, she’s taken multiple steps to cut Rifrullo’s carbon footprint, including composting all food scraps, one of the most important steps restaurants can take to combat climate change. When food waste goes to landfills, it creates methane , a powerful greenhouse gas. “Community, environment.
From managing reservations at the host stand or firing orders straight to the kitchen from table side, tablets are changing the way restaurants run. Before you spend the money and roll out a dozen new tablets across your front of house and kitchen, its worth asking: Are these things actually built for the job?
Each system has its own tablet, order flow, and set of requirements, making it difficult to keep up with operations smoothly. Each platformUber Eats, GrubHub, DoorDashrequires its own tablet, login, and order management system. Order management issues. Consumers report that 24.4% Staff training and inconsistent efficiency.
Simplify Front of House Processes. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced restaurants to innovate, creating new revenue-generating workflows, including enhancing their to-go offerings and integrating with to-go order applications. Optimize Food Safety Protocols. Automation technologies can improve back of house operations as well.
A chief reason is due to caution or uncertainty exhibited by conscious consumers, with 48 percent saying they are taking the ‘wait and see’ approach and holding back on spending in 2024. Moving to Multichannel Dining Experiences Dining out is… back? Orders come from a multitude of places.
Online ordering has transformed the restaurant industry, turning what was once a convenience into an absolute necessity. In 2025, the US online food delivery market is expected to reach $424.9 Customers expect to browse menus, place orders, and pay for their meals with just a few taps of their phones. billion in revenue.
Dark kitchens or virtual kitchens––real places staffed with non-ectoplasmic people—bring efficiencies to running a restaurant by providing off-site commissary services for delivery orders. Without these pricey anchors dragging down your profitability, you just might be able to focus on making food, and not making rent.
In this guide, youll learn how to use ChowNow tools along with a handful of other effective strategies to increase order volume, boost your current customer traffic, and grow your overall sales. Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to stay top-of-mind with customers and remind them its time to order again from your restaurant.
Somewhere in between is the number that makes sense for your food costs, your market, and your restaurants unique position. Food Costs: How to calculate the cost of each dish Lets start with the basics: how much does it actually cost you to make each item on your menu? Set prices too low, and youre leaving money on the table.
Adaptability became non-negotiable as takeout, delivery, and digital ordering shifted from secondary revenue streams to essential lifelines." Restaurant employees had to pivot and consider looking at other industries for employment, so when restaurants opened back up, some of those employees didn’t return to the restaurant industry.
For franchises, that means making sure your evaluations and data collection house in order. Food service has changed forever and getting an integrated digital approach to managing all your guidelines and compliance issues, especially across multiple locations, is more crucial than ever. Define Data-Based, Measurable Standards.
With a critically shrunken talent pool, restaurants are racing to fill positions in every part of the business — front of house, back of house, and corporate teams. Enter digital tableside ordering. For fast-casual or QSR brands, digital tableside ordering is equally beneficial.
To have a successful restaurant, the owner or manager must be skilled at managing both front-of-house and back-of-house functions. To help increase these profit margins, restaurant owners sometimes focus more on changes they can make to front-of-house, such as increasing their prices or boosting liquor sales.
The ingrained customer behavior over the past year, delivery, mobile orders, curbside pick-up, will likely continue. By improving customer loyalty and increasing revenue through the smart use of technology from the public-facing part of the business all the way to the back-of-house prep, sourcing, and staffing.
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