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New Tech in Restaurants Today

Apr 06, 2021

The word restaurant comes from the French verb restaurer, meaning, “to restore oneself.” As early as 1100 A.D. in China, public eating establishments began to come into existence in densely populated areas. Serving tradesmen who were traveling through the area, eating establishments offered ethnic foods and demonstration plates for patrons to sample before ordering. Waiters would take orders and sing them out to the pot masters in the kitchen and then carry multiple trays to customers with one hand. Even then, eating out could be about entertainment as much as it was about food.

Eating at a restaurant, became popular in America in the 19th century. With the large influx of people living in New York, the first fine dining establishment in the United States opened in 1837. Delmonico’s, in Manhattan, offered an impressive wine cellar and popular dishes. They became known as the first restaurant in America to use tablecloths and to offer ordering a la carte from their menu. These personal touches added to the dining experience of the time.

The dining experience has much evolved since then with new technology! And today, especially because of Covid, making use of online ordering and delivery through businesses like Uber Eats and DoorDash has protected the restaurant industry. Eliminating touchscreens and manual ordering has improved order accuracy and reduced labor costs.

 

restaurant delivery
Mercato displays their online ordering and delivery options

 

Helping with Point-Of-Sale (POS) integration, ItsaCheckmate connects restaurants with over 100 third-party delivery and ordering systems. Restaurant Operators can sign up for this platform which includes menu adjustments, pricing updates, and order flow management.

Digital ordering and payment is here to stay, even for time sensitive orders like ice cream. Handling orders 24/7 Cold Stone Creamery managers can update menus and store information easily on the OLO Dashboard. They have also been able to enjoy higher volume and after-hours support. Ordering through the web, mobile, kiosk, or in-car the digital experience is safe, convenient, and accurate thanks to the technology.

The GoParrot platform automates digital order and delivery while mimicking the restaurant’s brand and marketing. Fonts, logos, colors, and images are “parroted” for the user to order the way the restaurant intends for them to order. This restaurant technology tool also includes cart recommendations, loyalty programs, coupons, and promotions.

Yumpingo, a restaurant intelligence platform, uses real-time customer feedback to develop data analytics for restaurant POS systems. This information is used for operations, product development, and marketing for delivery and pickup.

Analyzing data between the multitudes of digital platforms is of interest to most restaurant operators. Keboola is the platform to use for large scale business comparisons like this. The single-integrated platform uses data from the ever-changing landscape to inform decisions about customer preferences, inventory management, and better staffing and planning.

Although the days of singing waiters may be over, technology has a lot to offer the restaurant process. Our restaurant training program can help streamline training and improve the restaurant experience. For less than a daily cost of a cup of coffee at Starbucks you can take control of your business with Synergy Sync.