Apr 4, 2023

How Does Technology Improve Efficiency In The Restaurant?

To run a restaurant smoothly and efficiently, effective communication between the front of house and back of house staff is essential. However, it is not easy to achieve that, as they are two different teams with different expertise and training, and don’t always “speak the same language”.

To bridge the gap between the teams, in order to deliver a pleasant and enjoyable experience to your customers, you may consider to get help from effective tech tools, and here are some examples -

1. Point-of-Sale System (POS)

Point-of-Sale System (POS) is a combination of hardware and software that enables restaurants to manage menus, take orders, accept payments, manage inventory, collect sales data and generate reports. In other words, it is a system that helps restaurants to manage the entire operation.

You may even integrate the POS with the e-payment gateway and ERP system to create a centralized hub for your business, in order to improve business efficiency and forecasting.

There are several advantages to implementing Point-of-Sale System (POS), including -

Easy to Manage Customer Order

To offer high-quality service to your customers in order to keep your business running, quick and accurate order processing is indispensable.

POS allows you to streamline your operations, and improve the communication between your staff. Once the wait staff take orders from customers, the orders will be sent to the respective section of the kitchen instantly, which significantly reduces the chance of order missing and delay.

You may also integrate your POS with a mobile ordering system and Kitchen Display System (KDS), to fully automate the ordering process.

Quick Payments

POS helps process payments faster. The system will automatically calculate the total amount of the order, and print the receipt instantly.

By integrating POS with e-payment gateways, restaurants not only can accept traditional payment methods, i.e. cash and credit card, but also new payment options, such as Apple Pay, Octopus, FPS, PayMe, WeChat Pay, AlipayHK etc., and this will make the payment process more convenient and quicker, and result in better customer experience.

Fewer Errors

Unclear and ugly handwriting can create confusion among wait staff and the kitchen, and result in delay and/or incorrect food serving, and unnecessary food waste.

By implementing a POS, all orders will be processed by the system instead of manual operations, which definitely help restaurants to increase order accuracy, improve communication and reduce possible errors.

2. Kitchen Display System (KDS)

Kitchen Display System (KDS) is a digital screen system that manages customer orders for restaurants. With KDS, customer orders will be routed to a digital display in the kitchen, rather than via paper order tickets.

The advantages of using Kitchen Display System (KDS) including -

Increase Order Accuracy

Restaurant kitchens are busy, oily and watery places, and paper order tickets may be easily damaged, misplaced, and even lost.

KDS can help eliminate such problems as all orders will be displayed on an easy-to-read screen. In addition, the kitchen will receive the updated information immediately when there is any order change, addition or even cancellation.

This allows accurate orders to be delivered the first time, and minimize food waste caused by confusion among wait staff, kitchen staff and customers.

Increase Kitchen Efficiency

Traditionally, the order will not be cooked until the wait staff brings a complete paper order ticket to the kitchen, then someone in the kitchen decodes the ticket and passes the order to related sections, which may lengthen the food preparation time.

With KDS, the order will be routed to the related sections automatically and immediately once the order is taken, which allows faster and more accurate food preparation. The system will even alert you if the order is not being prepared within a preset time frame, so you can catch up on progress before receiving complaints from customers.

Improve Inventory Management

KDS will automatically monitor the order volume and inventory level. The system will alert the related staff when the inventory level becomes low, to ensure timely replenishment.

This helps restaurants ensure that the right ingredients are always available, to avoid disappointing customers by not serving their favourite dishes.

Upgrade Your Restaurant with Point-Of-Sale (POS) and Kitchen Display System (KDS)

Every restaurant can benefit from implementing Point-Of-Sale (POS) and Kitchen Display System (KDS), provided that you choose a system that is right for you.