5 ways you can increase efficiency in your business
The British people’s love for takeaways has only expanded further with the events of the pandemic. With the strict lockdowns, which saw many businesses shut, only essential businesses could stay open. The Guardian 2021 reported that across the first 6 months of the lockdowns, Just Eat had an increase of 76% in orders and Uber Eats reported their orders doubled in comparison to the same time the year before. Hospitality industries initially had no choice but to operate in a contact free manner, but as we have seen a prolonged period of no lockdowns, the increase in efficiency and productivity has been clear and many restaurant owners plan to keep these measures.
Although before the events of the pandemic, there was already an ongoing increase in digitalization, the lockdowns only pushed that further. Ordering online has various benefits for both the customer and the business as it offers a better customer experience. Using online apps, you can select the food you would like, check the price, select a time to pick up the order or have it delivered, all without speaking to anyone. Ordering online is a simple process and may mean customers are more likely to order again. In addition, it gives customers the option to place scheduled orders. On a Friday evening, with 30 minutes to go till the weekend, it is not uncommon to be planning your next meal. Click + Collect allows you to place an order while you are at work and schedule it so that you can pick it up straight after you finish work. The customer won’t have to wait till after work to place the order and either wait in the car or in the restaurant for the food to be cooked. For the restaurant, if the orders they receive are scheduled, the kitchen can better manage their time and prepare food accordingly.
Similarly, to the previous point, ordering at the table in the restaurant was a common practice in places such as Weatherspoon’s and other bars. With the importance on minimizing contact, this method was used heavily throughout the lockdown and now even after them. The simplicity of being able to order as soon as you sit down, from your phone and have the food/drinks delivered to you is underappreciated. A practice that I believe should have been well utilized across all restaurants even prior to the pandemic. This frees up more time for the employees allowing them to be more productive. This labor-saving method means the restaurant won’t have to waste time handing out menus to all tables or checking if a table would like a drinks refill. For customers to easily order at table reduces a lot time for both customers and restaurant staff.
Waiter tablets also provide great efficiency for the business as the eatPOS system proves an integrated experience so that orders taken from any waiter tablet can be automatically sent to the main till at the bar and straight to the kitchen. Firstly, this can save costs over time as it will mean there will be no need to use paper to note orders down. This can also over for human error for things such as, handwriting issues or lost tickets, making your business function in a more well organized fashion. In addition, an all-round connected environment for placing orders allows for less mistakes and better flowing operations. Furthermore, another efficient practice that has been ongoing prior to the pandemic is the use of standing kiosks. Like ordering online, this offers for a better streamlined customer experience. With custom deigns you can select a layout, you feel is best appropriate and can reduce queues within your business.
In addition to ordering at table, the increase in use of online reservations has also proved to be more productive for businesses. Due to the high level of competitiveness within the hospitality sector, ‘no-shows’ are costing businesses major profits. Zonal reported in 2021 that in major cities, 1 in 5 bookings are no-shows. Also, a 2015 survey stated that no-shows cost the restaurant industry £16 billion a year. Therefore, this has led to 42% of restaurants in the UK taking pre-paid deposits to ensure that the booking will turn up.
The eatPOS system allows you to systematically add your reservations into your dairy and have it automatically update within the epos system. In addition, a deposit function allows the company to add how much deposit the booking has paid, and this amount will automatically be deducted to their final bill. This not only ensures that the bookings will turn up, the system also accounts for any human error that may occur as restaurant staff may forget to deduct the deposit from the final bill.
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