Food trends come and go, and eventually make their way back around. They are constantly evolving and dependent upon what consumer trends look like at any given time. While food trends may seem to change with the seasons and consumer desires, there are other restaurant trends that have remained more constant and seem to be sticking around. These are trends that restaurants have seen success with and are implementing more as they learn how customers respond.
Delivery
While there has been controversy over how food gets delivered and the extra cost of third party deliveries, the majority seem to be in agreement that delivery, in general, is a good idea that brings in more business and has the ability to increase profit margins. How food is delivered might evolve to be more aligned with restaurant and consumer needs, but there will be delivery. Delivery offers an opportunity to serve people who might not have ordered from your restaurant otherwise.
Automation
This particular trend has been evolving for years, and is predicted to continue growing at a fast pace. Many restaurants are jumping on board in hopes that it will help them cut labor costs, one of the biggest controllable expenses for restaurants. There are many different aspects to automation, from front-of-house self-pay tablets and self-order kiosks, to back-of-house software automation. Restaurant managers no longer have to spend a surplus of their time figuring out schedules or managinginventory. Data is now available at the touch of a button, allowing managers to do their job with more accuracy and without the pen and paper hassle. All of this technology and automation assist restaurants in becoming more efficient, and most have proven to be well worth the investment.
Customer Ordering Personalization
Thanks to technology, restaurants can better serve their customers and that goes beyond being able to run a more efficient restaurant like we just discussed. Restaurants can now create a mobile experience that allows users to customize their order with options to remove what they don’t want and add extra of what they do. This is appealing to customers for many reasons. They can take the time to order exactly what they want, double check for errors and can even save their order so next time they can order even faster. Having this technology also gives restaurants access to customer preferences and offers data insight to make better informed business decisions.
These trends are important to make note of because they are more than trends. There has been a shift in the way restaurants are operating. Technology has progressed in such a way that is helping restaurants make great strides in achieving better accuracy and efficiency. Delivery can now be done in multiple ways, allowing just about any restaurant the ability to offer this option, making customer personalization easier than ever. If your restaurant is considering stepping into the future of technology, you should assess your restaurant’s greatest needs and work towards implementing trends that will best meet those needs.
