In the past couple of years, the hospitality industry witnessed a brutal time where they faced labor shortages and their current Restaurant Management Systems failed to comply with their sudden needs.
According to a survey by UK Hospitality, in the UK alone, a quarter of pubs, restaurants, and hotels were forced to shut down due to a lack of workforce. A similar picture can be seen in Asia. Labor shortages overpowered economic growth in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, etc. In Canada, about 80% of food service business owners face a hard time hiring kitchen staff, and 67% can barely fill bartending, serving, and hosting profiles, as per a report by Restaurants Canada.
A New York restaurant owner Phillippe Massoud believes that if it doesn’t rectify immediately, it may end up damaging the entire industry. He further elaborates that they are not fully operating their business due to labor shortages, and if this continues, this will hurt them in the near future.
While some businesses have no other choice but to shut their business, there are food service operators who deploy Restaurant Management Systems to fill labor gaps. They connected their Hospitality Management System Software with the front and the back office to speed up operations with less workforce. The results were impressive and many of them could get back on track with the help of Hospitality ERP Software.
How to Use Restaurant Management Systems to Fill Labor Shortages?
In emergencies like this, technology feels God sent. Given below are some tips to get the most out of Restaurant Management Systems while filling labor shortages.
Connect Front House and Kitchen
When your staff can access the data, they need in just a second, it increases their efficiency multiple times. For instance, you can install a Restaurant Management System that connects POS with the kitchen, and the servers no longer have to run back and forth from the table to the kitchen. Instead, they can simply send the order right from the table, using POS, to the relevant kitchen counter. They can further check if the steak is ready or being prepared in real-time. Since everything is connected in real time servers can also check if the fish of the day is still available.
Results? If you may wonder? Your staff becomes more efficient and gets work done in 10 times less duration.
Release Staff Stress with Real-Time Accurate Information.
Waiting tables are often hard to manage. It’s a series of running back and forth from the kitchen, relaying data between the chef and the customer, and most probably dealing with mistakes and angry customers. Everything adds to stress.
With Restaurant Management Systems like LS Central, staff can access real-time information about available dishes, their ingredients, and the preparation status of a certain order using a POS System. Therefore, your staff will spend a lot less time providing details to the customers. This type of visibility helps reduce stress and boosts job satisfaction among staff.
Ease Training with Unified Hospitality Software
Training becomes a headache for those using multiple Restaurant Management Systems. They will have to train different members on specific systems, and sometimes have to train different people on multiple Hospitality Software. This way, the entire process becomes time-consuming, costly, and complex for staff.
Instead, if you use a single platform that connects all your business operations, the training will no longer be costly, tedious, or complex. If your Hospitality ERP allows you to design your Point of Sale Systems, you can make training even faster. This will especially become easier for employees who are already familiar with your brand.
Let Customers Serve Themselves
A survey from Tillster reveals two out of three people (about 65%) customers say they would prefer a restaurant that allows self-serve options.
This is good news for restaurants. Self-services such as kiosks, tablets, and online ordering means you require fewer people on the floor. These solutions are ideal queue busters – an infamous cause of customer interest fallouts and even walkouts. Studies have also revealed that customers spend more at a kiosk than when they order with a human server.
Optimize Labor Usage and Scheduling
Planning shifts can be laborious and time-consuming. If done manually, you are more likely to end up with too many or too few staff in a shift and finish above a month’s budget. This is not the case with smart staff management software like LS Retail Restaurant Management System. The Restaurant Management ERP helps you, schedule staff that works for you and your team, considering multiple factors such as sick days, number of guests, employee vacations, cost, etc.
Restaurant Management Systems play a huge role in managing your food service business during the labor shortage. Technology like LS Central offers a unified platform to manage all your business operations on the same platform. If you wish to implement LS Retail Hospitality Solution, you can Contact Trident Information Systems, LS Central Diamond Implementation Partner, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Gold Implementation Partner.
