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Restaurant Management ERP

How the self-service trend is transforming restaurants

Modern consumer places a huge value on convenience. A recent report by the National Retail Federation found that 97% of consumers have backed out of a purchase just because it was inconvenient for them. And in quick service restaurants, figures show that lengthy queues can be off-putting: almost three out of four guests say they would leave if there were seven people in line. More than nine out of ten said they would go elsewhere if there were more than 10 people queuing before them. Taking the example of supermarkets, which have successfully alleviated queues with self-service checkouts, fast food brands are now adopting touch-screen self-service kiosks. And as more report the positive impact of these kiosks, adoption is rapidly taking off. The rise of self-service kiosks McDonald’s now has self-service kiosks in all 14,000 of its US restaurants. When it began rolling them out in 2017, it said its intention was to enhance the customer experience by speeding up ordering time, reducing human error and allowing for easier order customizations. Almost three years on, McDonald’s is living proof of the success of self-service kiosks. During its 2019 Q2 earnings call, CEO Steve Easterbrook said the chain is seeing impressive incremental sales rises from its use of kiosks. “As we convert the restaurants, we’re getting an incremental sales lift from that, some of which will come through growing and increasing use of the self-order kiosks where we generate higher average checks,” he said. Interestingly, not only are self-service kiosks delivering on consumer desire for ultimate convenience, they’re altering behavior too. As the use of the technology grows, self-ordering has been demonstrated to boost sales by increasing the average order size per customer, while at the same time lowering costs in the restaurant by improving efficiency. There are some compelling statistics to illustrate the impact. When the Dodgers Stadium concession stands in the US tried out new self-service kiosks, the average order size increased by 20%. Similarly, Subway noted that kiosks encourage more consumers to purchase add-ons and generally spend more. The traditional experience Lee heads to his local Easy Burger for lunch. He isn’t a regular customer so he doesn’t know the menu well. It’s a busy Friday afternoon in the restaurant and as he joins the queue he starts scanning the menu board behind the counter to see what he would like. When he gets to the front, he still isn’t quite sure what he wants and spends a few more moments deciding. By this point he’s a bit flustered. He doesn’t want to hold up the queue, so he quickly orders the standard burger meal with no cheese and large fries. It’s noisy in the kitchen, and the server asks Lee to repeat his order. She presses the buttons on the cash register to input Lee’s choice, and politely waits for him to decide which drink he’d like before finalizing the order and taking his payment. This all takes place in the midst of noises coming from the kitchen, voices of customers waiting, and general pressure from people standing in line waiting for their turn. It’s clear to see that there are several opportunities for mistakes, delays and general frustration from both the customer and the cashier. The self-service experience What would the same scenario look like with a self-service kiosk? Again, Lee heads to Easy Burger to pick up his lunch. It’s busy, but Lee heads to a self-service kiosk, where he doesn’t have to queue to place his order. Lee hasn’t actually used one of these kiosks before, but because it looks just like a large version of his mobile phone and all the menu items are clearly labelled, he has no qualms about trying out the technology. With nobody standing behind him putting pressure on him to quickly place his order, Lee feels he can take the time he needs to choose his lunch. He scrolls through the menu and takes in the appealing pictures of food, drinks, and add-on items. He ends up trying out a new meal deal and customizes his burger (no pickles, extra onions and mushrooms), adding the curly fries with cheese – they look too good not to try them. It’s a pleasant, stress free experience. After selecting the items, Lee taps his credit card on the contactless card reader and heads to the counter to wait for his order. He can clearly see his order on the screen above him, so he know there are five orders before his – a bit of a wait, but not too much, before it’s ready. A few minutes later, his number is called out. He picks up his food and heads straight to a clean, empty table. That’s another added bonus. With fewer employees required at the counter, they can spend more time in the kitchen, speeding up food preparation, and on the floor, making sure the restaurant stays clean and tidy. Embracing the trend with LS Central Restaurants are embracing the trend in different ways. Some are buying self-service kiosks running systems and interfaces separate from what is used across the rest of restaurant. This decision entails a lot of extra work, as these systems will have to be integrated with the IT setup, and then updated and maintained individually over time. Thankfully, there is another option. If you selected a unified restaurant management solution like LS Central, you enable customers to order and check out for themselves using the exact same POS system that cashiers use at the manned tills. This wouldn’t be possible with many other restaurant management systems because they are too complicated, and can’t be used effectively without previous training. Not LS Central. There are more benefits, too. You can easily amend and customize the looks of the kiosk to suit your needs. Just as you would customize the POS, you can change interface and menu options to suit your branding, and apply the changes across all your locations – no headache of setting up the brand look for each individual kiosks. Simple menu customization also means you have the

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Slash costs in your restaurant with the right software system

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]How do you manage costs in your restaurant business? Are you operating as efficiently as you could be? We know how difficult it can be to maintain optimal efficiency and make money in a time of razor-thin margins and intense competition. By their very nature, restaurants are characterized by predictable, seasonal factors as well as by unpredictable ones, including changing customer preferences and fluctuating running costs. But there are ways to get a better handle of your business, helping you to plan ahead more effectively, become leaner and reduce costs in the process. For many restaurant owners, the answer lies in choosing a modern unified technology platform that provides a complete overview of your business operations from Point of Sale (POS) to back office. Indeed, research by the National Restaurant Association in the US found that over 80% of restaurants are turning to technology like online ordering and reservations and restaurant analytics to help them run their business successfully and efficiently. The same report found that four in five restaurant operators agreed that: Technology helps increase sales Technology makes their restaurant more productive Technology provides a competitive advantage. If you’re in two minds as to whether a restaurant management system could help your business grow, rather than simply cost you money, here are some specific areas in your business where the right technology can make a real difference: Optimize staff management If your staff schedules are currently handled manually, in spreadsheets or even on paper forms, you could be missing out on a trick. Staff management software has the capabilities you need to ensure rosters correspond with table bookings and helps you plan for the right amount of labor you need. The result is optimized schedules, which means you don’t have too many employees at work during quiet periods, and yet you have enough on hand to see you through the busy times. If you select a unified system for your restaurant, the staff management functionality can be part of the same platform used to manage the rest of your business. This allows you to make truly informed decisions using historic sales data and drilling down by location, day of the week and time to see patterns emerging and better determine when you will be busy or quiet. Another factor to consider is how you can use the software to keep track of your budgets and make sure you’re not paying out more than you should be. We know how difficult it can be to check and confirm the hours worked by each of your employees, especially when you are likely dealing with so many. But a staff management system can automate this for you, confirming actual hours worked are the same as those planned and highlighting any discrepancies for you to follow up on, minimizing errors and costs. With the functionality to analyze how much you are spending by employee, work code, shift and role, you can compare actual costs and performance against your business plan, and minimize unnecessary extra expenses, such as overtime. Simplify staff training In this industry, we know that workers tend to be transient – maybe you have lots of students or temporary workers on your payroll. High staff turnover can be a real pain point and loss maker for your business, especially as recruiting and training staff is both time consuming and costly. But there are ways technology can help you control this better, and reduce the costs and pain of getting new staff on board. If the systems you use are intuitive and easy for all employees to understand, you won’t have to spend as long training them on how to use them in the first place. Some retail management systems allow you to set up your POS so it mirrors your menu, making it far simpler for staff to find their way around while also helping to reduce mistakes. To simplify training even further, it could pay off to choose a system that uses a logic your staff is already familiar with. The LS Retail restaurant solutions, LS First and LS Central, are built on well-known Microsoft technology. This means new employees can be up and running quickly, as any experience with Microsoft software such as Office or Windows means they already know where to find menus and information in the system. Having one enterprise-wide platform, rather than multiple software solutions strung together, also means you only need to train your staff up once. This not only saves time and cost but gives you greater flexibility too. If you need to move staff from the bar to the restaurant floor, you can do so with ease. No extra training required to use a separate system; no time wasted. Increase table turnover and order value Is your restaurant floor running as smoothly as it could? There are some steps you can put in place to subtly speed up the process, allowing you to serve more customers without making your diners feel rushed. Mobile POS devices are a great way of doing this. As they connect your servers directly to the kitchen, kitchen staff can act on orders as soon as they are taken at the table, speeding up food preparation. Your waiters can get an alert on their POS devices when orders are ready, and they can also take payments on the device as soon as diners are ready to leave – no waiting for card readers or an available cash register. If you select the right mobile POS, your staff can also handle conversational ordering, where they take orders in the same way that customers reel them off – extra cheese on their burger and no mayo, with large chips, for example. Everything can be quickly inputted into the POS, speeding up service time and reducing errors. At the same time, because staff have all menu information right in front of them, they can improve their upselling potential by suggesting upsell items and upgrades as they take orders. Streamline kitchen operations A unified platform complete with a kitchen management system could help your restaurant serve up food more quickly and efficiently than ever. In the kitchen, having Kitchen Display System (KDS) screens connected to the

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How can Trident’s cloud platform manage your restaurant effortlessly?

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Mortality in restaurants is a fact with several young firms shut down. What if the software could transform how restaurants are running by offering profound insights for more profit? Trident’s cloud-based restaurant management solution makes it possible by concentrating on advancing the bottom line and back-of-house productivity. Trident takes into consideration all facets of restaurant management, including Inventory Management, costing of food and beverage, purchase orders, Table Management, Billing System, Point Of Sale, Vendor Planning, Price Monitoring, Costing of Food, Menu Management, and Reporting/Analytics. Still uncertain of restaurant management technology premised on the cloud? Like the idea, but don’t know where to start? Don’t worry, we’ve covered you up. Below we will discuss how Cloud-based restaurant management software transforms the industry for seven reasons: 1) – Access information anywhere  The mobile in your pocket or a laptop with a web browser and internet access are all you need to get started. Simply download the web site’s mobile app or account. To use the app you don’t need to be in the office, live with the hassle of VPNs or private networks. 2) – No more hefty long contracts Why tie-up with a long, costly technology vendor contract and have technology that may soon be out of date? On-site technology requires long-term investments, contract service, and a much higher Total Ownership Cost. The food industry is highly unpredictable, with frequent restaurants open and close. If you’re just beginning, you probably won’t be able to commit to fall tens or even hundreds of thousands of rupees on new technology. Restaurant management technology focused on the cloud removes the need for a big upfront investment and the lower monthly cost helps you to show the ROI from day one. 3) – Flexible Payments  When cash flow is a problem for your corporation (which is a concern for most businesses), then flexible terms of payment is a big thing. You charge for your software-as-a-service (SaaS) with cloud-based restaurant management technology. For example, both month-to-month and yearly contracts are provided by some vendors. When part of the contract you are charging for, the latest technology, new functionalities and updates, infrastructure improvements, etc. are all included. 4) – Scale The advantage of SaaS is that depending on your requirements, you can simply and quickly scale up or down. Open a new site, insert your current contract and get up and running before the end of the day. You can add users, integrations, locations, new features, etc. with just a few clicks. No technician’s visits. No long cycles of implementation. No significant investment to store servers in hardware or storage. 5) – Integration with POS System The ability to easily integrate with other applications is one of the strongest strengths of cloud-based restaurant management systems. Through APIs and other methods of integration, the cloud-based restaurant management technology can communicate with each other, share the data, and provide smarter, quicker, and simpler than ever before insights through stores and systems. 6) – Security  Cloud computing is much safer than data stored on your computer or an internal database. It has advanced security checks such as two-factor authentication for logging in, deterrent controls to alert potential hackers about protections, preventive controls which make accessing the cloud information more difficult for unauthorized users, and detective controls to react to intrusion events. If anything ever occurred to your restaurant’s servers – like a flood, a fire, or a theft, you may not see that data again. Restaurant software based on the cloud often comes with built-in backup and redundancy. 7) No need of It professionals If you are on-premise managing legacy systems, you need to understand what you’re doing. From routing, safety, restoration, debugging, and so on, nobody can go into a database office and start ripping cables. You don’t need to employ an IT professional with cloud-based restaurant management technology. All you need is access to the provider of internet and software that is committed to supporting and guaranteeing your excellence. Microsoft Gold partner Trident Information Pvt Ltd grants all of the above-mentioned advantages. For getting all the advantages you can contact our experts on https://tridentinfo.com/contact/ and add a query on our website. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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5 Reasons to Need Restaurant Management Software

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The need for restaurant management technology has been recognized by large and expensive restaurants and their chains as most of them use it.On the other side, as of now, just 9 percent of the small restaurants, bars and food trucks use it. They don’t think investing in restaurant management software is worthwhile enough. Therefore they are using manual methods like spreadsheets and paper and not utilizing their time efficiently. So they should realize how important it is because it can help you save time, money and do more with your restaurant. There are a couple of reasons to consider here. 1- Simplify Inventory Management Inventory management is a tough task especially for most SMBs as they are doing it manually. By replacing their manual methods with automated Restaurant management system will help them to track the amount of stock they have, what is it costing them? , and when they need more stock automatically. Integration of POS system and restaurant management software helps in real-time inventory management as every time you input order on POS, the purchased inventory is deducted from the existing inventory. You can understand now why inventory management is so simple by using restaurant management software as if you do it manually then it will become a headache. 2- Reduce Human Error in Restaurant Supply Order It can possibly lead to human error to fill out paper order forms and fax them to your suppliers. For instance 9 items on the form can be misunderstood as 90 items and you’ll get 90 items instead of 9 that will result in loss. Restaurant management system streamlines the connection between the restaurant and the supplier. As it is a fully automated system, the chances of error are reduced and you can even track the status of your order. 3- Simplify Accounting If your restaurant has a box full of invoices and receipts, you’re going to admire how restaurant management system performs. Rather than having to cling on to every piece of paper you get, you just need to click a photo of the invoice and it’s automatically uploaded to your digital filing cabinet through the software. It is filed into your accounting system, where you can pay the invoice before it is due. 4- Gain an Insight into Food Cost Profit perimeters can be small when it comes to the restaurant industry, so you must know each ingredient’s cost, as well as the overall cost of a dish that you serve. A restaurant management system makes reports of the cost of the dishes which you can view at any time. If the cost of onion has risen, thus cutting into your profit margin, so you can decide: do you raise the price for that item or reduce the quantity of that particular ingredient? Staying on top of these expenses helps you keep costs down. 5- Simplify Monitoring  If you carry multiple locations of your restaurant, using a restaurant management system will help you to access data for each location which is helpful and time saving as compared to separate system for each location. You can handle inventory across all locations and place orders with suppliers in bulk to get profit. You can also view menu items which are most successful at each location so that you can deliver what your customers want. A restaurant management system integrates inventory, sales, ordering, and accounting and makes it easier to do your job well. Every SMBs must realize that and should opt for it as it is worth every penny they’ll spend. If you are looking for a restaurant management software to simplify your operations and to make a system which is more efficient then you can contact Microsoft Gold Partner Trident .Trident’s LS Nav solutions provide all the tools your restaurant chain needs to succeed, from front to back of house : the system includes kitchen and restaurant management functions, powerful POS terminals and superior tools for enterprise resource planning. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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The Restaurant and Food Service Industry is Rapidly Changing

Microsoft LS Hospitality – The Restaurant and Food Service Industry is Rapidly Changing As online and mobile ordering and paying become widespread, guests expect restaurants to be able to offer them a multi-channel experience. In hospitality, it’s all about the experience. Operators need a reliable system that supports them in offering a consistently high-quality service. Customer demands are changing quicker than ever before. To keep up, food businesses need to arm themselves with a system that is constantly being improved and modernized. Restaurateurs need to establish a presence on social media: from food instagramming to restaurant reviewing websites, dining is becoming more and more social. Analytics will play an ever-increasing role in identifying trends and customer behavior Powerful Restaurant Management Software for Enhanced Customer Experience From central kitchen management, to table handling, to a mobile point of sale, which is both powerful and simple to use, LS connects your restaurant operations and headquarters processes with ERP right out of the box, delivering value across your whole organization, allowing you to offer even more while maintaining the high standards of service you customers are used to. A Point of Services, Not Just Sales Give information, take orders and payments, check status of orders at the table The LS Nav Hospitality Point of Sale (POS) suits different types of hospitality setups, from finr dining to quick services, cafes, bars, pubs and more. Superior Customer Service Provide outstanding service: armed with the LS Nav Hospitality POS, your staff can send orders straight to the kitchen give information about menu items, allergens, special offers and more check the status of orders and tables get notified from the kitchen when the food is ready receive payments hand out receipts register customers into the loyalty program increase sales with upselling and cross-selling suggestions anywhere on the restaurant premises. Manage Tables and Guest Amaze your diners with quick and precise service Manage your tables accurately and offer your customers a consistent, timely and high-quality service. Graphic view Use the intuitive graphic table management system to handle optimal seating and maximize table turnover. The table status feature allows waiters to: view the status of tables in their section, see which tables are free, make sure that all guests have been served, ensure that the orders have been promptly sent to the kitchen, receive alerts for issues that need attention, for example if a table has not been attended for too long. Great flexibility Managers can configure and activate multiple table setups, for example using different arrangements for brunch and dinner service. The system also helps handle takeout orders by labeling them differently and queuing them in a special takeout order list.

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