Automation and mobility are infiltrating every facet of restaurant operations, from food prep to inventory and customer service. Because of this, restaurant technology is now a major cost center for the hospitality industry.
According to Toast’s annual Restaurant Success Industry Report, 95% of restauranteurs agree that restaurant technology improves their business efficiency. So almost everyone is pretty much in agreement—restaurant technology is necessary to run operations better.
However, for all of its advantages, it does come with some added challenges. Keeping up with it all can be overwhelming, costly, and time-consuming. Here are some restaurant management tips to help make it easier.
Streamline IT support across all platforms.
Technology silos, multiple makes and models of hardware, and different software solutions in your restaurant cause a logistical nightmare for IT support. Working with multiple vendors makes it more hectic too. When everything is spread out across disparate systems from different vendors, keeping up with maintenance and management can seem like a never-ending parade of frustrations.
It makes better business sense to consolidate support into one central location for all of your in-restaurant technologies. You’ll have a single point of contact you can rely on to solve any IT issues that arise.
Take advantage of hardware maintenance programs.
Hardware is a major investment, especially when you multiply all the terminals, printers, kiosks, handheld scanners, and tablets across all of the units under your supervision in your restaurant chain. Keeping them in working order becomes a full-time job for someone.
One of the best restaurant management tips you will come across is to hire a company that can take hardware maintenance off your plate and act as a reliable resource when your hardware breaks. Outsourcing maintenance frees up you and your team to focus on helping your business improve operations, drive new efficiencies, and continue to grow your chain, while a company like Mainstreet can take care of the meat and potatoes.
Hardware maintenance services can include repairs, depot advanced exchange or Spare-in-the-Air, onsite service, warranty management, and more. A good hardware management service will offer programs that are customized to your unique needs to support what you have today, and scale to future needs. By taking advantage of maintenance programs like this, you can extend the life of the equipment you’ve purchased and maximize the return on your investment.
Develop a mobile device management plan.
Since mobile tablet technology first emerged into restaurants, more business owners are realizing the time savings and customer service ROIs that mobility offers. Customers are starting to expect mobility, and so are a not-insignificant number of restaurant employees.
With mobility comes mobile device management (MDM). Managing a mobile fleet of tablets—charging, software updates, syncs, integrations with the POS, etc. is now an added aspect of running a profitable restaurant. Forrester reports that 45% of senior decision-makers are looking at external expertise to help them with their MDM solution.
If you have an internal IT team, this can be quite taxing for them, and they may not have the bandwidth to keep up with these systems. The best way to keep up productivity and avoid placing a huge burden on your IT team is to leverage an MDM support service. You’ll alleviate the pressure on your internal resources, and can rely on mobile device experts like Mainstreet to keep your devices in perfect working condition.
Restaurant Management Tips for Achieving the Most ROI
Managing a restaurant was difficult to begin with before technology solidified its place in the hospitality industry. Restaurant technology has added more operational efficiencies, yes, but also more responsibility. It’s critical to keep your technology updated and well-maintained to ensure you get the best return on your investment, but diverting too much of your focus to your devices means you focus less on your customers.
For this reason, it may be wise to consider outsourcing your IT support to one central location that can handle hardware, software, mobile devices, and anything else. Mainstreet offers a variety of comprehensive IT support services provided by a team of industry experts, so you can get the most out of your restaurant technology. If you would like more information about the services we provide, and how we proper maintenance and support can benefit your business, contact Mainstreet today.
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