If you are a restaurant owner, or are planning to become one in the near future, at this point of time you are probably thinking that what else is required? Well, a bit of peppering with technology wouldn’t be bad at all! No, this is not about robots cooking food, waiting tables and washing dishes, nor is about some hi-tech microwave oven that is going to outdo culinary expertise. Rather, this is about affordable software solutions that have emerged as an integral part of restaurant management.
Not that such software is a magic wand that potentially guarantees a flourishing restaurant business, but can definitely have a positive transformative impact by streamlining and consolidating operational procedures. Also, it is equally expedient for standalone eateries and multinational restaurant chains, because of the fact that categories may differ in scale, but the basics are the same. Usually, vendors of such software offer customized variants depending on the purpose and complexity, and prices vary likewise. Trivialities apart, such software are denoted by a very predictive nomenclature.
Restaurant software, as they are commonly dubbed, is multifunctional utility suites that are designed to comprehensively address various palatable issues related to the business of dining. Key areas like generation of ‘kitchen order token’ & bills, making modifications in normal quantum and composition of dishes, tagging items with photos for easy identification, the delegation of a single order to multiple kitchens, shuffling of menus at competitive rates, tracking inventory of perishable items & other assets, etc., is incorporated in almost all variants of any standard package.
Slightly costlier packages include provision for an integrated module by clubbing various facets of customer relationship management, like reservations of tables, correlating individuals with their past preferences & orders, happy-hour discounts, loyalty schemes & membership transcriptions, and acknowledgement of purchase by means of SMS. The Premium restaurant software brings all of these soft tools at your fingertips, designed solely to retain customers and optimizing profit margins. And that’s not the end of the story!
From an accounting perspective, owners and managers of restaurants can keep a tab on contract rates with multiple monthly suppliers, along with maintaining strict control on payment and cash handling. This feature is particularly beneficial for multinational snack chains, who emphasizes on quality parameters in their services and transactions across all franchise outlets. Also, they can exploit automated reports generated from their tailor-made, high-end restaurant software, for graphically analyzing the bulk amount of data and consequently devising business strategies.
Having said it all, a few points need further clarification and reiteration, only to ensure clarity on the issue. For example, vendors of Restaurant Software are available aplenty in the market, and they shrewdly price their products to lure clients. As a precautionary measure, please perform adequate research on their reputation from other users, and do not depend entirely on the reviews available online, before you decide to procure from them. Moreover, it should be clearly understood that the efficiency of your staff and exquisiteness of your recipes, is the fundamental tenets of the trade that aims at satisfying the craving of taste buds, and no software in this universe is capable of plugging loopholes in these departments.
Steve Jo is a prolific author with immense expertise, vast knowledge, and immaculate reputation in the genre of software and technology. He is associated with Swadesh Softwares Pvt. Ltd, and this time make a sincere attempt to shed light on Restaurant Software, after being highly applauded for his previous article.