How Full-Service Restaurants Can Better Manage Their Frenetic Schedules - FSR magazine (2024)

Restaurant operators face ongoing labor challenges,rising wages, and criticaltechnology investment decisionsas our industry continues to adapt and adopt new digital tools. Together, these challenges can create a hectic schedule that underscores the fast-paced nature of restaurant work, especially for full-service and casual fine-dining restaurants.

But operators can take some steps to make the most of their growing tech stacks, from adding new revenue streams to utilizing the latest tools that minimize time-consuming tasks so that they can spend more time doing what they love—delighting their guests.

• Embrace catering as a revenue streamwithout adding a ton of extra work. Restaurant operators can harness digital tools to streamline operations, crafting online contracts, quotes, and estimates. These tools can automate invoicing, payment processing, prep, packing, and managing repeat orders. Not to mention that catering is increasingly essential to restaurants, equaling on-premise dining and delivery as priorities,per a 2023Toastsurvey(48%) of 847 restaurant operators.¹The catering market spans diverse occasions—from company lunches to weddings—offering restaurants opportunities for customer base expansion, increased sales, and potentially higher profits.

• Take a data-based approach to scheduling, which can improve decisions such as overstaffing and distributing overtime hours. With the right toolkit, you can set budget alarms to ping you when staffing drops into the red and forecast labor costs for each shift and employee. You can also get real-time insights, revealing staffing cost inefficiencies.

• Add retail.Whether you’re an Italian restaurant offering high-end imported wines and olive oils or a lounge selling branded co*cktail glasses, a few strategically placed shelving units can open up a new revenue stream for restaurants. Merchandising isn’t just for retail stores anymore; it should also be the domain of restaurant operators because it offers revenue streams for nonperishable goods or items with long shelf lives. Tech tools, like POS integrations, are available to manage inventory for these items.

JT Riley, VP of Operations for Taste Of Belgium, which operates nine full-service restaurant locations in Ohio, says the restaurant added retail items as a new revenue stream after a recommendation fromDiners, Drive-Ins and Divesahead of the restaurant feature on the Food Network show.

“They were like, if you don’t have this, you need to solve it now. It’s a missed opportunity,” Riley said.

The episode led to thousands of sales of its waffles, which it sells in-store and ships to all 50 states, along with other items like coffee and waffle mix.

“We just really focused on the things that travel well, represent the brand well, which we can offer to people as we continue to work on growing our brand presence. I think retail is important to establish yourself as a growing concept of brands,” Riley said.

Day-to-day Complexities: Streamlining Can be at Your Fingertips

Scheduling tools also help operators deal with day-to-day complexities and can optimize their personal bandwidth. They can be a time-saving boon, consolidating scheduling tasks into one accessible platform. With no manual data entry or cumbersome onboarding processes, existing schedules effortlessly sync with employee profiles.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg for improving operations with tech tools. Here are three more important areas where going digital improves the “day-to-day.”

• Adopting a kitchen-display system(KDS) can be a game-changer for restaurant operations. It fosters seamless communication between kitchen and front-of-house staff, delivers prompt service, and enhances order transparency. These devices can also help throttle third-party takeout and delivery orders, controlling the chaos of an unexpected bump in off-premise ordering and allowing operations to run smoothly without overloading the kitchen.

• Optimize first-party ordering channelswith automated marketing campaigns. While online ordering has become common and expected by restaurant guests, first-party online ordering systems are often underutilized by restaurants. But automated marketing tools are emerging as a new way for operators to take better advantage of their online channels. With a few clicks and simple inputs, AI-powered writing tools and automated marketing campaigns can run in the background so operators can focus on running the rest of their business.
  
• Mobile handheld POS systems are becoming the new standard.They facilitate swift transactions with contactless payment options, streamline ordering processes, and enable efficient service across diverse settings—indoors, outdoors, drive-throughs, curbsides, and beyond. Not to mention all the steps they save front-of-house staff walking back and forth to the POS terminals where they previously needed to enter orders.

“We were early adopters of the handheld technology,” Riley told me. “Because we knew it would allow us to really be engaged with our guests in a more meaningful way, as opposed to writing things down. Sometimes, you can’t read your own handwriting by the time you get back to the terminal.”

“It’s also helpful to be able to process payments at tables being PCI compliant without taking that credit card away from the guests. We exclusively use handhelds at our restaurants — we have terminals, but that’s really for carry-out guests,” Riiley added.

Serving in the Smartphone Era: Go Digital or Go Home

In the dynamic world of restaurant operations, delivery services have become paramount and stand out as potent assets for boosting sales. Yet, savvy operators must navigate the landscape to find platforms with favorable commissions and minimal fees, protecting profit margins because those outcomes will make their lives more hectic and stressful.

Your competitors are likely also adopting tech tools, so it’s imperative to keep up with them or lose out on customers in this smartphone-driven era. Here are more tech tools essential for the ever-changing restaurant landscape:

• Point-of-sale (POS) systems continue to evolvemaking it imperative restaurants rely on one that will help them stay ahead of the curve. When working optimally, this ‘heart’ of the restaurant operating system, whether all in one or the anchor in a tech stack, enables restaurants to harness data insights, run more efficiently, and adapt to emerging trends.

• Integrated rewards programs are strategic toolsfor cultivating customer loyalty and increasing guest frequency. Restaurant operators can solidify their foothold in the competitive market by incentivizing repeat visits and fostering a sense of appreciation among patrons. A 2022Deloitte survey revealedalmost half of restaurant loyalty members (47%) use their memberships several times a month.

• Additionally, waitlist technology can play an essential rolein optimizing seating arrangements and enhancing guest experiences. By efficiently managing wait times, personalizing service, and converting first-timers into regulars, this technology improves operational efficiency and contributes to long-term customer retention strategies.

More Tech = Less Hecticness

A full-service or casual dining restaurant operator’s work will never be done—that’s the nature of this business. But technology can be the grease that keeps the sales sizzling in the front of the house and the back office humming with far less effort.

The keys are investing the upfront time, energy, and budget into the right solutions.

Kelly Esten is the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development atToast.

*Footnotes:

¹To help better understand the restaurant industry,Toastconducted a blind survey of 847 restaurant decision-makers operating less than 15 locations in the United States from May 26, 2023 to June 20, 2023. Respondents include a mix of both full-service and quick-service restaurants. Respondents were not made aware thatToastwas fielding the study. Panel providers granted incentives to restaurant respondents for participation. Using a standard margin of error calculation, at a confidence interval of 95%, the margin of error on average is +/- 3%.

²Methodology:Toastanalyzed the number of transactions at full-service restaurants in 17 select MSAs on theToastplatform between 4 p.m. and 12 a.m. local time platform to determine the busiest hours transactions occurred in Q3 2023. Percentages may not equal 100% due to rounding.