It is well known by now that the Covid-19 pandemic changed businesses across the world enormously, whatever their kind and whatever their size — restaurants very much included. That worldwide upheaval gave rise to a great many technology trends meant to make life easier for owners and customers alike, and brought automation into the restaurant business, which makes a restaurant easier to run: more convenient, more efficient, and, importantly, better placed to grow in future.
So beyond the POS shop management system, which technology trends are worth watching in 2024 — the ones you can build on in your business and use to handle whatever change comes next? Let us take a look.
Six technologies for the restaurant business in 2024
1. Cashless society
Cashless spending is an option a great many people have taken an interest in, because in an era of an epidemic like Covid-19 it cuts out handling cash directly. Money moves from a bank account to the recipient — by e-wallet, by PromptPay transfer, or by debit or credit card. And because using the internet is now simply part of daily life, online transactions of every kind have multiplied many times over. Customers coming into your restaurant will find it convenient too, because they can pay quickly, with less contact, fewer germs and greater security around the transaction.
2. QR code-based ordering
The feature everybody is talking about — and a restaurant without one looks distinctly behind the times — is scanning a QR code to see the menu online, so customers can browse it themselves without a member of staff. This is genuinely useful for restaurant and customer alike, and for staff in particular, who have less contact with customers. It also saves the time and effort of cleaning menus, cuts the cost of printing them, and makes updating the menu easy. Customers, meanwhile, avoid handling a menu and need not wonder whether it has been wiped down properly, nor call a member of staff over to bring one — a moment on their phone and they can see it.
3. Contactless Wi-Fi based ordering
However much the Covid-19 situation has eased, that does not mean customers are entirely at ease handling a menu the way they once were. Contactless ordering over Wi-Fi is therefore another trend restaurants should watch, because customers can place an order, check it and pay through an app or on a device the restaurant provides, such as a tablet. Ordering becomes more efficient, and it keeps a distance between customers and staff.
4. A robust online ordering system
Plenty of restaurateurs will have seen for themselves during lockdown how much good online ordering and contactless delivery to the door did in keeping a restaurant alive. That trend has certainly not gone away, because many customers find ordering online more convenient than coming in, or find that the food ordering apps do not carry the full range. Our advice is to design an ordering system that is easy to use and fully featured, so customers can order as though they were sitting in the restaurant — which lifts sales and keeps you close to your customers.
5. Marketing automation
Another tool marketers need to know about, if you want your restaurant to flourish in a digital age, is automated marketing: technology that analyses customer behaviour and turns it into direct communication with them. A VentureBeat survey found that businesses using marketing automation saw as much as 90% more leads and conversion rates as high as 77%. Whether the campaign runs by email, SMS, on your website or across social media, it helps you understand what customers want, saves time, reduces mistakes, and captures behavioural data you can analyse to lift sales in future.
6. Complete restaurant management software — a POS system
And so to the last system, one no restaurant of any kind can do without: cloud-based POS hardware for managing a restaurant. This is the solution that has transformed how restaurants of every kind operate, because it does not stop at taking payment. It brings stock management, CRM, kitchen management, supply chain processes, online ordering and more onto a single platform — and it lets a restaurateur look at customer data, pull reports and follow the highs and lows of the business, all in one place.
Restaurant POS hardware from Qashier, so any business can grow for the long term
Whether you are looking for a way to grow the business or wanting to change how you operate so the restaurant runs better, choosing a shop management POS from Qashier suits the modern restaurant exactly. As well as being easy to use, it makes the work more convenient, with a full set of features a restaurant business can put to use across the board.
- Compact and easy to carry, but seriously capable
- Cloud-based, so you can reach your data and manage the business anywhere, at any time
- Accepts every form of payment — mobile banking, QR code and debit or credit cards
- Takes orders and sends them straight to the kitchen
- Table management, with table positions laid out and each one's availability shown
If our products interest your restaurant, or you would like more detail about this shop management system, call us on +66 64 729 9763 or find us on LINE: @qashier.th