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There’s a lot of talk about how cloud-based technologies are changing the faces of major corporations, but the revolutionary power of the cloud is having an impact on practically every level of business. While the fundamentals of running a restaurant may seem tried and true, the potential for cloud technology to change how they operate is already apparent, and it looks to fundamentally change the organizational structure of the food service industry for decades to come.
Creating a More Competitive Market
The opportunities for a small restaurateur may seem limited as large franchises leverage their size and spending power to squeeze out the little guy, but there’s something fundamentally democratic in the way cloud technology works. This is most apparent in the form of cloud POS software. Where quality point of sale systems used to require a heavy overhead investment on the part of the business owner, cloud systems allow you to pay reasonable costs scaled to the demands of your business. The subscription as a service model means there’s less need to invest in expensive hardware or dedicated IT systems. Instead, your staff can get all the advantages offered by a POS framework with nothing more than a decent Wi-Fi connection and a handful of tablets.
Connecting Restaurant Owners and Customers
Marketing and outreach used to be another point where big franchises used to outclass small restaurant owners. Maintaining a marketing team and gathering the raw metrics to understand your customers was once an expensive endeavor, but most modern cloud POS software serves as an all-inclusive tool kit for your business. You can easily see what items are most consistently selling, track the high and low points in your business model, and identify important demographic trends in your customer base. With a little bit of internet savvy and the right technology, restaurant owners can easily create dedicated apps for their business, implement professionally designed loyalty programs, and encourage their customers to subscribe to newsletters and promotional outreach programs. You can also zero in on the unique needs of specific customers, providing your wait staff they need with the means to predict the demands of diners with just the information displayed on their tablet.
Reducing Turnover
Employee turnover is an unfortunate given in the restaurant industry, but cloud technology can help you minimize your turnover and more efficiently get your new employees all on the same page. With a dedicated POS system, your managers can spend less time dealing with administration and more time making sure that the back of house and wait staff have all the time they need to do their jobs right, and more flexible and intuitive scheduling options create happier staff more likely to stick around for the long haul. The increased usability of POS systems as opposed to traditional order taking options means that you can dedicate less time training new staff and increase the efficiency of your team.
Expanding Delivery and Pick-up Options
While in-house diners still constitute a bulk of the business for restaurants, there’s a growing demand for pick-up and delivery services. Cloud-based tech can make it easier and less expensive to expand into less traditional markets. With the right tools, you can put together a smart front end by which your customers can place delivery and pick-up orders, relieving the labor of your servers and hosts and create a smart routing system for your delivery drivers.
