All of us have industry-specific software these days. From industry specific accounting software to industry specific point of sale systems, the industry you are in breaks down your requirements and leads you to the right tool for the job. Does this same framework apply to the restaurant industry? Can industry-specific software save your restaurant? The answer is yes. Some of these industry-specific tools won’t be familiar at first glance but it’ll be pretty clear that they’re useful once you know what they do. These titles aren’t industry-specific but they’re still included here because each one has a very important role in restaurants:
Loyalty Programs
Restaurants have been using loyalty programs to their advantage since the beginning of time. Loyalty programs promote customer engagement, reward loyalty and keep customers coming back for more. While a lot of industry-specific systems do offer free loyalty software, it’s usually limited so they can sell you other things later on. Restaurants don’t want to be locked in so industry-specific tools are a better option because they’re built with restaurants’ needs in mind and tend to be more flexible. Even though these industry specific solutions may require some initial investment, they’ll save your restaurant over the long run because you won’t see your business suffer due to lack of an efficient solution that is tailored for restaurants like yours.
Payment Processing System
You can’t run a business without money so having an industry-specific payment processing system is necessary for most businesses nowadays. The problem with industry specific tools though is that you’ll have to weigh their usefulness against the amount of customization you’ll need from them. At the end of the day, there are only a handful of industry-specific payment processing systems out there but there are hundreds if not thousands of general purpose ones. You can always create your own industry specific tool on top of a general one as long as the underlying platform allows it.
Food Ordering App
Many industry leaders make great mobile apps aimed at restaurants, but not all of them come from industry giants. There are some interesting industry-specific players as well.
ToGo Technologies is a delivery app that helps restaurants take their orders via phone or web. They can use this as a customer portal as well as a tool for increasing efficiency in the kitchen by allowing multiple cooks to place orders simultaneously so they don’t have to wait their turn. Once the orders have been placed, they’re sent directly to the kitchen without much human intervention – reducing costs and improving accuracy. You can learn more about ToGo Technologies here.
Table Reservation Systems
This industry-specific tool allows your customers to view open tables, book a table at their preferred time and receive updates on their booking. It also manages cancellations. This means less wasted staff time, increased customer satisfaction and better use of limited space in your restaurant. If you run any sort of large restaurant or banquet hall then this industry-specific software is an absolute necessity for you. It’s becoming more popular lately as restaurants are forced to either expand or install technologies that make it easier for them to manage capacity.
With these industry-specific tools in place, you’ll save yourself tons of time and money because it’ll cut down your operational costs.