By Grace Morris, Contributor
The pandemic has truly changed our lives; the way we work, exercise, communicate, and even the way we eat. While it’s true that COVID-19 has affected all businesses, the restaurant industry is on the list of the “most hit” sectors. It has completely changed the way food services operate. The National Restaurant Association released a report showing that the food service industry has experienced a fall in sales by $80 billion. This is the lowest level of sales the industry has encountered in 35 years.
However, while the United States has recorded a decline in restaurant traffic by 22%, digital orders and delivery have jumped by more than 60%. As much as 53% of young Americans say they’ve ordered food from restaurants online because of COVID-19.
It is safe to say that the future of restaurants has been altered forever. This has led to new transformations by restaurant owners. As an individual running a food and beverage business, you understand the need to change and adapt. It is no longer a question of how to ensure the survival of your business. Instead, it is a question of how to grow your business stronger than it was in the pre-COVID era.
To give you a quick answer to your question, think of contactless technology. This term encompasses solutions such as contactless payments and ordering. It is the answer to maintaining the health and the hygiene of your workers, and by extension, the health of your customers and business.
Why Contactless Technology is Necessary for Restaurants
While restaurants are opening across the country, you are undoubtedly concerned about your health and that of your workers. You are not alone—guests are also concerned about this. Restaurant-goers want to know they are safe. Ensuring this would entail requiring staff members to use personal protective equipment (PPE). Consequently, this will reduce contact with surfaces to clean tables and handle food. Disposable menus would also lower indirect contact between guests.
In a study, 61.9% of respondents want their waiters to wear complete PPEs. More than half want their restaurant of choice to make use of disposable menus. 46.3% want all guests and staff to undergo temperature checks before dining. This shows a level of concern on all sides – from you as a business owner and from your customers as well.
As a restaurant owner or manager, health and safety should be at the top of your priorities. Reopening guidelines along with social distancing measures are what you need to keep your business at the top of the food chain. The truth is this is not an easy feat to accomplish. Thankfully, this is where technology provides practical solutions to redefine our dining experience in the new world of COVID.
As the demand for food delivery increases, you need to find ways to allow your guests to go through the menu without touching papers that other customers have touched. You need to take their orders and receive payment. All the while, you must not engage them physically, touch their money, or take their credit cards. This is where contactless ordering and payment will come to your rescue.
1. We are Likely to Have a Reoccurrence of the Illness
As you can see, what we considered “normal” is fast becoming a thing of the past. This calls for strategy and fast thinking. The coronavirus is still here with us. It is anticipated that we’ll have a second wave of COVID-19 by winter, arriving following the flu season. This second wave might hit harder than the first, and you have to be prepared if your business is to survive. You have to integrate contactless technology into the daily running of your restaurant. For example:
Set up an SMS system to send text message alerts to customers when their order is ready.
Have a dispatch team to handle order and takeout deliveries efficiently.
Contactless payment methods to curb contact and facilitate at-the-door delivery.
Loyalty programs and gift cards to reward customers and encourage them to keep coming back.
Implementing contactless technology into your business will prevent your restaurant from shutting down even in the face of a second wave.
2. Lockdowns May Become Common in Combating Outbreaks
Considering the coronavirus will hit in waves, it’s evident that implementing long-duration lockdowns will be inefficient in curbing the spread of the virus. If we take a case study from Hong Kong, we’ll see that lockdowns will come in phases – intensifying and relaxing – with each new re-emergence of the virus.
This points to one thing: as restrictions relax and businesses open, there’ll eventually be a re-emergence of new cases. This will prompt another episode of restriction tightening – in an effort to limit spread and prevent another breakout.
To ensure the success of your restaurant, you have to be able to operate under these conditions.
3. Contactless Technology Will Ensure You’re Ready
Consumers still seek restaurant services, even in a stay-at-home pandemic period. They want the experience of a nice meal made by someone else. While this might not fit into the business model you had in mind for your business, you have to implement a form of overhaul if you’re to rake in those excellent profits. By implementing new technological functionalities, you expand the scope of your restaurant’s operation. Contactless or online ordering, contactless home delivery, and contactless payment are at the heart of this new approach.
Contactless payments: This allows you to eliminate human contact when receiving payments. No touching of credit cards, passing money back and forth, or touching the pin pad touched by numerous customers.
Text message notification: Taking orders and receiving contactless payment is not enough. After a customer pays for an order, it’ll be helpful to have an SMS system notifying them the moment their order is ready.
Contactless delivery: You don’t need to use robots or drones for this. If you have contactless payment and text message notification built into your ordering website, you can simply drop the customer’s order at their doorstep without touching the door. The SMS notification will alert them that it has been delivered.
Personal Protection Equipment: This will not only protect your workers, but it’ll also keep your customers safe. Make PPEs such as masks and gloves a mandatory part of your restaurant. This will protect customers that come in to eat.
How Contactless Dining Works
The concept of contactless dining involves contactless ordering and payment. When it comes to placing an order, you can employ the use of QR codes. QR codes are barcodes that users can scan with their smartphones. This will then take them to a digital content such as a webpage. Since you don’t want your customers touching and retouching menus already touched by other customers (disposable menus might be a bit costly to maintain), you can use QR codes.
By using this technology, you can place a physical placard carrying the QR code on the restaurant counter or table. Your customers can quickly scan the code with their smartphones without ever touching it. This will allow them to view your restaurant’s digital menu on their phones and place their orders. They can also use this to make payments.
On your end, as the restaurant business, you’ll receive the order, manage it, serve the customer, and then record the payment. This also makes invoicing so much easier. Since the whole process is digitalized, the invoice is calculated automatically by the system, making sales recording straightforward.
You can also use contactless technology to track time for your workers and even pay them. You can easily track the hours they work through their phones without them using pen and paper to sign in. invoicing and payment has never been easier.
The Benefits of Contactless Technology for Your Restaurant Business
1. Faster Service
As restaurants are reopening, you’re mandated to operate at reduced capacity. This means fewer tables and fewer workers to cover each shift. Contactless technology speeds up the process of placing orders and making payments. This means you can serve customers faster, allowing you to turn over more tables.
2. Healthier Atmosphere
Since there’s less contact between your workers and customers, the risk of disease spread is significantly slashed. No high-touch points like pens, menus, bills, and money means social distancing and other health measures can be maintained.
3. Better Hospitality
Since there’s less contact between workers and customers, the interaction between them will be purposeful and beneficial. This means both parties are more appreciative of each other when they get to communicate. It also gives diners more time to enjoy their meal and allows your restaurant to focus more on making a tasty and healthy meal.
We Move Forward
As the nation moves forward, the COVID-19 siege is far from over. With the potentials for more surges to occur in the nearest future, you have to research ways to adapt your business model to this new reality.
Contactless technology is the future of restaurants. From contactless ordering and touchless payments, you can satisfy your customers without ever touching them. This keeps everyone safe and confident. In these new times, diners want to know they can go out to eat or order takeout without worries about contacting the coronavirus.
It is therefore very convenient that you can set up your restaurant business around this technology. This allows you to enjoy a fast, simple, and safe way of satisfying your customers while enjoying your profits.
