If you have a restaurant, and you’re looking to modernize your business and keep up with what new technology has to offer in the food business, then you’re on your way to finding success in this day and age. There are many ways to upgrade your business with different appliances and equipment, you just need to narrow down the types of things you are looking for and understand what can help you in both your day to day success and your long term growth. You’ll want to diversify where you grow, and acknowledge that your business is not just one department. Knowing this can allow you to grow in multiple ways from the front of your establishment to the back of the house.
Smart menus
Assisting your front end staff at the point of customer interaction, many food businesses use tablets as menus. This can usually be found in many buffet-style restaurants where the demand for food to be cooked quickly and in large quantities is a big factor. But even if your business isn’t a buffet, but simply looking to establish itself as tech-savvy and you can afford the upgrade, any place that sees a high volume would benefit. This also creates a smoother transition into communication from the point of order to the kitchen, as human error is minimized.
Kitchen
As great as front end upgrades and innovations can be, the heart and soul of any establishment should be the food. Prioritize your food above all else and you’ll always have customers coming back for more. Ensuring your kitchen staff is the best way to support them and have that food coming out with the best quality. Industrial stoves, grills, washers, with plenty of space to operate allows your team to stay organized and ready to push out orders even in the busiest of times.
Bar
If your restaurant has a bar, make sure you don’t ignore it when it comes to upgrades and innovations. There’s much more to consider when upgrading a bar to just adding some extra taps and a bigger cooler. Televisions will keep patrons coming to your establishment during big events. Install chill strips to keep the drinks coming and cold all night. Add fun frozen drinks to your menu with a machine at the bar to help improve your business and help attract new patrons. This will give your customers lots of fun options, from family-friendly options for kids like slushies and iced drinks, to more adult infused drinks topped off with a little alcohol. There are so many things you can add, upgrade and install to keep your business modern and fun.
Bathrooms
Upgrading and improving your bathrooms are going to be a great way to show your customers you care about their whole experience, not just the food or the wait staff. Things like touchless faucets, hand dryers, and doorknobs, may not be the things that leave you customers talking about, but really, as a food business owner, that’s what you want, not them leaving and talking about the bathrooms, but customers raving about your food and restaurant.
POS systems
Making sure your customers have a great time is key to your success, but if you don’t have a smooth POS, or Point of Sale system in place, this might just erase any positive vibes your customers had. Make sure you have a system that runs smoothly and can handle the amount of traffic you have or hope to attract. Things that you’ll want to note for your ever-growing food business is having enough payment machines, especially on the busy nights, allowing for different payment methods, and having good security measures as well.
Entertainment
In addition to upgrading your equipment, and looking at every facet of your business, entertainment is always a bonus to have. So if you want to keep people coming in or even get people in the door to start out, hosting events and different themed nights is a good way to always have customers think about you first when pondering a night out. Karaoke nights, game nights, trivia nights will all attract different crowds but may use some of the same equipment. So in addition to having the televisions at your bar set up, have a quality sound system with a microphone inside your establishment will allow you to do some serious event hosting. Depending on the size of the place, you may be able to even host larger or more formal events, like company nights or dinners, birthdays and weddings.
At the end of the day, the food should be at the forefront of your establishment. So keep it that way. If the food is great, the customers will be the driving force that brings in more business. Help support your team that is doing that for you by keeping your establishment up to date with modern technology that will only keep the customers coming back for more.
