3 Ways To Increase The Efficiency of Your Quick Service Restaurant5 min read
The key to a successful restaurant business is the satisfied customer. As obvious as it is, many business owners still seem to struggle when trying to optimize their processes in order to be able to provide a service that will fulfil their customer’s expectations. The key to such failure lays in the misunderstanding of customers’ needs.
While the delicious food/beverages are easily achievable if you hire experienced staff, it is the service quality that often turns out to be that obstacle that limits the success of business owners. And when we are talking about high-quality service, we do not only mean organized processes, polite cashiers or attractive baristas. The one thing that customers value the most is the respect you and your employees show for their time. Or in other words – the immediate and professional service.
There are two things that customers value the most – delicious food/ beverages and high-quality service. Ensure that your restaurant offers them and you will be successful!
Why is quick order processing so important?
Ensuring the fastest restaurant service possible will provide both you and your customers with significant benefits. First of all, by being able to speed up the service, you will be able to process customer orders faster. Higher customer turnover also means higher revenues. Quicker service will significantly reduce the risk of losing customers or making them wait in queues until there is a cashier to handle their request.
On the other hand, the speed in which you process the orders will show your customers that you value their time. Bear in mind that they come to your restaurant to grab a drink or a meal and this is their one and only need. And your goal should be to satisfy it seamlessly, in the fastest possible way. Do not forget that your customers often rely on you as their partner. By stopping by your place, they devote you their time and they do not want from you to waste it. Otherwise, their next drink or meal will be served down the street, by your main competitor.
The path to increasing the efficiency of your Quick Service Restaurant
From the technological point, there are few things that you can do in order to speed up the processes within your restaurant. If you manage to offer a high-quality service in a fast and seamless way, you will easily take your business to the next level. But how to do that?
In order to ensure the fastest service at your restaurant, you will need to focus on the two main things that prolong the interaction with your customer the most – order placement and payment processing.
1) Install a Self-Order Kiosk
By having a digital version of your menus available from multiple locations within your quick service restaurant, you will provide the customer with the needed flexibility to choose and order automatically, without having to wait in queues. This type of system can serve as an additional help for your staff. It will minimize the chance for mistaken orders and will reduce the overall pressure on your staff, making them more concentrated and focused on serving the customer in the best possible way. Self-Order Kiosks are a very efficient way to cut the time your customers wait for their order to be processed and provides them with the ability to order whenever they want, all on their own.
2) Install a Kitchen Display
The process of having a cashier taking the orders from the customers and transferring the information to the kitchen staff takes a significant time which can be easily reduced. On top of that, due to the high number of customers that your staff will supposedly take care of, there is also a high risk of forgetting some key instructions, if such is provided by the customers. Installing a Kitchen Display System and integrating it with Self-Order Kiosks will allow customers to clarify all the details about the preferred way they want their meals or beverages served. That way, the instructions will arrive directly on the screen of the Kitchen Display System and the cook/bartender will be able to fulfil them easily, thus minimizing the risk of potential loss of information.
3) Install a POS System
A POS system is good both for your and your customers’ needs. Bear in mind that one of the things that irritate customers the most is having to wait too much for their order to be processed or for the payment to be finalized. Most of the customers will not even have cash at their disposal. With that said, providing them with the opportunity to pay via a POS system will significantly increase their satisfaction and take your service to the next level. Apart from that, POS systems also allow you to track important information about the way your business is progressing. By having a POS system at your restaurant, you will be able to go through and analyze extensive sales or inventory reports, search through a detailed client database, create and adjust the work schedule of your employees, deal with payroll and credit card processing services and etc.
Related: 3 Proven Ways To Grow Your Restaurant
Self-Order Kiosks, Kitchen Display and POS systems are tools that require a minimum investment, while at the same time guarantee a maximum return. No matter the size of your business, whether you’re a small coffee shop or a bigger quick service restaurant, optimizing its efficiency is what you should strive for. By being able to provide your customers with seamless, highly-functional and rapid service, you will instantly turn your restaurant into a benchmark for quality.
