Bars, restaurants and other food and beverage hospitality merchants are facing a labor shortage crisis. As businesses bounce back from the COVID-19 induced economic downturn, staffing shortages are driving businesses to find new solutions to keep pace. Many are turning to simple yet cutting-edge technologies to bolster the efficiency of their operations and reduce the need to hire additional front of house staff.
Here are 3 strategies you can use to reduce pressure on your wait-staff, streamline your front of house operations, and achieve optimal profitability.
1. Implement Mobile Staff Ordering and Payments
Trips to the POS station to input orders, print checks, and process payments are time consuming and limit the number of concurrent guests wait staff can support. Giving your staff the ability to take orders, retrieve checks and process payments on a mobile device, eliminates most trips to a POS workstation. By implementing mobile staff ordering and payments, you can quickly make your wait staff more productive, allowing them to handle a significantly larger number of concurrent guests than before.
2. Empower Customers with a Digital Order and Payment Platform
In today’s digital world, nearly every customer has a smart phone, and many customers are accustomed to using their phone to make purchases. Adding QR code ordering technology gives your customers the ability to order and pay on-demand, without the need for wait staff assistance. With QR ordering technology, a customer can scan a QR code at the table or even in the parking lot, order and pay, without having to stand in line or wait for a server. For fine dining venues where QR ordering may be less appropriate, implementing mobile checkout technology is a great way to boost staff productivity by allowing guests to retrieve their check on their mobile device, add gratuity, and pay.
3. Use Discount Codes to Incentivize Guests to Place Orders Digitally
Restrictions on food and beverage establishments caused the industry to pivot to online ordering platforms, most significantly third-party platform ordering. Unfortunately, third-party platforms require you to pay ridiculously high commission fees. For orders received from third-party platforms, attach promo cards to each takeout bag with a one-time discount code when they order directly through your restaurant’s commission free online ordering system. By advertising a discount code that can only be used with your direct digital ordering platform, you win back these guests and encourage them to do business directly with you, instead of returning to third-party platforms.
Efficiency for All
Digital solutions like mobile staff ordering and payments and QR codes give your staff the flexibility to juggle more tasks-- ultimately boosting their productivity. At the same time, your customers are given the option to order and pay themselves through their own mobile devices, making them less reliant on wait staff to carry out these processes. These solutions strategically minimize the need for wait staff to operate front of house without compromising customer experience. Meanwhile, your business will be empowered to digitally connect with your guests in highly effective and profitable ways.
PayLink® provides businesses with a powerful mobile commerce platform that helps food and beverage establishments and other businesses increase sales, decrease expenses and improve customer experiences.
Our highly qualified team is eager to help you implement the strategies outlined above.
