Here at Hazlnut, we believe restaurant technology is the future. We took a look at all of the advancements made in 2021 and will integrate the best of them into our products to provide cutting edge apps and online ordering. We are here to shine a spotlight on some of those advancements and see how they can help businesses grow.
Kiosks
One advancement that has been gaining popularity and we are starting to see everywhere is self-service kiosks. They are incredibly popular due to how easy they are to use. With kiosks, customers can place their entire order by themselves, which means the restaurant can focus their staff in other areas. Kiosks also can improve order accuracy since the customer adds the modifiers themselves. Since multiple people can order at once with multiple kiosks wait times will be reduced.
Chat Box
Speaking of chat boxes, the digital communication in the restaurant industry is on the rise. Facebook has integrated chat on pages with average response time displayed to the customer. There are going to be questions from customers at home who have turned to online ordering. Deploying a chat option on a restaurants website and social media is a way to cut down the time your employees are on the phone. Questions like hours, location, and contact info will be automatically answered with a chat bot. With Hazlnut you can program it to give them the link to your online ordering page and have it tell the customer about your app.
Tabletop Ordering
Many foodservice advancements are based on limiting contact between customers and the restaurant staff. Servers won’t have to go to tables to take orders when restaurants utilize tabletop ordering. This is an option for when a full sized kiosk won’t work, like at a restaurant with table service. Every restaurant has different needs, so there are different tabletop options. Tabletop kiosks will be ready at the table when the customer is seated to take their order. Another option is to have the customer use the hardware almost everyone has in their pocket, cell phones. Using a branded mobile app like the ones we develop here at Hazlnut, a customer can order food to the table right from their own phone. Details on how that can be set up can be found here.
Robot Chefs
One technology advancement that we find really cool and just want to talk about is robot chefs. One of our sales reps has a background in baking and first was introduced to the concept by the Unifiller cake decorating machines. They are impressive machines that are designed for commercial output of baked goods that have a made from scratch touch. More recently, Samsung has made a pair of arms that hang from the ceiling and act as a sous chef. These are currently for home use but with the way the restaurant technology is advancing it will be no time at all before all kitchens have robotic sous chefs to increase kitchen productivity.
At Hazlnut we look at what works and what doesn’t and adjust accordingly to provide the best products. Analyzing trends from past years is a way we focus efforts into what to develop. Looking ahead is important too, so stand by for what restaurant technology we are looking forward to in 2022.
