http://www.htmagazine.com/HT/archive/0907/0907_03.html
Hospitality Technology- September issue
Restaurant Communications
By Vicki Powers, Contributing Editor
Restaurant communication is continuing to get more and more complex, but yet very efficient. Two of the technologies in my article are completely amazing. These new systems are helping to cut costs, increase table turns, and improve the customer experience.
Zaxby's is a fast-casual restuarant that provides outstanding food quality by cooking guest's food after it is ordered. Customers love the fresh food, but food does take a little longer to prepare. They wanted to cut back on the wait time for guests, so two years ago they began testing HyperActive Bob. This "robot" (which is mounted on their roof) predicts what guests will order from the time they park their car in the parking lot. It sends this predicted order to touch screens in the kitchen so they know what to start cooking and how much. It has helped them save $4,700 a year on waste alone.
At Fatz Cafe (and other major chains like TGIFs) they are testing new wireless technology that is greatly improving the customer experience. Everyone in the front of the house (hosts, servers, bartenders, managers, bussers, and even expeditors) is connected through a watchlike device. On each table is a wireless hub, which enables guests to page their server if they need anything. For example, when they are ready to order, they page their server, or if they need drink refills. This is just one great part of the technology. Hosts can page servers when they are seated, expos page servers when their food order is up, and bussers page hosts when they table is ready to be resat. All of these things are combining to increase table turns, increase tips, and improve guest and employee satisfaction.
This article was great for me because I work in the restaurant industry and plan to for a while. Zaxby's predictive robot is an amazing concept to me. The new technology seems to be working great for them because they have installed it in approximately 100 of their 385 locations. The article didn't go into much detail about how it worked, but I would love to learn more about it. As for Fatz Cafe, I took particular liking to this topic becuase it is the same technology that my group article is about. I LOVE this idea. It connects everyone in the restaurant to each other and has increased table turns by 10% in chains like TGIFs. Employee and guests feedback has been overwhelmingly great. My first reaction, however, was not so great. I am a server, and I imagined guests going out of control with paging you to the table. I still do believe that there would be a few guests who would be very annoying with the paging device, but on average a table pages you twice during the meal. When I am a restaurant manager in the future, this is definitely a tecnology that I would strongly consider having in my property.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Operating restaurant is not easy. It uses perishable product – time, seats, and food products. So if something helps predicting each day’s operation, it is very useful. Actually the “robot” is not predicting device, but it is very good idea that getting food order in the parking lot to save time for food preparation. It reduces guest’s waiting time and avoids cooking rush in the kitchen. As a guest side, it seems to be very long time for waiting food, even though actual time is not very long. The other system, paging system, does not look good. There is a similar paging system that each table has a pager and if a guest push the pager screens on each walls show the table number. So servers know where they need to go. But it this article’s pager pages only certain server. It sounds convenience but when a server is too busy to care the paged table immediately, it might give a little pressure to the server, I think.
Post a Comment