The COVID19 crisis has impacted many industries – but restaurants have been hit extremely hard. According to a recent Restaurant Industry Impact Survey by the National Restaurant Association, the industry in the U.S. is expected to lose $240 billion by the end of 2020.
A lot of factors go into making a well-liked restaurant, from serving great food and providing top-notch service to ensuring a positive guest experience. In today’s digital age, the tech and restaurant industries have merged to streamline these processes, ultimately improving operations and customer satisfaction, all by using innovative technology, such as a Pay-at-the-Table solution.
Over the last few years, enhancing the customer experience has gained a lot of traction among restaurant business owners. In fact, Deloitte’s 2019 report on restaurants discusses how good quality food is basic table stakes, while the customer experience is what takes a restaurant to the next level.
You could call the restaurant industry the canary that indicates the health of the economy. When things are good, people love to eat out — and that’s certainly one reason why, right now, the restaurant business is growing. A recent report from retail industry analyst IHL projects $744 billion for total 2019 sales — an increase of 4.2 percent. Moreover, new location openings are up, with 2,346 new QSR stores and 565 table service restaurants on tap for 2019.
Self-service innovations in the quick-service restaurant (QSR) space, including mobile order-ahead and in-store kiosks, are booming. The self-service kiosk market is expected to reach $30.8 billion by 2024. This ramp-up is likely because these innovative ordering and guest service options have been shown to improve order accuracy, increase average ticket value, reduce wait times and help collect data to inform how to better serve guests. This makes QSRs happy and it also delights the guest (or so that’s the goal). When implemented properly, these new technologies can create a positive and memorable guest experience. However, if it’s not implemented properly, that memorable experience may not be a good one.
