The world of hospitality tech is vast. There is a seemingly never-ending list of technologies that can fit into our businesses to help do things “better” than before. Over the last 10 years we have been spoilt for choice. There are solutions out there for recruitment, rotas, communications and team engagement. Not to mention solutions for payroll, produce orders, tracking financials, marketing and customer engagement. Our tills have all become more automated, more accurate, and more compliant. You want a robot serving your guests, juggling dishes whilst telling jokes? Not a problem. We even have excellent data guys like Tenzo and Tahola that pull all the data we have stacked into our businesses into one place, giving clarity and visibility of all the benefits gained from this technical revolution.

Is all of this technology a good thing? Is it good for the customer and, critically, is it good for our businesses? Clearly every business is different. Even though I don’t see my local traditional Italian rolling out waiter bots or my independent watering hole taking on a business analytics suite just yet, there is a different mixture of hospitality tech that is the right fit for most of us. This will depend on the scale, style and priorities of the business. However, most businesses have come to understand that doing nothing will likely result in being less efficient, less productive and being left behind our competitors.

When looking at what tech is right for your business, one of the key places to start is by considering what your priorities are. Maybe it’s labour cost saving, growing sales, marketing, or a smooth EPoS system. As technology has become better and more critical to our industry, so has its consolidation. There have been some excellent innovations in hospitality that tackle the unique challenges we face. Yes, there’s still a significant amount of innovation and solutions being developed. We’ve also seen some giants of the technology service sector who can offer most operators pretty much everything – all under one roof as a multi-purpose tech supplier. You can now get your schedules, payroll, tills, F&B platform, analytics and more from just one supplier. This sounds like a positive thing for the industry: everything you need in one place and on one bill. Big tech has recently been on the acquisition trail, snapping up some of the best and brightest prospects in the hospitality tech world. In the last year, we have seen hospitality’s leading providers in training, compliance and ordering brought under the same roof as event booking and labour planning platforms in one big tech.

The question to consider is: can innovation, value for money, customer service or user flexibility ever be improved by the consolidation of tech? Unlikely. Innovation happens when specialists in their field are given the freedom to continually perfect the areas that they excel in. Customers benefit most when they can form close relationships with their suppliers, acting as the external voice that feeds into the product development.

The consolidated approach works well for those who want the mediocracy of everything. The under one roof offering tends to give operators one outstanding product, but a disappointing “everything else”. An operator can get one incredible piece of kit, but they’ll miss out on the best of everything else. Take Yapster for example: it’s brilliant and integrated with everything. If you want the best for team comms and leadership, go speak to Yapster. Yapster is an independent business with the best-in-class tech. Even though you could get a product from a consolidator, who can put team comms and EPos on the same invoice, there’s a sacrifice. You’ll likely end up with a weaker team comms platform in your business and a mediocre EPoS.

S4labour is 100% focused on being the best people system in the market. There is no other leadership, development or account management team more ingrained and experienced in hospitality productivity than S4labour. Over half of the winners at this years Publican Awards use S4labour, showing just how the best in the industry, who value the productivity of their teams above other tech, use S4labour. S4labour is also integrated with everything else in the category of market leading products. You can have the best people system, integrated with the best till systems, integrated with the best ATS, forward pay, training platform, marketing, comms, tipping etc and seamlessly link it all with S4labour.

By taking a sidestep around the “under one roof” consolidations, you will find a sea of the best of the best and you won’t need to compromise on any part of your technological priorities. The wonderful thing about everything that doesn’t sit with the consolidators, is just how well it all works together and how good we have all become at making the customer experience seamless and integrated with each other. Hedging your tech suppliers really is the only way to ensure you get an uncompromised solution.

The last couple of years have seen huge changes in consumer behaviour. However, for any paradigm shift there has to be a catalyst supporting this change. The way people have gone about ordering food and drink — be that in a pub, bar, restaurant or cafe — is not the same as it once was. Ordering to your table from your phone, without having to stand up, is at times now quite standard. As well as this being an incredibly convenient solution for restaurant-goers, the operational benefits mobile ordering entails aren’t lacking in numbers. S4labour and Newtelligence have come together to explore the technological phenomenon: mobile ordering… and just how useful it can be.

Staffing levels are in constant conversation across the hospitality sector. Covid-19, isolation periods and lockdowns have heavily damaged the industry. It’s no surprise that, when speaking to S4labour customers, not having enough staff to meet sales demands was a massive concern for the sector. Table ordering functionality arguably is part of the solution to this problem.

There is definitely a case for some customers wanting to simply order something without the usual conventions and conversations. Ultimately, there’s nothing wrong with this. Sometimes, someone will just want an extra drink or snack and not have to queue or have a conversation. In fact, some individuals choose to have their entire dining experience through an app. Data from PYMNTS goes as far as suggesting that 41% of restaurant sales are generated through digital channels, such as apps or aggregators. Even though this doesn’t specifically mean table ordering apps, it acts as a clear indicator to consumers wanting to digitise their dining experience. But, what does this all mean for our original point of debate: staffing levels?

App ordering doesn’t necessarily mean you have more staff, but what it does mean is they’re more likely to be doing the right tasks at the right time. Front of house, when mismanaged, can be a chaotic environment. In an environment where app ordering doesn’t exist, front of house’s responsibilities can be exhaustive: welcoming customers, checking in on them, preparing drinks, communicating with back of house staff, serving food and drink, dealing with complaints, taking orders, printing bills and clearing tables. It can be a lot.

When ordering on platforms such as Newtelligence’s food2go service, the requirements for front of house staff are significantly reduced. Instead of approaching customers for new orders, dealing with amendments, reducing queue times and taking payments, front of house can prepare orders from point of order and spend more time on improving customer experience. And, importantly, improving productivity.

This goes beyond increasing staff productivity; there’s also something to be said for revenue growth. The question arises: do you actually end up ordering more on an app instead of traditional ordering methods? A statement from Pepper in The Morning Advertiser believes so, stating that average transaction value per customer has increased through app ordering on their platform. Assuming this is true across the board, the opportunity of greater revenue from orders should not be ignored. Not to mention all the drivers which encourage this, be that upselling through questions like “Do you want anything else with that” or “Add this to your order”. Yes, waiters can and will do this where appropriate. However, on apps customers may feel they have a heightened sense of autonomy and are less hassled — potentially encouraging more purchases.

All this said, it’s important to consider the counter-points. We started off this article suggesting changes in consumer behaviour has led to app ordering becoming standard. Yet, there will be individuals who prefer experiences that aren’t reliant on technology. This is totally acceptable. There will be hospitality sites who pride themselves on their front of house staff having excellent interpersonal and rapport building skills, and are a pivotal part of their business-perception. Additionally, app ordering may encourage a party of guests to be distracted on their phone — limiting social experiences. In light of these points, it’s essential to treat app ordering as a hybrid-model. Ordering to your table from your phone shouldn’t replace customer service; if anything it will enhance it. Staff members will have more time to focus on customers, as opposed to taking orders and printing bills.

The market for this product is ever-growing. Recent climates from Covid-19 and staff shortages may have accelerated its popularity, but improving customer service and speeding up processes only helps grow businesses. App ordering combined with effective deployment can be useful tools to boost productivity. S4labour enourages cost saving and sales enhancing rota creation. When combined with food2go, front of house staff have more time to focus on customers and not take as many orders, revealing opportunites to improve business bottom lines.

For more information on our new partner, Newtelligence, get in touch with them today.