Restaurant technology: picking the right tech stack

The restaurant industry has long been characterised by frequent change, but in recent years the scale and speed of change has escalated.

The pandemic made online ordering through digital channels – such as mobile apps, aggregators and websites – a necessity. Within a little over a year, those channels were accounting for 41% of the average restaurant’s revenue, according to PYMNTS.

Inflation quickly hit the industry, too. According to TouchBistro, 50% of restaurateurs report that all or most of their suppliers have increased their prices, leading to an average 43% increase in the cost of food.

On top of all that, keeping restaurants staffed has gotten much harder. TouchBistro also reports that 97% of restaurant owners say they’re short at least one position.

Restaurants are increasingly investing in technology to help meet the demands and challenges of the moment. Developing the right tech stack for your needs is now an important part of running a successful restaurant.

With so many restaurant technology tools available, it can be challenging to identify the right ones for your restaurant. As a starting point, think about your particular business needs and goals. Some good factors to consider are:

• Your business priorities
• Your most pressing challenges
• Your business size and number of locations
• Employee feedback on what they need
• Customer feedback
• The current tech products you use (more on that below) and whether you want to keep them
• Your budget

Once you’ve clarified those factors, you can evaluate your tech options based on:

• Features and capabilities
• Ease of use
• Integration with other tech
• Support options
• Price

If you’ve narrowed your list to a few choices, try contacting the support team at the tech companies. Many offer demos or free trials to help you get a feel for a product before paying for it.

Restaurant tech tends to fall into a few categories based on the main purpose it provides. We’ve organised the list below based on the key goal each type of restaurant technology can help you achieve, but note that some products will offer functionality that spans multiple categories.

A POS system is an essential piece of restaurant technology for most restaurants, regardless of size or restaurant type. You can choose a comprehensive POS system that provides all this functionality within one tool, or you can go for a more basic option that focuses on a couple of key features like payment processing and sales tracking.

A comprehensive option will typically be more expensive, but if you need the functionality, investing in multiple products to cover the same territory could end up costing more. Plus, having a POS that offers more of the functionality you need can improve efficiency. Your staff will have to learn only one system, and you can skip some of the work involved in connecting various tools to one another.

Regardless of which option you choose, it’s wise to research what integrations your POS is compatible with. This can be especially valuable if you’re managing incoming orders from third-party delivery apps like Uber Eats.

Research from Paytronix found that a third of all restaurant orders came in digitally in March 2022. Having technology that enables those orders is essential to earning the business of customers who want an easy option for pick-up and delivery. Many restaurants use a combination of online ordering technology products that may include:

• In-house online ordering tools that let you take orders through your own restaurant website and/or a branded app
• Third-party apps that enable online ordering through a third-party marketplace, like Uber Eats
• Order management systems to help you bring orders from various sources into the same place and efficiently manage the life cycle of each order

For any online ordering technology you use, you’ll want a product that integrates with your POS, so all online orders are seamlessly incorporated into the processes you already have set up. Some additional online ordering features to consider include:

• Scheduling options for customers who want to place an order for later
• Customer data collection that can help you continue marketing to new customers and (hopefully) turn them into loyal patrons
• Data and analytics to help you gain insights from your online orders that you can use for informed decision-making moving forward

Uber research conducted in 2023 found that over 90% of customers say the delivery experience affects how valued they feel and how likely they are to make future purchases and recommend a brand to others. At this point, customers don’t just expect restaurants to offer delivery; they have high standards for the overall delivery experience. Delivery technology can help with that and comes in a few main forms:

• Third-party delivery apps that match each delivery order with an available driver to handle fulfilment for you. These apps also help you reach new customers by listing your restaurant on their popular mobile marketplace.

• White-label delivery technology that lets you offer delivery options through your own online sales channels (like your company website and app), while still using a third-party company for fulfilment.

• Delivery management software, which helps you manage all your delivery orders in one place if you use multiple sources for fulfilment, such as using your own delivery staff as well as working with multiple third-party companies. Many online management systems can also help with delivery management.

• POS integration software that helps you connect all the technology you use for deliveries and online orders to your POS so you can seamlessly fit them into your existing processes.

Restaurant delivery technology products don’t just enable deliveries; many also provide additional benefits such as:

• ETA (estimated time of arrival) calculations
• Real-time communication between drivers, customers and the restaurant
• Automated route optimisation
• Integration with your other restaurant technology

CRM software helps you keep track of each customer you earn. By collecting customer data in one place, you have the knowledge needed for personalized marketing efforts that can inspire loyalty and engagement.

Restaurant CRM platforms should ideally integrate with many other technology products to automatically record information such as:

• Contact information
• Order and reservation frequency
• Typical order size
• Commonly ordered menu items
• Which promotions customers respond to

You can also record any information customers are willing to provide, such as birthdays and dietary preferences, which you can then use to further tailor the promotions you send.

The restaurant technology industry is still evolving, and new tools and trends are entering the scene all the time. We’ve listed below some of the biggest restaurant tech trends to consider when building your restaurant tech stack.

• Contactless payment. Contactless payment became a common expectation in the early days of COVID, when people were concerned about transmission through surfaces. But many customers liked the convenience of the option enough to stick with it. Consider giving patrons the option to check out on their phone using QR codes or contactless payment options like Apple Pay or Google Pay.

• Automation. Technology can now automate many tasks that once required (often tedious) humans to complete. In the restaurant world, that includes some of the work involved in tracking sales and expenses, creating employee schedules, tracking inventory levels and providing accurate delivery ETAs. Automation can’t entirely solve staffing challenges, but it can help restaurant staff accomplish more with fewer people, making it a smart feature to look for in the technology products you choose.

• Virtual restaurant models. Virtual restaurants are restaurant concepts that exist primarily on third-party delivery apps like Uber Eats and give existing restaurants a way to reach new customers. Starting a virtual restaurant involves developing a new restaurant concept, promoting it on third-party apps, and using your current kitchen and staff to support it. Virtual restaurants can potentially help you grow your earnings without needing to hire more servers or stay open longer hours.