July 5, 2019
Technology plays a larger part in hospitality led operations than ever before. As competition remains high, the emergence of new, innovating technologies are beginning to appear within restaurants, bars, pubs, hotels and everything in between.
Here are five tech trends that we’re excited to see more of this year…
1. Digital Menus
The self-service revolution for restaurants began to take off in 2016 when McDonalds introduced kiosks and table top solutions across their US branches, with deployment across the UK soon after. This technology has now started to reshape the customers experience, whilst providing key benefits for the business owners too. This includes increased customer satisfaction levels and increased revenue from automated up-selling.
As a result, operators are taking self-service platforms into serious consideration when deploying a new technology suite, including the likes of DF Tacos, Village Hotels and the home of crazy golf, Caddies, who now have self-service options active across their venues.
More specifically, table top tablets and eMenus, have become a key area of interest for businesses across all sectors and that’s not just for the customer facing benefits. Taking a closer look into Tevalis’ TevMenu, it provides head office with simplified management processes such as having the ability to update menus from the cloud at any time whether that’s tweaking the design or adding new seasonal menus and items.
Will digital menus replace hard copy menus in the future? It may be very likely.
2. Voice activated ordering with Alexa:
Alexa is in your home and now she’s making an appearance at hotels too. After Amazon launched Alexa for Hospitality in June 2018, it became a hit for hoteliers, providing guests with an immersive, memorable experience at hotels.
As it seamlessly connects with existing platforms such as the Tevalis Point of Sale, it makes ordering room service for the customer, very straightforward. After asking Alexa, the order will be automatically processed on the POS and charged to the guests room. An intuitive integrated technology platform which is quick and simple, whilst providing key benefits to both the guest and the operator.
3. Delivery/restaurant apps:
Customers now want the option and luxury of enjoying their favourite food, from the comfort of their own home. Delivery hosting platforms such as JustEat, Deliveroo and UberEats continue to pave the way for app ordering, providing businesses with the option to add a tech platform which offers an additional revenue stream.
Secondly, bespoke restaurant applications have also become a contender within this realm, giving teams the perks of full app management including benefits such as in-app alerts to engage customers, booking functionalities and loyalty features such as a digital points system and integrated QR codes.
Depending on your operational style, will depend on the platform which works best for your business. Nonetheless, it’s something we’ll definitely be seeing more of…
4. Innovative management tools:
Customer facing technology aside, back office management processes are also an evolving area within hospitality. Cloud-based management tools have been around for a while now, but they’re here to stay as they have become one of the most powerful components to an EPOS technology suite, enabling teams to streamline often time-consuming tasks.
One of those time-consuming tasks, includes stock takes. Having intuitive tools available through the cloud to manage stock takes, stock movements and suppliers, is fantastic. However, there are now ways to complete those key tasks, at the touch of a button.
With products such as our latest smartphone application, TevStock, teams are able to perform many important operational activities such as scanning stock from their device and receiving information back including the stock level differences between expected and actual. Alongside this, teams are able to complete outstanding purchase orders whilst managing stock transfers between sites/location.
What makes this platform interesting isn’t only the efficiency that it offers, but how it provides a seamlessly integrated approach as all information is synced into the main Stock Management tool automatically.
5. Virtual reality:
VR definitely has a future in gaming, but where does that leave other industries such as hospitality?
Five years ago, there were only 200 thousand active virtual reality users. Today, that number is forecasted to reach over 150 million.
Tokyo is beginning to adopt virtual reality into FnB venues to further immerse guests in a dining experience, including the VR dining concept, TREE by NAKED, brought to you by artist Ryotaro Muramatsu. And, as Tokyo have the most Michelin stars over any other city in the world, we expect other experimental businesses will soon follow.
When it comes to hospitality, maybe VR won’t take off in a customer facing environment just yet. However, we are beginning to see operations introducing this technology for training schemes, to retain attention for new employees and put them in realistic situations including practising everything from food safety to customer service. One to keep an eye out for.
Experience the innovation that the Tevalis Technology Ecosystem can offer your business…