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How AI can revolutionize your restaurant
January 29, 2020 by Adam Ross — General Manager, Americas, Deputy
Like any other industry, restaurants are under relentless pressure to satisfy the soaring expectations of consumers, who are keen on more personalization and convenience. It's especially difficult in the age of the digital native where quicker, easier and more customized service is considered the bare minimum standard.
If being a technophobe as a restaurateur was somewhat tolerable in times past, such an approach today would only mean handing over your customers to your competitors on a silver platter. Digital tools — especially those powered by artificial intelligence (AI) — are streamlining everything from order and inventory management to predictive staffing, with the potential to delight customers and boost sales in some of the ways detailed here.
Facial recognition
Your favorite bartender at your favorite pizza place knows what you want to drink, while your favorite waiter knows the side you like with your lunch. But you still must wait in line for a table to even get a shot at such personalized service. AI-powered kiosks provide an opportunity for restaurants to give personalized service with minimal human intervention.
Here's an example from a poke restaurant that's worth noting from this Dallas Observer story regarding Malibu Poke. The restaurant rolled out self-service kiosks with facial recognition that can identify regular customers and make suggestions, all based on each individual's previous order history. The addition is one that can easily hasten the process of ordering and obtaining a meal for both the customer and the brand since it's likely the customer will want to order something they have previously.
Auto-scheduling shifts
The ability to create, communicate and enforce work schedules is essential for today's restaurateurs. Given the size of the workforce and the time-sensitivity of many restaurant processes, manual scheduling can be a complex, time-consuming endeavor.
Technology is critical in streamlining scheduling by forecasting labor demand, handling on-call shifts and allowing employees to swap shifts without the manager's intervention. AI can power this kind of sophisticated system by incorporating more granular information in automated scheduling to maximize return, while brands can use workforce management solutions to easily and quickly create, fill and optimize shift schedules.
"It really does save us money,'' said Stewart Cumming, operations head at Curry Leaf Café, which is using a system from Deputy that he said immediately saved the brand 5% on their wage bill. Most importantly, Stewart has slashed the time he was spending to do payroll.
"Payroll used to span two days, now I get it done in about 45 minutes," he said.
The brand's system has also given Stewart insights into actual daily business by making everyday operations more transparent.
"It's allowed us to run in a much more consistent way, which has been hugely beneficial," he said.
Delivery mapping, management
As food delivery grows in popularity, the ability to identify the most optimal delivery routes becomes crucial to ensure speed, efficiency and quality. AI-powered delivery management technology can help pizza brands provide drivers with guidance on the best routes to save time and miles, monitor driver's progress and keep customers updated in real-time on the status of deliveries.
For example, UberEats uses AI and trip inferences to optimize delivery routes and realistically estimate delivery times. It's a complex system that has to ensure the delivery partner doesn't wait too long for the food to be prepared and that the customer receives their delivery in approximately the time indicated in the UberEats app. The predictability and reliability can only augur well for the customer, restaurant and delivery-partner.
And when all is said and done, restaurant patrons are already using both information tech and increasingly, AI, to accomplish tasks in their lives, so it makes sense that they are now expecting it from their pizza place.
About Adam Ross
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