What are some restaurant maintenance challenges?

Efficient management of a restaurant business while paying attention to its different aspects is never an easy job. To provide the finest service to customers, restaurant operators must pay close attention to inventory management, personnel management, and multiple other issues. With proper planning and effort, most of these challenges can get solved. However, the implementation of a digital menu can help solve these challenges effortlessly, and in this blog, we will discuss some key restaurant maintenance challenges and how a digital menu can help solve them.

Restaurant maintenance challenges: How can a digital dine-in menu help?

Employee management:

The restaurants cannot operate without the service staff. The process of hiring staff, training and retaining them can be a big challenge. For the last couple of years the hospitality industry has been grappling with the staff shortage issue. Even after investing a lot of money and time in recruiting and educating new employees, the failure to retain skilled and seasoned staff is a challenge restaurants struggle with. Especially when the trained staff leaves, it severely affects the entire restaurant's operation and service.

However, digital dine in menu can solve this issue and enable restaurants to function without any hassle. A digital menu includes a QR code that can be scanned to download the menu on any device. Customers can access the menu, and there is no need for wait staff to get involved in the process. The customers will select the items and place their order, and it will be sent to the kitchen. Customers can pay from their phones because the digital menu syncs with multiple payment gateways. A digital menu solves the staff shortage issue by putting the customers in the driver's seat. It simplifies the ordering process and also shortens the wait time.

Inventory management:

Inventory management is a highly significant aspect of a restaurant business, and if not managed right, it can change the whole game. Since a restaurant stocks up mostly on perishable ingredients, these must get efficiently tracked. Tracking the expiration date is crucial as ingredients close to the expiration date must get used up first; otherwise, the items will go to complete waste. If a large amount of ingredients gets wasted, it can spike up the operational cost and lead to huge losses. The restaurant owner must keep track of the products that sell fast to restock them right away when the stock runs low.

With a QR code menu app, this issue gets addressed because a digital QR code menu integrates with the POS system and helps the restaurant management keep track of the items that are selling fast. It will help them stay alert to the items that must get restocked immediately; on the other hand, it will also help keep track of the items that were stocked first, as these also need to be utilized first. The digital menu smoothly integrates with the system and helps streamline inventory management. Furthermore, some dishes can also get pushed as a digital menu can get easily updated. The digital menu offers advanced analytics allowing the restaurant management to gauge demand better and alter the menu accordingly.

Safety management:

Keeping the customers and the employees safe is a challenge the restaurants have to deal with. The implementation of hygienic practices is a necessity. Contactless digital dining is a popular trend now where customers do not have to touch a paper menu. The germ-filled paper menus are exchanged between employees and customers or even between customers thus escalating the risk of contamination. Some new regulations are also in place now that focus on minimizing contact by implementing digital measures.

A digital dine in menu offers the perfect solution to this challenge. A QR code on the digital menu gets scanned allowing customers to access the menu. They can place the order without touching any physical menu or contacting the wait staff. The bill payment goes digital too, as the customers pay from their devices. The restaurants can comply with the safety regulations and ensure the safety of the customers and employees.

Updating the menu is a challenge:

The menu at a restaurant must be updated and altered frequently to keep it interesting for the customers. Updating the menu to add or delete items or adjust the price of food items or beverages takes time and is also a costly affair. For updating the menu or announcing specials, the restaurant management must get these reprinted or use a menu board.

A digital menucan address this issue effortlessly because it can get updated multiple times throughout the day. At a restaurant, during the happy hour the price of drinks can be immediately updated to encourage customers to take advantage of the offer. A restaurant can have separate menus for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Different menus displayed at different hours can help the restaurant streamline the service and guest experience. Tempting food pairings can also get displayed to grab customer attention.

We have discussed some key aspects of the restaurant maintenance challenges here. There remain other aspects as well. The discussion above does suggest that a digital menu can assist in resolving these challenges and aid restaurant operators help deal with these issues more efficiently. Get in touch with eMenu to get your QR code menu app and be digitally savvy.