MRM EXCLUSIVE: Restaurants Can Benefit by Embracing Automation

For the longest time, there has been an idea that automation would take away jobs. It has been thought that, eventually, machines would be able to do jobs better than humans. However, when it comes to restaurant work, it is difficult to envision that as a possibility. There is a craft to great food that a robot cannot replace. Nevertheless, automation can help restaurants and restaurant staff perform their job more easily and efficiently. The key is to not be afraid of what automation might take away but to instead imagine what automation can enable you to do.

Think Small for Big Changes 

The amount of time spent in restaurants doing busy work is more than any restaurant staff member wants to be doing. You’ve been there; you know how tedious it is. After prepping a whole bunch of, let’s say, tomatoes; you must label them with the date they were sliced and the date they will no longer be able to be served. It takes up much time when you think of the number of things you must label. This is particularly true in a post-pandemic world where many restaurants offer grab-and-go items or still offer carry-out. Those require labeling as well. Instead of wasting valuable working time labeling all these things, automation can do it for you. You must still place the physical label, but the rest is handled. 

When there is less time spent doing menial work, there is more time spent building relationships with diners or making amazing food. 

It All Starts at the Menu

The menu is a somehow undervalued piece of the puzzle regarding restaurants. You know the frustration if you’ve been to a place where the menus were dirty or confusing to read (or both). However, places with tidy menus generally stand apart from the others.  With the digitization of menus during the pandemic, restauranteurs can use automation to such great benefit. 

• Streamlined menu updates: Automation allows for easy and quick changes to digital menus, such as adding new items, updating prices, and modifying dietary information.
• Increased efficiency: Automation reduces manual labor and human errors associated with menu management, saving time and resources for restaurateurs.
• Enhanced customer experience: Digital menus with automation can provide dynamic and interactive experiences for customers, allowing them to easily browse, search, and customize their orders.
• Seamless synchronization: Automation enables synchronized menu updates across multiple platforms, ensuring consistency and accuracy in menu information across various channels, such as online ordering, delivery apps, and social media.
• Cost-effective solution: Automation can be a cost-effective alternative to traditional print menus, as digital menus can be easily updated and modified without costly reprints.
• Adaptability to changing circumstances: Digitized menus with automation allow restaurateurs to quickly adapt to changing circumstances, such as shifting consumer preferences, dietary requirements, or government regulations, without incurring high costs or efforts in menu updates.

Human Error is of a Past Era

There’s so much that goes into running a restaurant, but at the end of the day, you must have a solid grasp of your numbers. In the past, this meant you had to hire someone (or a team of “someone”) or do the job yourself. This could lead to quite a bit of human error. This is not just talking about running numbers on the fish special. You also have to worry about paying rent, putting orders with distributors in orders, paying your employees, and other expenses. 

Automation eliminates human error with the help of AR Automation, as it performs menial tasks with robotic precision. Reminders for rent due dates, order placements, or paycheck signings can be set. AR Automation is paving the way for the future without hindering it.