How Mobile Applications Can Enable an Unmatched Customer Experience for Restaurants

The restaurant industry in UAE is booming like never before. The question is, how can restaurant owners make their business stand out? Having your customers coming back isn’t just about serving great food, it is also about delivering an awesome experience & great service.  

A great service delivery calls for efficient restaurant operations both online & offline. The traditional means of catering your customers with paper tickets and dry erase boards can cause bottlenecks for your food business in terms of working at its full capacity.

In order to make the most out of your restaurant, modernizing with technology is a surefire way to augment efficiency and enhance the customer experience.

From order placement to delivery & feedback, mobile technology has become an integral part of how restaurants operate. Technologists are constantly coming up with new digital solutions to make day-to-day running of a restaurant easier, faster and more profitable. This technology revolution has transformed our once imagined solutions into foodservice necessities, entirely transmuting the restaurant business.

Related:- Marketing & Technology Solutions for Restaurants

If you are absolutely new to the restaurant technology and are clueless about where to start, then this post is just for you.

So, to help you out, we’ve compiled a list of the most commonly used restaurant technologies, what they do and how they can benefit your restaurant. 

Below are the 5 technologies that should be in every restaurant’s menu.

1. Food Pre-Ordering

Pre-ordering food is one of the most trending technologies for restaurants right now as it allows your customers to order ahead of time to avoid waiting at restaurants for their turn. Food businesses can simply have their custom mobile application developed to do the job.

Moreover, online food pre-ordering means less hassle for restaurant owners in terms of time wasted on telephone calls & convincing customers as well as reading out menus over & over again.  Pre-ordering also helps restaurants increase their table turnover and deliver a better experience as it will allow them to make necessary arrangements accordingly. Customers like to be treated special and a mobile app with pre-ordering functionality can definitely be the way forward in this regard.

A simple click and capiche, your customer is sorted.

2. Table Booking & Reservations

For dine-in settings, a mobile application developed specifically for this purpose will help restaurants in terms of booking tables. Rather than having to wait for their meal to arrive, they’ll simply reach at the specified time to enjoy quality time. Apart from just adding convenience for your customer, the table booking & reservation technology will help restaurant owners manage the flow of their customers.

They can also partner up with companies to add more value to their customers when it comes to offering exciting discounts. Utilizing this amazing technology, restaurants will always have their tables filled & expect to receive more customers.   

Things don’t end here, allowing you to keep a record of the customer’s previous orders, it can help restaurants define their menu strategy as per preference thus opening avenues for maintaining a lasting relationship.

3. Mobile Payments

As the world is becoming more connected, people are least concerned about carrying cash. Allowing customers to go ahead and pay in advance, means growth for the business in terms of mature sales.

The mobile payment technology will positively impact the way how restaurants settle their bills. By integrating this technology into their current system, restaurant owners can focus more on providing better service rather than worrying about running cheques and handling credit cards during busy hours.

It is also a proven way to attract millennials to your restaurant. Millennials are highly obsessed with their smart devices and they are often the early adopters of new technologies. For these folks, dining has already become mobile.

4. Delivery

The restaurant delivery domain is getting more and more crowded; you’ll rarely find a restaurant that does not provide delivery service. By integrating food delivery services, restaurants have the advantage of not having to hire additional employees to handle delivery logistics thus they’ll have savings in the long run.

Millennials are the driving force behind this delivery trend and restaurants are enhancing their ability to deliver food right at the customer’s office or home. As everyone has the least time to spend, they’ll just pull out their mobile phones and they have their meals delivered right where they want.

While most of the restaurants rely on food delivery services but it is advised to have your own mobile application developed to maintain your brand equity and assistance in marketing activities. Moreover, business owners won’t have to give out customer information to other parties which may eventually result in loss of customers.

5. Review/Recommendations/Feedback

Instead of having your customers talk to lazy phone operators, restaurant owners can simply get a section designed for it. To make the process more interactive, Chatbots can also be deployed to carry out all the repetitive work like taking reviews, recommendations and even asking for feedback.

Every review given on your website adds to the credibility of your business and it helps to improve search performance and exposure thus letting “word of mouth” taking care of your marketing initiatives. 

The Restaurant Industry is Spicing up with Technology 

Competition in the restaurant industry is growing and it is important for business owners to excite their customers with new technologies & innovations. Employing the latest mobile technologies will help restaurants deliver a better dining experience to their current customers while encouraging new ones.

Without a doubt, tech-savvy diners expect elegant solutions that work, so, integrating technology that makes customers satisfied will turn the tables faster.

Apart from quality food, technology is the key ingredient for success in today’s food service industry. Giving restaurants the much-needed edge over the competition, the cost of deploying these mobile technologies is a worthwhile investment in their business.

With consumers wanting to see their daily use technology integrated into their dining experience, the consumer-facing technologies are more likely becoming a necessity of modern day restaurants. 

To check out how BCM can help you transform your restaurant business digitally, refer to our technology services page today.