It’s almost 2022 and it would be the understatement of the year to say that tech is an integral part of running a successful restaurant these days. Having the right tech can mean quicker service which means quicker turnaround, which means more business for your restaurant and more tips for your staff.  Whether you know tech or not, it can be very overwhelming to restauranteurs who are looking for the best versions of what’s available. Here’s a breakdown of some of the best tech you can gift your restaurant this holiday season.

Touchscreen Point of Sale
Digital cash registers are all the rage these days and with so many people using their phones and cards to tap and pay for pretty much everything, it’s now more common than ever to see touchscreen POS systems in every kind of customer-facing business. It will make integrating your inventor a breeze as well as make the final interaction with your customers that much more pleasurable. When you’re doing your research, make sure to look for POS systems that focus specifically on restaurants and offer cloud-based connections to the rest of your setup.
Suggestions: Square, Lightspeed, Epos Now

Self-ordering tablets or kiosks
Utilizing self-service ordering (POS) can increase ticket size and customer satisfaction. This doesn’t have to replace servers, in fact, NRA research shows that 64% of restaurant patrons would rather sit in a section that offers traditional table service. The idea is to use it to help the servers give your customers a better experience. Self-serving tablets let diners order food when they want but let them still enjoy a personal touch that a server can offer when bringing out their food or asking how things are going. Nothing will replace the personalized experience you get from a server, but offering a quick ordering option just makes sense.

Display screens for your kitchen (Digital Kitchen Boards)
Also known as digital kitchen boards, this new tech will defiantly make your restaurant feel like it’s in the future, but will also make things way easier and more streamlined. No more pens and papers and ticket stubs falling on the ground and getting lost behind the fridge. By adopting this new kind of tech you can save the back-of-house operators and kitchen staff tons of time and miscommunication. These digital kitchen boards are usually linked directly with your restaurant’s POS systems which make for a seamless transition from customer order to the kitchen, no jar of pens needed.
Suggestions: Toast, Applova, SplitAbility

Online Reservations
Long gone are the days of big books with people’s names and numbers written in them. Tech has made making and fulfilling reservations super easy with tons of platforms doing it in various ways. There are a lot of options out there so make sure you spend some time and decide what’s right for your restaurant. You can choose from direct or third-party platforms.

Direct platforms are much more comprehensive and let you control and own the diner’s experience. These platforms connect directly to your setup and offer much more flexibility as to how your restaurant’s brand is represented and what you can accomplish beyond the reservation itself. They are usually very robust and can integrate notes, as well as requests and, are automatically linked to a diners profile which you can create and keep track of for future visits.

Third-party platforms like Opentable and Resy offer a quicker and easier setup that focuses on the booking experience and makes it really easy for your diner to make a reservation with almost no hassle. You lose the ability to curate your own booking experience but you gain a giant user base and leave the heavy lifting to someone else, while you focus on more important tasks. You can also connect your third-party reservation platform directly to Sirved so that when a customer finds your restaurant via Sirved, they can make reservations right from your Sirved restaurant page. Claim your restaurant here OR login to the Sirved portal to learn more.

Air purification technology
These days restaurants should all be thinking about better ventilation and offering their guests the comfort and peace of mind that comes with a really good, and extremely effective air purification system.  Whether that means installing something that connects with your current HVAC system or using individual air purification units spread throughout the restaurant, it’s a must-have in 2022. You can use air purification as a talking point to engage with your customers and to let them know that safety for everyone comes first. It could also even be used as a sales tool to attract more customers because you’re basically telling them “Hey it’s safe over here.” Many good air purification systems are operated through wifi and have apps that help you to monitor air quality levels and automatically ramp up purification when it needs to be more effective and ramp down when it needs to be more efficient.
Suggestions: AiroDoctor air filtration system, Alen BreatheSmart 75i Air Purifier, Rabbit Air BioGS 2.0 Air Purifier, IQAir HealthPro Air Purifier

(QR codes) Contactless Menus
QR codes come in all shapes and sizes. They can be used for a myriad of applications across many industries but the restaurant industry does it the best. QR codes for contactless menus have become a staple in the restaurant industry because of their ease of use and the fact that customers don’t have to wait for their server to look at the menu. It also brings a certain peace of mind by not making customers have to share or all touch the same menus throughout the restaurant. Make it contactless if you can, it’s the future, and it’s available for free as a part of the Sirveds digital menu management tools. Claim your restaurant here OR login to the Sirved portal to learn more.