Restaurant Software Guy Blog

Do you own a restaurant, and find that more and more of your customers are requesting allergy friendly options? Gluten intolerance, as well as celiac disease is one of the fastest growing food allergies in the U.S. Mintel, a market research company, estimates that gluten free products will produce more than $15 billion in annual sales in 2016. Do you want a piece of that profit? In the past 4 years that I have been gluten free, I have seen a drastic increase in the availability of allergy friendly menus in my hometown of Boston, across the U.S., and abroad. It is really important to learn how to avoid cross contamination in your kitchen if you want to attract these patrons to your business.

The best thing about growing up in New England is the amazing seafood that is right off the coast. You have Lobsters in Maine, Mussels from PEI and all the amazing local seafood right off of Cape Cod. The problem for restauranteurs is there is so much COMPETITION.

One of the main factors in running your restaurant is ongoing expenses and utilities. When your restaurant has the lights on for 18 hours per day energy is definitely a cause for concern. Many restauranteurs even tend to close one or more days a week in order to manage their costs.

How do you find the right peaople to advise you on the financials of your business? That is one of the most difficult things when opening a restaurant. There are many restaurant consultants for payroll and accounting in Boston but, you need one that will go above and beyond to connect you to the right people.

There are many factors to consider when trying to select a delivery service for your restaurant. You do not want the pain of hiring and managing a delivery driver as an employee but, you do like the idea of growing your sales outside of your brick and mortar location.

Tons of people decide they want to jump into the restaurant industry without really knowing what they are getting themselves into. Everyone seems to think that that being your own boss and making your own hours is the dream.

Running a succesful small business is no easy task. It is both an art and a science that it is difficult to describe but, when you see it you know it. Statistics show that 80% of new businesses fail with 2 years. Why? The #1 reason is that the owner usually runs out of cash. In the restaurant industry you need to drive sales and loyalty as fast as possible. Because there is such a huge upfront investment to open most small businesses you need to work your way to the break even point and start making profits. This is no easy task.

1.  Mobility – Consumers are on the move and accessing information about brands from traditional sources like stores and the Web, but also on laptops and tablets, sometimes from within physical locations. Keeping track of the use of multiple, even simultaneous interactions, are impossible without a platform that listens and knows the customers voice over any channel. The same goes for outbound engagement—brands need to instantly discern a customer’s preferences, the channel for communication, and the context for each moment of engagement. Consumers are on their smartphones all day long and if you want to launch a loyalty program you need to be where their eyeballs are. Mobile is so important, a lot of SMB owners oftern ask, how do I drive more foot traffic to my business and it starts here. Often your first relationship with your customer is what they see on their smartphone. If you do not have a mobile optimized website and/or a poor online reputation the likelyhood of shoppers to buy from you decreases dramatically.

2.  Big Data – The amount, variety, and speed with which data moves in today’s marketplace are growing rapidly; but so have the tools and techniques to keep track of what’s happening. Some of that data is in systems of records as transactions and stock, and some is on the move, like geolocation. Brands require a platform that can keep track of historical information, inventory and sell-through, and what’s happening now in the customer’s ambient environment. This amount of data creates analytical treasure troves that can be used to better position offers, test and learn, and increase revenue and loyalty.

Whether you want to increase the profitability of a single restaurant
or coordinate the operations of an entire chain, a point-of-sale (POS)
application can help you meet your goals… if you select the tools best
suited to your circumstances.
Frankly, there are a bewildering variety of options available. And many
competing providers make similar claims. To help restaurateurs make
wise choices, TrashTech has tapped its 5+ years of industry
experience to create a POS guideline. With these ten key points in mind,
you’ll be able to look beyond the product menu to see an applications real ingredients and satisfy your hunger for true performance.

1. Set your business objectives

Since the beginning of trade, humans have had issues with exchanging products and services. We started with barter and from there it grew to trading neccessities for luxuries. Gold for food is a perfect example of this. With the establishment of currency in the form of paper cash, for the first time humans now had a common level of value. After cash came checks and from their came credit cards.