When it comes to operating a restaurant, consistency is one of the biggest challenges an owner will face, but also one of the most critical elements of success.  Restaurants can produce hundreds of dishes a day and serve hundreds of customers a day, but one simple mistake such as a bad customer interaction or a poorly cooked dish can significantly impact your business, especially in our modern age where customer reviews on Yelp, for example, can instantly tarnish a restaurant’s reputation. That said, limiting as much variability as possible in your restaurant’s operations is an absolute must.

One of the best ways to promote consistency is by establishing internal systems. This means defining and enforcing a specific routine or protocol for each of your restaurant’s main functions.

Common examples of restaurant functions that require well-designed systems include:

• Recipe Controls
• Menu Engineering / Costing
• Inventory Controls
• Daily Preparations
• Line Checks / Preshift Meetings
• Manager Opening / Closing
• Cashier / Server Checkout
• Labor Scheduling
• Employee Selection
• Disciplinary Action
• Weekly Prime Cost Reporting
• Monthly P&L Reporting
• Marketing Plans

For many of these functions, adopting certain technologies will dictate how your systems work. In addition, since the best systems to deploy and for which restaurant functions will vary depending on your restaurant concept and business model, it is generally best to confirm whether successful competitors are also using the same systems.

Certain technology will influence what internal systems are put in place and how they interact with other restaurant functions. However, with so many technologies already available and constantly being made, which technologies are most useful when first launching your restaurant?

With a limited budget, you have to carefully consider how each technology would impact your operations and whether the benefit of using it outweighs the associated costs.

As such, below are some of the most relevant restaurant technologies categorized by their general level of necessity:

Tier 1 (absolutely necessary)

• Point of Sale (POS) System
• Accounting Software
• Inventory Management Software
• Social Media / Information Platforms

Tier 2 (necessary depending on restaurant concept)

• Table / Reservation Management Software
• Employee Management Software
• Delivery Service Applications
• Kitchen Display Screen (KDS) Technology

Tier 3 (beneficial depending on restaurant concept and budget)

• Tableside Ordering Kiosks
• Mobile Ordering Applications
• Digital Customer Loyalty Programs / Coupons
• Customer Engagement Technologies
• Electronic Games “While-You-Wait”