Restaurant technology is changing rapidly. Going digital end to end will be crucial to streamlining operations and ensuring business success. We'll cover bookings, menus, mobile ordering and nailing delivery, as well as EPoS systems, customer and in-restaurant communications, customer experience and data & analytics.

1. 66| September 2019 | restaurant| bighospitality.co.uk
Words/Fiona GriffithsWords/Fiona Griffiths
Restaurant’s annual analysis of the
restaurant technology landscape
contains insight from the biggest
in the business
Restaurant’s annual analysis of the
Push the
button
E
mbracing the latest restaurant
technology has become
increasingly crucial to business
success, and especially so for those
looking to scale up. But restaurant
tech moves forward at such a pace, it can be
hard to keep up with it all.
With this in mind, our annual technology
report features insight from the people behind
the companies that play a big role in driving the
industry forward. Read on to find out what’s
new and what’s on the horizon to help you run
your business better.
EPoS systems
Fast-food operators like McDonald’s have
embraced the self-service kiosk model of
customer ordering, but this is a principle
that’s set to be adopted increasingly by
non-QSR restaurant venues, predicts EPoS
provider Tevalis.
“There’s definitely room for self-service to
evolve further to ensure other types of business
in hospitality can reap the benefits too, but in a
way that doesn’t have an effect on the
operational style of the venue,” says Tevalis
marketing manager Samantha Weller. “Digital
The benefits a
digital menu
provide over a
hard copy are
incomparable

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TECHNOLOGY REPORT
THE INSIDER
Tim Chapman
sales director, Zonal
What three bits of advice would you
give to someone looking to purchase
an EPoS system?
Do your homework. Research the
marketplace to find a provider that
specialises in the hospitality sector, with a
strong track record, and which offers quality
training and ongoing customer support that
cater for your business hours, not just 9-5
but around the clock. Secondly, think about
integration and connectivity. Investing in
EPoS that seamlessly integrates with other
technology platforms and applications is
key to success. Finally, seek out flexibility.
Make sure your EPoS has the capability to
adapt and grow with your business, so you
don’t need to change it when you change.
What are likely to be the key trends in
EPoS over the next few years?
When it comes to EPoS, the future is not so
much about new features but more about
the opportunity presented by connected
technology, so operators deliver an
omni-channel consumer experience that
reaches beyond the bricks-and-mortar
restaurant. As both operators and
consumers switch to digital for bookings
and to order and pay for food and drink,
the opportunity presented by integrated
technology and the data footprint it leaves
will give brands more customer insight
than ever before. The opportunity to
target customers with personalised offers
and communications will become ever
more sophisticated.
What does Zonal have coming up?
Hospitality technology trends are
significantly influenced by emerging
consumer trends. At Zonal, we develop
technology for the future firmly based on
these evolving trends as consumers are,
after all, the end customers. We believe
technology should help our hospitality
customers enhance the customer
experience and build deeper, more
insightful engagements with consumers. In
the future, this will only become more
sophisticated and complex, with the likes of
chatbots, voice search and other
technologies offering more omnichannel
touchpoints, giving hospitality businesses
more scope for building that deeper
relationship with their end customer.
0800 131 3400
zonal.co.uk
eMenus are a great example of how this can be
achieved and it’s a platform that we’ll definitely
begin to see an emergence of within the next
three years.
“The benefits a digital menu provides over a
hard copy menu really are incomparable. Not
only is menu management seamless, where new
products and even new special menus can be
added from the cloud, but head office can apply
those updates and changes across the entire
estate or selected sites at any time, from
anywhere and in advance, which really is
efficiency at its best.”
EPoS provider Oracle believes mobile
ordering and payments through apps will
continue to be a major growth area, so an EPoS
system that can integrate with the third party
services is critical.
“We’re seeing an increase in mobile
technology like branded apps helping
restaurants offer a convenient, on-demand guest
experience, at the same time as helping to
reduce labour costs,” says Oracle vice president
Tim Brown.
“Meanwhile, guest-facing apps and
partnerships with third-party delivery providers

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TECHNOLOGY REPORT
THE INSIDER
Paul Berryman
sales and partnerships manager,
pointOne
What three bits of advice would you
give to someone looking to purchase
an EPoS system?
There are a number of EPoS solutions on the
market, however a hybrid system, which
utilises both onsite and cloud-based
enterprise software, will allow for the most
stable solution in today’s market. Secondly,
ensure your EPoS has an open API that can
integrate seamlessly with third-party
software. Finally, find an EPoS operator that
has proven enterprise tools in addition to
the core EPoS. For example, having an
effective kitchen management system can
be a huge time-saving element between
your front and back of house.
What are likely to be the key trends in
EPoS over the next few years?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) will doubtless play
a large role in future EPoS tech development
as it is already being used in everyday life
through chatbots on websites to voice
activated search. These AI-driven
technologies will be fully integrated into
EPoS platforms to create significant levels of
automation and personalisation such as
intuitive offers. Mobile PoS and kiosks will
continue to be a strong area of growth for
the hospitality sector – particularly for the
food-to-go, QSR and casual dining markets
where flexibility and speed of delivery is key.
What does pointOne have coming up?
We are constantly innovating our enterprise
tools – a recent example of this is an
expansion of hardware solutions for kitchen
management. As well as our interactive
touchscreen solution, we now offer
pointOne Kitchen Management using a
bump bar device, which ensures that no
matter what your kitchen space, pointOne
will have the right solution. We are also
improving the link between our stock
control solution and kitchen management,
giving complete control over manufactured
ingredients and/or batched items. In future,
we can see the potential of AI in forecasting
and prediction, with its ability to augment
and enrich pointOne data with social
listening and economic and environmental
statistics. From an automation standpoint,
we see this working particularly well in the
bar sector with one step on from our current
order kiosk to a self-vend kiosk where
customers can pay and serve themselves.
0345 862 0005
pointone-epos.co.uk
like Uber Eats and Deliveroo provide an
easy ordering experience and fast
payments, while promoting
loyalty and driving repeat
business.”
James Slatter, managing
director at restaurant
tech company Agilysys,
also believes that mobile
technology is
transforming every
aspect of restaurant
operations and making
processes slicker and easier
for both the customer and the
business user.
“Some of the most exciting
developments in EPoS of late include the use of
mobile wallets rather than cash or traditional
credit card transactions; and tablet and
smartphone-based guest ordering that uses
geolocation-based technology to identify where
to deliver the guest’s order,” he says.
“The prevalence of smartphones has
empowered consumers to control their
ordering experiences with the online
accessibility of order placement and payments
– which also increases revenue opportunities for
those businesses.”
New generation ‘smart terminals’ that have
the capability to do many other things apart
from card processing are also contributing to
this smoother customer experience, according
to Regina Lau, chief strategy officer at payment
solutions company Retail Merchant
Services (RMS).
“Similar to smartphones,
smart and portable PoS
terminals can offer app
functions packed into one
touchscreen device,
through the
manufacturer’s own app
market and with the
option to integrate other
software or build new
applications for the
terminals,” she says.
Examples include offers
displayed on the terminal screen
and customer loyalty apps that drive
repeat custom, she adds.
“Some of these functions are enabled through
the terminal hardware features, like an inbuilt
camera for barcode or QR code scanning, or a
receipt printer. Smart PoS terminals can also
be integrated with a PoS system to run the
business more efficiently. For example, Epos
Now has lots of data stored in it so that it can
help with things such as inventory management,
payroll and accounting.”
That said, the most important features for an
EPoS system in 2019 and in the future have to be
connectivity and security, according to Lau.
“First, the device must function reliably through
either Wi-Fi, GPRS (4G, 3G) and Bluetooth
connections, so you may take payments inside
at the bar via Wi-Fi, then go outside to take
Intelligence gathering: AI looks
likely to shake up EPoS
McDonald’s
is already
investing heavily
in artificial
intelligence

4. nationalrestaurantawards.co.uk | restaurant| September 2019 | 71
TECHNOLOGY REPORT
payment at a table, and even if Wi-Fi drops out,
GPRS will connect automatically.
“Second, with customer data breaches
becoming more frequent, the terminal should
be fully EMV-approved and PCI 5.0-certified to
offer the highest possible level of security and
added peace of mind to businesses and
customers alike.
“Smart terminals really are the new standard
in card payments for improving customer
experience, and they can open restaurants up to
exciting, new commerce opportunities.”
Artificial intelligence (AI) is another thing set
to be the next big technological shift in
restaurant EPoS systems, driven by tech
advances by Amazon and Google, as Paul
Berryman of pointOne explains.
“AI, automation and robotics are here and it
won’t be long before it becomes the natural
computer language to run our EPoS platforms
for higher levels of intelligent data reporting.
Large-scale operators such as McDonald’s are
already investing heavily in artificial intelligence
because of its future potential.
“The rise of self-serve kiosks and CRM are
where this AI capability can really drive both
customer experience and operational efficiency.
For example, the consumer increasingly uses
voice in the form of Amazon’s Alexa, Google
Home and online search – and very soon voice
ordering will no doubt be seen in self-serve
kiosks in-store.”
Tevalis has already introduced ordering via
Alexa for Hospitality at Village Hotels, which the
company sees as just the start of a whole new
phenomenon that has the potential to shake up
hospitality tech.
“We’ve deployed voice-activated ordering
through Alexa for Hospitality into Village Hotels
across a selection of their rooms and Alexa
seamlessly integrates with the Tevalis PoS and
provides FoH with increased efficiency and
accuracy,” says Weller.
“It’s also a great piece of technology for
customers as it provides them with an
immersive, memorable experience.”
Social services: diners can now
make bookings via Instagram
Booking
restaurants
through social
media channels is
increasingly
becoming the
new norm
THE INSIDER
Eloise Sheppard
managing director, Call Systems Technology
What should people consider when
choosing staff communication systems?
Operators looking to deliver a more reliable
and efficient service should consider
integrated paging and voice communications.
These solutions have evolved to allow
integrated messaging to work seamlessly
across both front and back-of-house, creating
an all-round smoother experience. The system
enables faster communication, allowing
restaurants with outside space in particular to
open up hidden areas that might previously
have been written off as ‘too difficult to serve
efficiently’. Broadening the space in this way
enables operators to achieve maximum
capacity and increase profitability. Pagers
allow chefs to announce when food is ready,
transmitting a discreet signal to the pager of a
front-of-house team member. Not only does a
pager eliminate the need for teams to be
running back and forth to the pass, it also
reduces raised voices, creating a relaxed
eating environment.
What can restaurants do to speed
up service?
With 76% of UK adults revealing that a positive
mobile technology allow customers to join an
invisible queue, giving them the freedom to
wait where they wish until their table is ready.
In these instances, a good dining experience
can be created before a customer is even
seated. Customers are simply handed a pager
on arrival, which will alert them when their
table becomes free.
What new technology is likely to shake
up in-restaurant communication over
the next few years?
There has been plenty of discussion this year
about progression in restaurant technology.
What with facial recognition integrated into
EPoS in the fast-casual setting, tech that
remembers personal preferences and robots
on the front-of-house team – it could all
sound rather futuristic but we’re seeing
increasing enthusiasm for this kind of
advancement because it really does make
operators’ lives easier, while enhancing
the consumer experience. Take allergy-based
ordering, too. This has become a much
more nuanced field for operators and
regulation is ramping up the pressure to keep
nutritional information.
020 8381 1338
call-systems.com
customer experience is more important to them
than the actual offering itself, hunger for
‘memorable tech’, such as WaiterCall buttons, is
at an all-time high. These call buttons can be
placed almost anywhere across the restaurant
to allow customers to effortlessly call for
service, literally at the touch of a button, and
the request can be routed to any member of
the front-of-house team. Our research has
revealed that one in three customers would use
a call button if one was available. Waiter pagers
allow operators to create harmony and
efficiency across front and back-of-house.
Through direct communication, orders are
delivered quicker, tables turned faster, and
overall operations improved.
What key advice would you give
restaurants looking to better manage
their queues?
Peak times can put a strain on restaurant
operations for staff and detract from the
all-important customer experience. Long and
disorderly queues at busy weekends inevitably
impact the occasion, which is sometimes
reflected in online reviews, snowballing the
negative effect. Wait-lists using paging or

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TECHNOLOGY REPORT
Bookings
While voice activated technology is
predicted to transform the way
consumers order their food
and drink, it’s also expected
to be used increasingly to
book venues too.
Pierpaolo Zollo, VP
business development at
restaurant bookings
provider Quandoo, says:
“At Quandoo, we believe
that 50% of all searches
will be voice searches by
2020 – the voice revolution is
officially upon us and this will
include booking a table and even
ordering food.
“We were the first restaurant booking
platform to develop an AI-driven chatbot,
allowing the entire process of making a
restaurant booking possible through
‘chatting’ with an AI on Facebook Messenger,
and are currently working on further
technology to continue to connect the
restaurant industry with artificial intelligence
through voice.”
ResDiary is also now offering restaurant
bookings through Facebook Messenger, as
co-CEO Colin Winning explains.
“ResDiary has just integrated with Feebi, a
Facebook chatbot that automatically answers
questions and takes bookings through
Messenger,” he says. “It’s something our users
are excited about as, in a time of mounting
costs, it takes some time pressures
away from staff, allowing them
to spend time with the
people who are actually in
their venue.”
Certainly, booking
restaurants through social
media channels is
increasingly becoming
the new norm, which has
prompted Quandoo and
rival bookings provider
OpenTable to join forces and
combine some of their
restaurant inventories.
The partnership will bring
Quandoo’s offering to 23,000 restaurants
worldwide, while OpenTable’s restaurant
partners will increase to 56,000
restaurants. OpenTable VP Adrian Valeriano
says that while there are numerous ways to
book restaurants now, including through
Google and Instagram, booking sites such as
OpenTable still offer a better user experience.
“Information is out there everywhere,
whether it’s Google or Apple, but our verified
reviews, images and menus make that
experience unique,” he says.
At the same time, OpenTable recognises the
appeal for diners of booking a table via
Instagram, so has integrated with the social
networking service to allow customers to book
within the app.
Pressing issue: technology is
helping to manage no shows THE INSIDER
Colin Winning
co-CEO, ResDiary
How can in-restaurant tech help
operators navigate the current
climate?
Running a hospitality business is tough
right now. Rising food and labour costs
mean businesses need technology to help
save money and increase efficiencies, while
still improving quality and service. This
year, ResDiary has announced 11 new
integrated systems, more than ever before,
helping operators link their electronic point
of sale and property management systems,
and automatically pull data to third parties.
The right in-restaurant technology lets
staff spend less time on admin and more
with customers, which is important
because diners now expect better service
than they did in the past.
What are the key things to look for
when choosing restaurant
technology partners?
Many reservation systems have similar
sets of features, so picking the right one
can be hard. But operators need to look
closely at costs. Paying commission for
new customers is fine, however, the ability
to control how many bookings are paid,
where they’re coming from and when
they’re taken is vital. That’s why we
continually review how we operate;
introducing commission-free partnerships
with Google, adding useful tech partners,
and improving channel management
features to give operators control over
third-party platforms. Effective restaurant
booking systems must add value, while
allowing for clear budgeting.
What restaurant technology trends
will 2020 bring?
We believe 2020 will bring a greater focus
on attracting and keeping new customers.
With Google gaining reservations space
traction, this could really affect diner
venue discovery. It’s why we see loyalty
programs becoming a focus; as venues
attract new diners they must encourage
return visits with mobile systems that
provide ever-important data. This feeds
back into using connected systems, where
information on guests is accessible at
every touchpoint, giving them the best
experience possible.
0207 871 7491
sales.resdiary.com
50% of all
restaurant
searches will be
voice searches
by 2020

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TECHNOLOGY REPORT
“We are seeing the way diners make
their decisions about where to eat
changing, with peer-to-peer
recommendations becoming
more and more important,
and photography having a
greater impact on how
diners discover where to
dine,” explains
Valeriano.
“OpenTable’s
Instagram integration
helps restaurants be where
diners are making their
decisions and enables them to
make a reservation for that
restaurant direct from their
Instagram profile.”
ResDiary’s integration with Reserve with
Google has also proven successful for its
restaurant clients. “Consumers are increasingly
demanding connectivity. Making bookings from
their favourite sites and platforms is becoming
more important. When we launched a
partnership with Google on their Reserve with
Google platform, we processed 83,000 bookings
within the first month,” says Winning.
ResDiary has also started investigating the
benefits of machine learning, particularly in
relation to reducing no-shows.
“In early trials, our tech predicted with a 77%
degree of accuracy whether reservations would
turn up, based on factors like length of time
before the booking and the reservation date, the
party size, the predicted weather and
more,” adds Winning. “As this
technology is implemented into
every diary and increased
data improves the machine
learning capabilities, the
possibilities for helping
venues are endless.”
Staying on the sticky
subject of no-shows,
using a sophisticated
bookings system is
certainly one tool in the
battle against this age-old
problem, as Zonal marketing
technologies commercial director
David Charlton explains.
“Although no-shows are something that
operators live with, they can be managed thanks
to technology,” he says. “Having an integrated
online booking system, such as Zonal’s liveRES,
allows operators to send automated reminders
to guests prior to them visiting the restaurant.”
With liveRes, cancellations are fed into the
diary and the table is released immediately on
the website and other integrated booking
channels. This allows it to be easily reserved
again, helping restaurants limit the damage that
no-shows can bring.
“With technology comes data and armed with
reliable past data a good manager should be
able to predict no-shows and over-adjust
capacity slightly, to improve the odds of getting
a full house.”
Backorder: Kitchen management
tech has come a long way
THE INSIDER
Danilo Mangano
general manager Europe,
SevenRooms
What are the key trends in the
reservation space?
Today, we are seeing operators focus on the
discovery and booking experience for their
guests. Hospitality starts before a guest
enters a restaurant, so a strong digital
presence is more important than ever before.
Google, TripAdvisor and social networks like
Facebook and Instagram are now the biggest
booking channels for restaurants, and this
trend is growing. Restaurateurs are also
realising the impact of guest data, and now
understand that it’s crucial to start building a
relationship with the guest during booking to
help collect personal data. When a restaurant
owns guest data, the opportunities to
personalise the guest experience are
unlocked, helping differentiate restaurants
from their ever-growing competition.
What advice would you give
restaurants looking to reduce
no-shows?
We advise all of our clients to publicly display
their no-show policies during the reservation
flow, and to require a credit card number at
the time of booking, so the restaurant can
charge no-show and cancellation fees as
necessary. SevenRooms client LDV
Hospitality, creator of Sette at the Bulgari
Hotel London, was able to reduce its no-show
rate to 0.01% at its Gurney’s Beach Club
location in Montauk, New York, after
implementing a policy with the right tool in
place to securely store credit card info and
charge a fee when a guest no-showed.
Tell us about any changes in the way
restaurants take reservations?
Restaurants have had to meet consumers’
needs by making sure the ability to ‘reserve
now’ is everywhere their guests are
searching for reservations. Consumers live
on their mobile devices and demand
convenience, so the ability to book directly
from Google, the restaurant’s website, or a
review site is critical. For these reasons, we
see phone reservations continue to decrease.
Another shift we are seeing in the industry is
a focus on creating repeat diners, instead of
focusing exclusively on attracting first-time
diners. Restaurants are leveraging the
goldmine of existing guests in their database
and finding ways to get them to come back.
sevenrooms.com
Tech is
going to be
crucial to
streamlining
operations as
restaurants
face Brexit

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TECHNOLOGY REPORT
Front-of-house
technology
Mobile devices for ordering
and payments have brought
the biggest transformation
to front-of-house
operations and this is
only set to grow further.
“The rise of the
food-to-go market has
meant that QSR and casual
dining operators are often
juggling a growing delivery
and in-house business,” says
pointOne’s Berryman.
“They need their EPoS systems to
provide a quick and sleek front of house service,
utilising tableside and online ordering, but still
include all the back of house functionality. This
often means they need a multi-use mobile PoS
like the swing tablet that hosts your complete
EPoS system and can either be docked and
locked in position on the countertop, or
detached in roaming mode to become a
portable ordering device. While in this mode it
can still control ticket and kitchen printers, cash
drawers, payment terminals, scanners and
communicate with kitchen screens.”
Minimising wait times is vital for a good
customer experience, so utilising a table
management solution like that provided by QSR
Automations is likely to increasingly become
standard practice.
“Front-of-house technology is just as
Allergic reaction: tech is helping
restaurants deal with dietaries
The
Government is
already making
moves to tighten
up food safety
important to operational excellence
as back of house and operators
should be exploring table
management platforms,
such as QSR Automations’
DineTime solutions,”
says QSR’s Ashley
Sheppard. “Not only do
these manage all guest
activity as soon as they
arrive in the restaurant,
they are also integrated to
partner platforms like
OpenTable, Google and Yelp.
This gives the operators the best of
both worlds, a solution designed
specifically to manage in-store operations
while at the same time sharing reservation and
waitlist capacity with the world.”
Meanwhile, pay-at-table specialist LOKE
predicts that front-of-house technology will be
used more and more by restaurants as a way of
cutting labour costs.
“It’s no secret that labour costs have long
been the most expensive component of the
hospitality industry and this is now coupled
with uncertainty around potential staff
shortages caused by Brexit,” says CEO Matthew
Khoury. “Technology is going to be crucial to
streamlining operations as restaurants weather
the Brexit storm.
“What we’ll see is more and more operators
turning tech to their advantage – for example
removing team members from the bar or table
THE INSIDER
James Humble
sales and marketing director,
Tevalis
What advice would you give someone
looking to purchase an EPoS system?
It’s critical for operators to remember that
what they need from their technology
system at the present moment will not be the
same as what they need in five years’ time
due to how fast-paced the hospitality
industry is, alongside how technologically
diverse consumers are becoming. We consult
with a large number of operators who’ve
bought into an off-the-shelf PoS platform that
was fit for purpose to begin with. However,
further down the line, it can’t adapt to their
growing requirements and impacts the
business negatively due to its limitations,
which is when another technology purchase
needs to be made. To avoid this and to
source a technology suite that provides
the business with maximum value for the
long term, we always advise to look for three
key things: a system which can innovate,
adapt and integrate.
What are likely to be the key trends in
EPoS over the next few years?
Voice-activated ordering, such as Alexa for
Hospitality, is often a topic of conversation
when it comes to what the future of
technology holds, and I think it is one to keep
an eye out for. We’ve deployed it into Village
Hotels across a selection of their rooms and
while Alexa seamlessly integrates with the
Tevalis PoSS and provides FOH with
increased efficiency and accuracy, it’s also
a great piece of technology for customers as
it provides them with an immersive,
memorable experience. On the flip side,
taking a look into back-office technology, we
understand that operators often have very
hectic schedules and that’s why efficiency is
so important to them operationally.
Therefore, it’s one core factor that remains at
the forefront of our development. This
includes TevStock, our latest mobile
application platform, which provides teams
with key features from the Stock
Management module, but accessed from a
smartphone instead. Additionally, the
barcode scanning feature returns results of
stock level differences between expected
and the actual count, which is a huge
time-saver in itself. All of which is integrated
seamlessly with the core Enterprise Stock
tool for complete transparency.
0330 002 1555
tevalis.com

8. TECHNOLOGY REPORT
nationalrestaurantawards.co.uk | restaurant| September 2019 | 79
service to be replaced with order
screens, and putting the power of
payments directly into the
hands of customers through
their phones.”
Back-of-house
technology
Kitchen management
systems have come a long
way in recent years but the
biggest focus for
development in 2019 has been
in the provision of allergen
information.
“The introduction of Natasha’s Law will
require all food businesses to clearly label the
full ingredients of pre-packaged food and is
likely to herald additional legislation for
restaurants and takeaways which are already
required to provide information on 14 everyday
allergens,” says Robert Clarke, EPoS business
development director of Access Hospitality.
Rather than waiting and worrying about
allergens any longer, Access has developed an
omni-channel process which provides a
seamless experience for the customer.
“Access Procure Wizard is a purchase-to-pay
solution which mandates suppliers to keep vital
ingredient and allergen information up-to-date
and is now fully integrated with workflows all
the way down to Access EPoS system. This pulls
all the relevant data through to tills, tablets,
kiosks and integrated ordering apps so
that live and accurate information
is always available.”
PointOne has also
enhanced its kitchen
management solution to
aid restaurants in
addressing customers’
dietary needs.
“Now more than ever,
managing dietary needs is
a critical part of restaurant
management. Our Kitchen
Management solution provides
a safety net for these issues by
highlighting and controlling dishes
that are served with special requirements such
as allergens or gluten-free. This reduces the
stress on staff as they know exactly what is
going out at any time,” says pointOne’s
Berryman.
Erudus is an online platform specifically
launched to provide the foodservice industry
with instant access to food product data.
Whether viewing on the Erudus platform or via
an online ordering app, restaurant staff can see
accurate data on more than 60,000 food
products that has been uploaded directly by
manufacturers.
“There are estimated to be two million people
in the UK with a food allergy and this number
continues to increase. In addition, there have
recently been high-profile cases of food
allergy-related deaths and the Government is
Tapping into a new market: EPoS
can make offering food for
delivery less of a strain
The right
EPoS system
will be a
powerful tool to
aid you in
nailing
delivery
THE INSIDER
Kevin O’Keefe
CEO, Retail Merchant Services (RMS)
Why should restaurants pay attention
to analytics?
Whether it’s social media analytics, a
restaurant’s top summer sales items or to
stay on top of the latest food trends,
analytics reveal insights about a company’s
customers’ preferences, helps it identify
potential opportunities to streamline
operations or maximise profitability, and
learn what customers are saying about its
service and brand. For example, if a
restaurant has just introduced a new menu,
being able to look at the online comments
and reviews at different points in time can
give the business a great sense of what its
customers like about it – and also things that
it might need to improve.
How can data be used to drive
profitability?
Businesses have a dearth of data these days,
but organising and analysing the data helps
businesses understand their areas of
success, and more importantly, the whys
and the hows. Knowing how quickly a
top-selling beverage will need to be
restocked helps businesses plan inventory
before it runs out and cause customer
disappointment. Similarly, understanding
the latest food and beverage trends can help
a restaurant tailor its selection to its
customers preferences. Even planning for
upcoming weather patterns may make the
restaurant the go-to place in the
neighbourhood. All these different types of
data can be very useful for a restaurant
business in these competitive times.
What does RMS do?
We provide retail, mobile, and e-commerce
payment processing solutions to merchants
in the UK and Ireland. We’re on a mission to
make independent business owners lives
easier and we know that, to do this, we need
to give businesses the products, tools and
services that help them be in control and
succeed in their own terms. For restaurants,
part of this success means offering a
seamless service to guests, from the
moment they book a table, to experiencing
the food and finally settling the bill in the
most convenient way for them, whether by
contactless, chip or swipe card, so they
become repeat customers and promoters.
01908 359190
retailmerchantservices.co.uk

9. TECHNOLOGY REPORT
nationalrestaurantawards.co.uk | restaurant| September 2019 | 81
THE INSIDER
Anthony Gaskell
managing director EMEA,
Reputation.com
Why is it important that restaurants
keep track of their online reputation?
In today’s digital-first world, you need to
look as good as possible online at all times.
The restaurant industry as a whole was one
of the pioneers of the online reputation
management industry, and understands
the prominent role online reviews play in
getting tables booked. However, online
reputation is so much more than just
reviews. You need to look as good as
possible across everywhere a person can
find your restaurant online, whether that’s
social media, Google or dedicated review
sites. It’s essential, too, to ensure your
business listings information is correct, so
people can reach you.
What tools can they use?
As you grow, it becomes unrealistic to
manage this information and engage with
your community without the right
software. Remember, a single restaurant’s
online presence can spread across Google
My Business, Google Maps, Apple Maps,
Facebook, Twitter, TripAdvisor and many
more, so it can become time-consuming
trying to stay on top of everything when
you’re a multi-location brand. Reputation.
com is a single platform which gives a
holistic overview of everywhere you need
to stay on top of, something which can
prove invaluable at a head office level
within restaurant groups that have multiple
sites across the country. Additionally,
Reputation.com’s Reputation Score
provides a real-time numerical
representation of your entire online
reputation at a glance, so you know what
areas you can work to improve on.
What does Reputation.com have
coming up?
Reputation.com’s platform is updated
regularly to ensure we stay at the forefront
of trends. We are the only company in the
world with access to both Google’s private
API and a Google Seller Ratings partner, so
our platform is a leader of innovation
within the industry. In terms of specific
updates, we’re rolling out Q&As with
Google and are updating our Surveys
Solution to reflect the trend towards
conversational surveys.
0800 066 4781
reputation.com
already making moves to tighten up food
safety,” says Jon Shayler, chief operating
officer at Erudus.
“Viewing accurate data in
order to advise consumers
correctly is vital, and
technology provides
instant access at the
touch of a button.”
Back-of-house tech
isn’t just about making
sure a restaurant kitchen
runs like a well-oiled
machine – these days it can
also help out chefs who are a
bit stuck for menu ideas too.
Launched into the UK last year,
Gastronomixs is a website and app
designed to help chefs create more interesting
dishes. “Chefs constantly need to develop new
dishes and it’s not surprising they’re out of
inspiration every now and then, and that they
don’t have time to experiment in the kitchen as
much as they would like,” says co-founder Inge
Meijs. “Gastronomixs offers thousands of
tried-and-tested components – or recipes – chefs
can use to create an endless amount of dishes. It
saves time, trial-and-error costs and is a
brainstorm partner that’s there for you 24/7.”
Delivery
Latest figures from The NPD Group show that
delivery orders grew 20 times faster than for the
overall foodservice industry in the two years
leading up to February 2018 – and this trend
shows no sign of slowing down.
More and more delivery orders
are shifting from over the phone
to online and in-app, ordering
food is simpler and faster
for consumers than ever
before.
“In what, for many
restaurant operators, is
an otherwise challenging
environment, delivery
offers a huge opportunity
to access a broader
customer base and increase
order volumes,” says Andrew
Kenny, UK managing director at
Just Eat.
Jerome Laredo, VP of EMEA at Lightspeed,
warns that while adding a delivery arm to a
business can be hugely successful, choosing the
right technology solution is vital.
“Offering delivery opens up an extra revenue
stream and expands a brand’s impact beyond
your physical locations,” he says.
“Of course, the delivery has to be good – a bad
delivery experience can tank any goodwill a
business might have built up with that customer.
Research firm McKinsey found that 60% of
consumers consider short wait times a critical
factor in a good delivery experience: a business
has about an hour to get them hot, fresh food
and make a good impression.
“The right EPoS system will be a powerful
Reading the room: in-restaurant communication
systems can have a big benefit on ops
Internal
communications
and greater
autonomy lead to
stronger team
morale

10. TECHNOLOGY REPORT
nationalrestaurantawards.co.uk | restaurant| September 2019 | 83
tool to aid you in nailing delivery. It should
integrate into popular delivery service sites and
give an easy way to track your incoming orders.”
Philipp Laqué, managing director of Revenue
Management Solutions (RMS), points to the US
where Olo, a US-based delivery specialist, has
come up with a solution to the common issue of
multiple tablets sitting on restaurant counters
receiving orders from various third-party
delivery channels.
“A team member has to manually enter orders
from different tablets into the EPoS to ensure
every order is captured and accounted for. So
Olo introduced ‘Rails’, a platform which
removed this resource-heavy process for teams
by streamlining all third-party orders with a
two-way synchronisation between third-party
sites and the restaurant to process all orders
into one format – no more tablet hell! Might
something similar hit the UK soon?” he asks.
In-restaurant communications
With restaurant staff typically separated by
roles, shifts, and locations, one of the main
challenges for restaurant managers is
communicating effectively with their teams. But
these days there is a technological solution and
the bonus is it’s helping staff retention rates.
Beekeeper is an internal communications app
that gives workers access to the operational
tools they need, including direct messaging, shift
schedules, and important documents such as
health and safety guidelines – all on their mobile
Mobile future: analytical information
can now be accessed on the go
We can
now gather
immediate
insight into the
minute details of
the customer
experience
device. “We’ve found that transparent internal
communications and greater employee
autonomy leads to stronger team morale, which
contributes to higher retention rates,” says
Beekeeper CEO Cristian Grossmann.
“Our technology also improves the guest
experience because staff are better informed
and prepared during their shift.”
Pager systems are also an effective way of
improving communication between restaurant
staff and are likely to grow in popularity.
“It’s no secret that improving front and
back-of-house interaction is crucial to providing
uninterrupted service,” says Eloise Sheppard,
managing director of pager provider Call
Systems Technology. “Waiter paging lets the chef
alert the front-of-house team as soon as an order
is ready. This creates a more relaxing
environment and cuts down the number of
journeys between the floor and kitchen pass to
check on current status. Waiting staff are then
free to check back at tables, upsell drinks and
respond to service requests, improving the
all-important customer experience.”
Analytics and feedback
Analysing your business’s performance – in
every area – has been simplified by the
development of tech such as Fourth’s Analytics
platform. The platform integrates with more
than 20 different companies, whose data is
aggregated into easily digestible information on
the Fourth Analytics dashboard.

11. TECHNOLOGY REPORT
nationalrestaurantawards.co.uk | restaurant| September 2019 | 85
THE INSIDER
Ashley Sheppard
vice president of sales, QSR Automations
What are the key benefits of kitchen
automation?
Data, data, data! The main challenge for
operators as they grow/expand their business is
operational consistency. How do they offer the
same high-quality service/food offer in
Manchester as they do in London? The answer is
to underpin their operation with technology that
gives their back of house teams the ability to
perform their roles within operational guidelines
while at the same time giving the senior team
insight into how each site is performing.
Solutions, such as ConnectSmart Kitchen, is able
to inform the kitchen what to cook and when to
cook it, supported by graphical food specs. This
is key to delivering operational consistency and,
in turn, delivering on guest expectations,
whether food is being prepared for instore or
delivery. With over 65 EPoS interfaces
worldwide, we are seen as the gold standard for
kitchen automation in the hospitality industry
and the go-to providers for back-of-house
technology innovation and trends.
What should restaurants consider when
choosing a kitchen automation system?
Any operator that does not underpin its
with delivery aggregators/providers will be
seen as the go-to system of choice. Nobody
has more insight into how a kitchen is
performing at any given moment, so it really
is vital this information is shared with the
delivery provider and, just as importantly, the
consumer, so food is not only prepared to
spec but also delivered in the quickest time,
delivering on guest expectations.
What does QSR have coming up?
Kitchen automation has come a long way in
23 years and our solutions have adapted
continually to operator and consumer trends.
The biggest driver now in our business is
integrations with solution providers that are
supporting the continual off-premise/delivery
or ‘to-go’ revolution in our casual dining, fast
casual and quick service industries. QSR has
long been seen as the gold standard or
solution of choice for instore operations,
however operators both here and in the US
are waking up to the fact that the instore
kitchen and operational data we provide is a
vital ingredient when managing/preparing
your business for delivery growth. It’s all
about the data now.
0855 980 7328
qsrautomations.com
business with technology is running a
significant risk of failing to deliver on its vision
and the expectations of its shareholders/
investors. Competition is the fiercest it’s ever
been, with guest expectations higher than ever
before, without taking into consideration the
ever-increasing consumer demand for delivery.
A kitchen automation solution that offers
integration with industry-leading EPoS solutions
is key in making that choice. This allows
operators to choose best-of-breed solutions
designed to be flexible as their business grows
and adapt to consumer/guest trends in an
ever-changing market place. In addition, choose
solutions that can provide you with granular
data so you can measure the guest journey,
giving you the opportunity to monitor team
performance in back of house.
How has delivery changed kitchen
automation?
Delivery has had a huge impact on our industry
and continues to challenge operators as to how
best to cope with the ever-increasing demand,
as well as minimising the impact on in-store
operations. As a result, leading kitchen
automation solutions that are able to share data
Booking in: digital reservation
systems can help reduce the
number of no-shows
The right
software can
reduce the man
hours needed to
manage your
reputation
“A great example of this is our integration
with Prestige Purchasing and CGA’s Foodservice
Price Tracker. We have integrated the data from
the tracker into our customers’ procurement
dashboards, so they can see whether they are
paying the industry rate for specific products, or
paying over the odds,” Mike Shipley, analytics
and insight solutions director at Fourth.
“This is incredibly powerful information and
the platform also allows operators to view the
potential savings they could make if they
switched to the average industry price, allowing
them to quickly and efficiently cut out cost.”
Analysing customer feedback is another
crucial task for restaurant operators, especially
with consumers continually posting comments
and reviews on social media.
Thankfully, online reputation management
platforms such as Reputation.com and Feed It
Back can be highly effective in making sure you
know what your customers are saying about
your restaurant.
“The influence of a good reputation, from
positive reviews to community management on
social media, is definitely part of a restaurant’s
priorities and many are already seeing the
benefits of this form of marketing,” says Anthony
Gaskell, managing director, EMEA, at
Reputation.com.
“The right software drastically reduces the
level of man hours you need to properly manage
your online reputation, regardless of the size of
your business.”
“Feed It Back tracks all outlets for customer
feedback, including Facebook and TripAdvisor,
and aggregates everything into one easy-to-use
platform that allows operators to efficiently deal
with feedback they otherwise wouldn’t have
heard, reward employees for excellent service,
and turn negative experiences into positives,”
says co-founder Carlo Platia.
“Thanks to technological advances, operators
can now gather immediate insight into the
minute details of the customer experience
across their estate, to inform and guide their
business decisions.”