June 9, 2025
The eating places that may win buyer loyalty are people who strike the precise stability between automation and hospitality.
Automation in eating places: Enhancing service, not changing it
Eating places are investing closely in automation. In response to the Sq. Way forward for Eating places Report, 85% of restaurant leaders plan to spend money on automation inside the subsequent yr as a result of they consider it is going to improve effectivity and enhance operations. Nonetheless, clients have combined emotions. Whereas greater than 75% of restaurant leaders are optimistic about AI and automation, diners stay skeptical. They don’t need know-how to exchange human interplay.
The excellent news is that buyers and restaurant operators usually are not fully at odds with one another. Customers agree that automation has its place when it fills gaps left by staffing shortages. Practically three-quarters of shoppers (74%) say they’d wish to see automation utilized in a minimum of one space when eating places are short-staffed.
The takeaway? Clients favor educated workers over technology-driven interactions. The most effective use of automation isn’t to exchange individuals however to empower them. When performed thoughtfully, automation can improve hospitality by streamlining operations and permitting workers to deal with what they do finest — delivering a memorable eating expertise.
How eating places can use automation to enhance buyer expertise
Decreasing wait instances with out shedding the human contact
Customers respect quicker service, however they don’t need it on the expense of human interplay. The correct automation instruments may help eating places enhance effectivity whereas sustaining a heat and welcoming environment.
For instance, self-service kiosks and cellular ordering apps enable clients to position orders shortly, particularly for takeout and fast-casual eating. Nonetheless, these instruments ought to complement front-of-house workers reasonably than change them. Workers needs to be accessible to help with particular requests, dietary wants, or another buyer considerations.
Oakberry Açaí, a smoothie model with over 700 places, has launched a self-service kiosk to streamline ordering. The outcomes? Shorter traces, elevated gross sales, and happier clients. “Ordering by way of [a] kiosk means clients can construct their açaí bowl precisely to their very own tastes,” mentioned Maverick Bides, common supervisor at Oakberry Açaí in Vancouver, Canada.
“[Using the kiosk] we’ve additionally seen shorter traces, much less waste, and a rise within the common order, as a result of it’s so quick and simple for patrons so as to add on further objects, like a coconut water or an Oakbar,” Bides mentioned.
Past ordering, automation also can enhance the ready expertise. Reservation programs, comparable to OpenTable, and digital waitlist administration instruments present correct wait instances and instantaneous notifications. As a substitute of hovering anxiously on the entrance, clients can calm down understanding precisely when their desk can be prepared.
Enhancing personalization as a substitute of standardizing service
Whereas automation usually conjures photos of impersonal, robotic experiences, it could possibly really improve personalization. Automation may help eating places supply tailor-made suggestions and customised service, guaranteeing each visitor feels valued.
A technique to do that is thru order historical past monitoring built-in with loyalty packages. This may help eating places acknowledge repeat clients and recommend their favourite dishes or new menu objects based mostly on previous orders. As a substitute of asking the same old, “Have you ever dined with us earlier than?” workers can supply considerate ideas, comparable to, “Would you wish to attempt our new seasonal model of your favourite dish?”
TokyoTaco, a Sydney, Australia-based restaurant, thrives on such private connections with its clients. “Our model has at all times been closely reliant on phrase of mouth and optimistic experiences,” mentioned co-founder Jordan Hajek. “You actually need to focus on constructing that native buyer base and honing down and understanding who they’re, what they need, the place they arrive from, and the way we get to fulfill these individuals and construct connections with them.”
Automation also can help with personalised upselling. Level-of-sale (POS) programs can immediate workers with related add-ons based mostly on what a buyer orders, making the expertise really feel considerate reasonably than pushy. For enterprise homeowners keen to experiment, chatbots can deal with reservations and reply often requested questions (FAQs) immediately, guaranteeing clients obtain well timed help. Nonetheless, human help ought to at all times be accessible for extra advanced requests.
Empowering workers by way of automation
Clients usually tend to welcome automation when it permits workers to be extra environment friendly and attentive. By automating back-end duties, eating places can liberate workers to spend extra time partaking with friends.
A chief instance is kitchen show programs (KDS), which enhance workflow by decreasing errors and guaranteeing orders are ready effectively. Scaffidi’s Restaurant & Tavern transitioned from a paper-based system to a digital KDS, leading to a 57% discount in voids as a result of out-of-stock objects and a 35% lower in buyer refunds.
Scheduling software program is one other method automation helps workers. These instruments assist managers create optimized shifts, protecting the precise variety of workers on responsibility throughout peak hours.
Automation also can assist with stock administration by monitoring ingredient utilization and sending automated restocking alerts, as automation instruments did for Scaffidi’s. Eating places can keep away from stockouts and meals waste, in the end making a smoother expertise for each workers and clients.
Optimizing funds with out eradicating human help
Nobody enjoys a sluggish or difficult checkout course of. Whereas clients need quick, frictionless fee choices, they nonetheless respect the choice to get assist when wanted.
Contactless fee programs, together with cellular wallets and tap-to-pay choices, have develop into the brand new commonplace, decreasing checkout instances and making transactions extra handy. Break up-bill options simplify group eating, permitting clients to divide funds effortlessly with out counting on a server to calculate every individual’s share.
Eating places that use cellular POS programs profit from elevated effectivity and buyer satisfaction. Scaffidi’s, for instance, adopted a cellular POS, which allowed workers to spend extra time on the ground reasonably than behind a register. CEO Frankie DiCarlantonio famous that this shift led to the next repeat buyer fee. “The largest upside of [a] cellular POS has been protecting my workers on the ground extra of the time, which has led to larger buyer satisfaction.” The restaurant’s repeat buyer fee elevated to 1.9 instances, which means that nearly each new buyer dines on the restaurant a minimum of twice.
Digital receipts and automatic tipping ideas additional streamline the fee course of whereas giving clients management over their transactions. As a substitute of ready for the verify, clients can shortly evaluation their invoice and tip accordingly, making the whole eating expertise extra seamless.
Automation can really make your corporation extra private.
The eating places that may win buyer loyalty are people who strike the precise stability between automation and hospitality. Automation needs to be utilized to boost pace, comfort, and personalization whereas preserving the heat of human interplay. The aim isn’t to show eating places into faceless, tech-driven institutions, however to create a hybrid mannequin the place know-how handles repetitive duties, permitting workers to deal with delivering distinctive service. When performed proper, automation won’t change the human contact, however improve it. And eating places that acknowledge this would be the ones that hold their clients coming again, time and time once more.
This story was produced by Sq. for its publication, The Backside Line, and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
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