The restaurant business is one of the oldest in history. But centuries of serving up food and creating a gathering space for community isn’t an excuse to remain in the dark ages. Restaurant owners must be willing to adjust with the times, whether it’s incorporating social media marketing or focusing on food trends for the new generation.
Recently, for the legacy group including buffet-style restaurants, like Golden Corral, staying relevant has meant an overhaul of both back-of-house and front-of-house technology. According to Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN), “Golden Corral senior vice president and chief information officer, Dawn Gillis, said that after the pandemic ‘almost killed’ the buffet industry, the company’s executives had to take a long, hard look at what was working and what wasn’t.” Gillis explained that technology was one of their weakest links. “The front of house technology was about 15 years old, and the back of house technology is about 25 years old and didn’t exist anymore except for Microsoft.”
For a legacy restaurant, this is a large undertaking, not only because overhauling a system takes time and patience, but because it requires buy-in from so many stakeholder groups: staff, franchisees, customers. “The key is education. It’s about, ‘how do we make your life easier’,”says Sherif Mityas, CEO of Brix Holdings, which includes Friendly’s.
NRN spells out the major components of a technology overhaul—and why they’re crucial.
Educate everyone
When communicating about a technology change, it’s important to consider each of your stakeholders. Golden Corral had to train back-of-house employees and front-of-house employees on a new system. Marketing and management teams had to be brought up-to-speed on what would change for staff, operations, branding. Then customers must be taught how they might engage in a new way, whether ordering through an app or scanning to pay at the end of a meal. “Utilizing technology to make that guest experience better is something young and old alike have started to adopt,” says Mityas, proving that everyone can adapt with the right instruction and care.
Consider brand size
When it comes to a major operations shift in a legacy group, owners cannot lose sight of the full picture. A change at one location should indicate changes at another location, which requires buy-in from franchisees, as well as a communication structure that translates to all locations and employees. This requires big-picture thinking and patience as all locations can adopt the new systems. “We very much believe in agility and a quick go to market strategy. We don’t want to lose that, but we also need to be able to make sure we’re building out our technology stack to be able to support thousands of restaurants as we grow,” Mike Repetti, chief digital and technology officer with The Habit Burger & Grill, told NRN.
Remember the benefits of technology and its changes
The best way to keep everyone on the same page: remember the benefit on the other side of the changeover. Remind employees of the ease of an updated system, cheerfully communicate to customers how streamlined their service will be. And for the business as a whole, up-to-date technology and customer service it offers means better business and more business in the long run. For example, Captain D’s reports growth after implementing a new loyalty app including first-party and third-party delivery. “Our digital sales have taken off,” says CMO Bindi Menon. “Now, you know your customer better than you ever did before.”
Richard Weil, owner and principal of National Restaurant Consultants notes, “Technology trends continue to move ahead at warp speed year after year. Two key components, as mentioned above, relate to staff and guests—they are guides for operators considering implementing technology modifications. Clearly, technology resources and improvements will continue to evolve, and operators will most certainly need to keep an open mind now and for the future.”