Post on 30-Mar-2015
Chapter 13 Technology in the Restaurant Industry
• Technology in the Restaurant Industry
• Back-of-the-House Technology
• Front-of-the-House Technology
• Guest Services & Websites
Technology in the Restaurant Industry
• Technology has come a long way from the mom-and-pop operators & their proverbial cigar box!
• Independent operators may not require—or be able to afford—the sophistication of technology that chain operators are using.
• It is hard to overlook the progress in making technology available & affordable for independent restaurants.
Back-of-the-House Technology• Back-of-the-house, or back-office,
restaurant technology consists of:– Product management systems for
purchasing
– Managing inventories
– Menu management
– Controlling labor & other costs
– Tip reporting
– Food & beverage cost percentages
– Human resources
– Financial reporting
Back-of-the-House Technology• Purchasing: Product management
tracks products through each inventory cycle & automatically reorders when the item falls below par stock. – The ingredients for the cost of recipes are
calculated for total cost & selling prices.
• Inventory Control: Systems aid inventory control by quickly recording inventory & easily allowing new stock to be added.
Back-of-the-House Technology• Food Costing:
– When calculating the food & beverage cost percentage, a hand-held device (PDA) can enter the inventory amounts into the system.
– Laser bar code scanning is speeding up the inventory-taking process & making it more accurate.• When the data is entered into the system,
a variance report is generated & any significant variances are investigated.
Back-of-the-House Technology
• Food Costing:
– ChefTec & ChefTec Plus software solutions integrate programs with recipe/menu costing, inventory control & nutritional analysis capabilities.
Menu Management• MenuLink: Evaluates managers’
produce purchasing, compares actual to expected food usage, tests proposed recipes & pricing changes.
• The menu management function is used to determine what offers work best, so that coupon building may be directed toward those items.
• Includes an Automated Raw Material Transfer: When one store needs to borrow material from another store, a transfer is generated.
Labor Management Systems• Interfaces back & front-of-the-
house working hours & human resources information.
• Handles human resources information.
• Includes module to monitor applications, recruitment, personnel information, I-9 status, tax status, availability, vacation information, benefit information, handles scheduling based on the forecasted volume of business for each meal period.– Examples: Windows-based labor
schedulers & TimePro.
Financial Reporting
• Front-of-the-house & back-of- the-house systems may interface by transferring data to & from the central server. – This makes it easier for
management to monitor service times, POS food costs, labor costs & guest counts.
E-learning
• Computer based training delivered via internet or proprietary.
• The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation has several online courses (Example: ServSafe Food Safety Training Program).
Front-of-the-House Technology
• Revolves around the POS System.– Point of Sale System.
• Human Factors Engineering (HFE) focuses on:
• Store performance.
• User interface design.
Selection of POS Systems
• Aloha: Full range of restaurant products including Table Service & Virtual Order Processing.
• ASI: Popular Restaurant Manager POS & Write-On Handheld.
Selection POS Systems
• IBM: Linux servers & Sure POS 700 series.
• Sharp: UP-5900 system combined with Maitre’D.
• NCR: 7454 POS Workstation- MS DOS & Windows certified.
• Micros: Eclipse PC Workstation.
Selection of POS Systems
• POS systems have come down in price. • They offer the independent restaurateur the
convenience of providing information for financials that obviates the need for cash registers & spreadsheets.
• The cost of installing a POS system will depend on the number of stations required. – A 125-seat casual dining restaurant could use two or
three stations in the dining area, one in the bar & printers in the kitchen, plus a managers’ station.
– The total cost would be in the $18,000 to $20,000 range.
Guest Services & Web Sites• Restaurant technology has
evolved to the point where a restaurant can store & recall guests’ preferences for tables, menu items, wines, & servers.
• Additional advances include:– Internet Booking– Guest Checks- Splitting &
Suggested Tip Amounts– High Speed Internet Access– User Friendly Web Sites– Wireless Surveys
The End
Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.