Discover how innovative brands solve the most challenging restaurant problems by moving to an Order Management System.
Tech innovation has been a double-edged sword for the restaurant industry.
Individual providers developed tools for restaurant businesses to innovate and boost efficiency. But these point solutions focus on just one part of the order management process, bolted onto an existing POS.
The result? A ‘Frankentech stack’ of integrations, which have a profound effect on business growth, operational stability and guest experience.
But by embracing a new way of managing orders, forward thinking brands like Deep Blue and HOP Vietnamese have managed to drive exponential growth in the face of these challenges. “HOP’s new model means we can hit the accelerator on growth,” explained founder Paul Hopper, stating that the brand aims to expand to 10 locations by 2024.
So what does this new way of managing orders look like?
Join us for a dive into the top challenges facing restaurant operations, and exactly how innovative brands are solving them.
The root of the problem? Your POS.
POS has long been the centre of a restaurant’s tech stack.
This made sense when guests only ordered in-person, but the world has changed – most restaurants now take orders from multiple channels including delivery aggregators.
The problem? Most restaurants have kept a traditional POS at the centre of their tech stack, bolting on point solutions in a complex web of integrations. But these systems weren’t built for today’s fast-moving multi-channel world.
It’s a hard pill to swallow, but the top challenges facing restaurant operations usually come from building a complex web of integrations around a POS.
What are the challenges facing restaurants?
1. Inconsistent guest experience
From kiosks to mobile apps, guests now expect an ordering and loyalty experience that looks and feels the same across multiple channels.
Traditional POS systems weren’t built for multi-channel ordering, so the only solution has been bolting on solutions for digital ordering and loyalty programmes. This might solve the problem of offering other channels, but this workaround makes it difficult to create a consistent guest experience.
Innovative restaurants need a way to scale across new channels while keeping their unique brand at the heart of the guest experience.
2. Kitchen chaos
Combined with digital ordering channels, third-party delivery services add another layer of complication to operations, especially back-of-house.
Tablet hell is real, and kitchen teams are living it. Trying to manage orders with a different tablet per ordering channel is an uphill battle leading to errors, delays, and a compromised guest experience.
It also contributes to a slowdown in growth: how can you accept increased orders when your operation struggles to fulfil the ones you’re already getting?
3. Time consuming menu updates
Time is a valuable resource, and with inefficient ways of working, restaurant Operators don’t have any to spare.
Productivity comes to a standstill as precious time is wasted updating menus, pricing and site information several times across multiple different systems
4. Siloed data
Making data-backed decisions for menus changes, inventory and marketing depends on easy access to reporting.
Using point solutions means that data is siloed across systems, making it hard to get an accurate, real-time view of performance. Want to understand how a particular dish is performing? You’ll need to pull data from each digital ordering provider, including third-party delivery, for each location.
Making agile, insight-backed decisions is frustrating at best, impossible at worst when your operation is dependent on a web of POS integrations.
5. Outages and technical errors
When a POS was the only channel Operators depended on, there was only one point of failure to worry about.
But when you have multiple suppliers tying together your operation, you’re only ever as strong as your weakest link. This means a tech stack with four suppliers is four times less reliable than having one.
And if the worst happens and things do go wrong? Operators often find themselves passed from contact to contact, with each provider blaming the other for issues or downtime.
The new way to manage orders, menus and data
Holding onto the POS as the centre of the universe means Operators are shackled to its limitations. You can only move and scale as quickly as the functionality your POS company provides.
But things have fundamentally changed.
Winning restaurant brands now manage their order process with a new approach.
One that moves away from complicated, time-consuming point solutions and embraces the reliability of a single order management system.
What is an order management system?
Digital ordering, POS, omnichannel loyalty, menu management and data: all handled in one system that doesn’t depend on a complicated web of integrations. By taking and fulfilling 100% of orders in one system, you’ll be able to create a consistent guest experience and boost the performance of your restaurant brand.
Want to see exactly how an order management system works? Click here. 
How does an order management system solve restaurant challenges?
1. Inconsistent guest experience: solved
With one system running all order channels, delight guests with the same journey and UI wherever they choose to order. And you can finally provide a thriving loyalty scheme that works with every channel – from kiosks and click & collect to in-person orders.
2. Kitchen chaos: solved
With orders across all digital channels, POS and third-party delivery providers coming through the same system in one flow (and one tablet), your teams can fulfil more orders with less chaos. Goodbye tablet hell!
3. Operational inefficiency: solved
Reclaim your time with centralised menu management, enabling updates to menu items, pricing and store information to be made in one system, and pushed out to all relevant channels with the press of a button.
4. Siloed data: solved
Forget having 100 tabs open to work out the performance of one dish. An order management system empowers you to access data and reporting across every channel and location from one place, enabling you to make those agile, data-backed decisions without the headache.
5. Outages and technical errors: solved
With one order management system running your entire order cycle, your operation instantly becomes stronger and more reliable. By removing multiple point solutions, Operators remove the increased chances of errors and downtime. Instead, their operations experience increased uptime, with one single point of contact and support whenever it’s needed.
Goodbye restaurant inefficiency, hello growth
Growth, efficiency and reliability are within reach for Operators, it just requires a new way of thinking.
Book in a chat with one of our restaurant tech experts to find out exactly how the Order Management System would revolutionise the way your operation takes, fulfils and manages orders.
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