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Restaurant management system. How to automate your business?

Restaurant Management System. Benefits and Business Value

October 15, 2019
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5 min read

Spreadsheets are no longer the best restaurant management system. If you are still trying to keep track of reservations, stock inventory, and employee schedule using good-old Excel, you are missing out.

Out-of-the-box and custom restaurant automation solutions offer a plethora of business benefits. I'll take you through them, explain essential features, and share a couple of trade secrets you need to know to select the right solution for your business.

Restaurant management system business benefits

End-to-end restaurant automation software can incorporate dozens of features from accounting and tax reports to loyalty programs. To make sense of capabilities and benefits, let's consider internal and customer-facing business processes in turn.

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Back of the House Benefits

Restaurant management involves dozens of mundane tasks that could benefit from software automation. Everything from tax reports to employee scheduling can be achieved using a reliable management system. However, you need to be sure the solution's features meet your needs and can increase efficiency and reduce expenses, instead of going the other way around. Keep an eye for features to help you

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Front of the house benefits

Customer relationship management in the food industry is a must. After all, gaining new customers costs six times more than keeping current clients. I'm sure you've heard of the top CRM software for restaurants, such as Toast, TouchBistro Restaurant, Upserve, and others. Let's go over what these ready-made software solutions can do for your customer-facing processes.

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Restaurant management system alternatives

Besides the restaurant management software examples I've mentioned, you should consider two other alternatives.

First, you can go with an all-purpose retail solution, such as Epos Now, LS Retail, or Cash Register Express. They come with multiple built-in features your restaurant might need, including stock inventory, CRM, and retail accounting. However, they are not tailored to the food industry and might lack critical solutions.

Your second alternative is to run a software engineering project on a restaurant management system. It might require a significant upfront investment, but you will get the solution that fits your needs to a T. Moreover, you can count on reliable technical support in case you run into any trouble and ongoing development for your growing business needs.

Look out for essential restaurant management system features

I hope I've made a case for the benefits of CRM in the restaurant business, and end-to-end automation systems offer even more possibilities for growth. However, the deeper your restaurant management system penetrates your business, the bigger repercussions its failures might cause. I've analyzed the most prominent risks your company can run into and come up with a list of features to prevent or mitigate them. For maximum security and highest returns, look for

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Takeaway

As a part of the FreshCode software development team, I've helped dozens of companies streamline their business processes and increase revenue. I know for sure restaurant management systems have vast potential, and if you ever decide to take your business to the next level, I'd like you to remember these four things:

  • Back of the house solutions offer increased efficiency and reduced expenses by streamlining employee scheduling, accounting and tax reporting, inventory management, and sales tracking.
  • Front of the house solutions breed customer loyalty and increase revenue through online reservation and order system or a loyalty program.
  • You can start a restaurant management system project or opt for an all-purpose retail solution if you can't find the food industry software that meets your needs.
  • You need to think restaurant automation through and ensure the solution you choose comes with proper security features, scaling and integration capabilities, as well as an offline mode.

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