Tundra Specialties 888.594.4183 1888.594.4183

The Front Burner Presents

Technology Is Changing The Restaurant Industry

2 Tundra Specialties 888.594.4183

Take yourself back to 2005

for a minute. For most of

us that doesn’t really seem

like a long time ago, and

yet so much has changed

for the food service indus-

try since then. In 2005,

Facebook was barely a

year old and known only

to college students. The invention of Twitter was still a

year away and three years would pass before the first

Groupon coupon was ever issued.

In six years technology has altered the landscape in

which restaurants operate, and the reach of these ad-

vances goes far beyond the internet.

A good example is the way the iPad has begun to take

over menus and profoundly change how they interact

with customers. Touch screen and wireless technology

makes ordering food an interactive experience that

engages customers like never before. Early adopting

restaurants have reported a 20% increase in sales af-

ter converting things like wine lists to iPads. Sometimes,

technology can be the best salesman in your restaurant.

Certainly the iPad and the internet are only the begin-

nings of the new frontiers technology will open for res-

taurants. In this issue of The Front Burner we discuss some

of the most important and cutting edge advancements

that have a direct impact on the food service industry.

That said, three core principles remain the same: quality

food, excellent service, and an attractive concept set

in a comfortable atmosphere determine whether restau-

rants succeed or fail. The advent of all this technology

merely allows restaurants to accomplish these funda-

mental goals more efficiently, with better effectiveness,

and in a more stylish manner than previously thought

possible.

Keep those basic ideas in mind as you explore the new

frontiers of technology.

Michael Lewis Tundra Pioneer

Tundra Specialties 888.594.4183 3

Technology Is Changing The Restaurant Industry

Technology is like the California Gold Rush: everyone’s moving fast

and trying to get a piece of the action. And while technological

nuggets like Google and the iPad have changed how millions of

businesses operate, the food service industry has largely been left

behind.

Finding ways to tame the technological frontier for the benefit of

restaurants was a major topic of discussion last year at the annual

National Restaurant Association show in Chicago, and though res-

taurants have been slow to adopt new technology, many restaura-

teurs are now realizing just how much they stand to benefit.

Venturing out into the great Tech Territory can be daunting – every

new service and gadget requires significant investment and a quick

learning curve. But for the gunslinging restaurateur who is willing to

bring that technology to bear there are riches and fame there for

the taking.

Okay, “riches and fame” might be a tall tale – but the benefits of

leveraging the advantages of technology can be very real for any

restaurant, and those who don’t keep up stand to be left behind.

1.2.3.4.5.6.

A BRAVE NEw FRoNT oF ThE houSE

ThE SERVER’S FAVoRITE SIx-ShooTER

GIVE YouR MENu A GoldEN SPIKE

ThE INTERNET dEAlS A ShoRT hANd

ANd CAN AlSo GIVE You A Full houSE

CoMPuTERS ARE lIKE A Good MulE

"We just thought it was the right thing to do, both for our business

and for our customers"

On the cutting edge Of fOOd safety

4

If the kitchen is the Wyatt Earp of a restaurant – ready to deal with every order thrown their way with cool determination - then the front of the house is the OK Corral – the place where that daily showdown with customer’s expectations is decided in the blink of an eye.

Because the dining area is so critical, many restaurateurs have in-vested in technology here first, with the goal of simultaneously im-pressing and serving customers more effectively, and maybe get-ting a little publicity to boot.

Put John Wayne On The FlatscreenTVs have slowly been creeping further and

further into every restaurant’s atmosphere for

years now. It started with a small black and

white television in one corner of the bar so

guys could watch the game. Now many bars

have several HD flat screens showing multi-

ple games and news channels at once, and

even dining areas have started to keep a TV

or two positioned in strategic corners so cus-

tomers can keep up on sports and informa-

tion.

As digital media permeates our lives more

and more, a new era has dawned in how

televisions can be used in the food service

industry. Those screens don’t have to be just

for sports and talking heads anymore. That’s

because the technology has advanced to

the point where restaurateurs can engage

customers in new ways, and because that

technology is now widely available, custom-

ers themselves welcome and even expect to

be engaged with digital media.

Consider three ways to leverage the digital phenomenon in your restaurant:

Advertise yourself and your specials. well

placed digital media in your restaurant can

become a great vehicle driving sales. Not

only can you promote daily specials and

high margin menu items, you can drive brand

awareness with digital media campaigns.

And because your medium is a flatscreen

TV, it’s easy to change specials and rotate

brand messaging often at almost no addi-

tional expense.

That means you can experiment with mul-

tiple advertisements and specials until you

find the ones that work best. You can also

offer many more promotions without having

to worry about changing menus, which give

you the freedom to find new ways to attract

customers.

Become interactive. Because it’s so easy to

load new content onto digital media, res-

taurants have a lot of leeway with trying new

items and promotions. however, the only

way to find out if these new promotions are

working is through customer feedback.

Interactive touch screen monitors can col-

lect information from customers quickly and

in a way that engages and entertains the

customer. Interactive digital media can even

collect orders from customers and give them

a direct line of communication to manage-

ment.

Entertain while customers wait. digital media

can also entertain customers while they wait

for food or service. Studies have shown that

customers who are entertained while they

are waiting for service are much more forgiv-

ing about their wait times.

TVs have been used for decades to enter-

tain customers in restaurants and bars. digi-

tal media takes this concept to a new level

by allowing you to insert advertisements and

branded messages about your specific loca-

tion into more general entertainment.

This means you can not only advertise but

intermingle that advertising with entertain-

ment, which makes your advertising much

more effective.

No doubt, investing in a digital media system

for your restaurant can mean a hefty ex-

pense up front. But if you leverage this tech-

nology properly, you can see very real boosts

in sales, brand awareness, and customer sat-

isfaction.

That’s No Barkeep Some trailblazers way out on the edge of the

tech frontier have brought back some pretty

exotic goods to the food service industry. A

good example are robot servers and cooks,

who have been taking on a larger role in

Asian restaurants from Singapore to Beijing.

The dalu Robot Restaurant in Jinan, China

takes its robots very seriously. The restau-

rant made headlines when it introduced six

mechanized waitresses last year. Resembling

golden mannequins, the robot servers follow

a fixed track and serve tables in order before

returning to the kitchen to have their carts re-

loaded by human staff.

Plans are already in the works to roll out a

more sophisticated 2.0 version capable of re-

filling drink glasses and even washing dishes.

on a more practical note, restaurants in Sin-

gapore have employed robotic technology

to make food preparation faster and more

efficient. An automated fryer, robotic noodle

boiler and rice dispenser allow the human

Here are 4 ways to rope technology into changing the dining experience:

5

staff to focus on other tasks. Singapore has a short-

age of workers, so the increased productivity pro-

vided by automating simple prep chores more than

justifies the steep cost of investment.

The novelty of being served by a robot would prob-

ably wear off pretty quickly in the u.S., where good

customer service is expected. The day when robots

can handle complicated tasks like dealing with an

irate diner unhappy with how their food is prepared

are probably still a long ways off.

using robotic technology to handle simple, repetitive

tasks in the kitchen, on the other hand, is something

that can be incorporated into food service much

more quickly and easily.

Making Menus Your Ace-in-the-holeEvery restaurateur worth his salt knows a good menu

is the best way to get customers hitched to your wag-

on. They’re already in the door, seated, and hungry.

Now it’s up to the menu and a well trained staff to

close the sale.

The importance of the menu is precisely why some

tech savvy restaurateurs were among the first to see

the potential of the iPad after it was released last

year. Already, some restaurants have explored the

possibilities of replacing menus with iPads, turning a

laundry list of entrees into an interactive experience

for guests.

These iPad menus feature entire albums of pictures

spotlighting each entrée from many angles, the in-

gredients before they go in, and even video of the

dish being prepared. And after a guest has explored

all of this digital eye candy to their heart’s content,

they can even order directly from their iPad menu

with a simple touch of the screen.

For now the cost of the iPad makes it a

pretty expensive menu, but the time is not

very far off where a handheld device simi-

lar to today’s iPad could be affordable

enough to make it a very compelling op-

tion for restaurants. like most technology,

high-end establishments will probably be

the first adopters, followed by the rest of

the industry as price points fall.

An interactive digital menu has many intriguing ef-

fects on the operation of a restaurant, effectively

digitizing the marketing of entrees and automating

the ordering process. This could free servers to focus

on achieving top-notch customer service for every

guest – and make the experience in your restaurant truly unique.

Saloon of the FutureIf you think iPad menus are newfangled then the Inamo restaurant in

london’s Soho district is really going to whet your whistle. Inamo has

left the old-fashioned iPad menu in the dust. The front of this house

reckons like a futuristic vision: the tables are actually huge touch

screen monitors illuminated by an overhead projector.

The ordering system took some pretty heavy duty programming to

create. That’s because all computers are designed to have only one

mouse pointer. unfortunately, solo diners are a relatively rare thing,

and since people want to select and order at the same time, one

mouse pointer didn’t cut it.

So Inamo developed a system that has multiple pointers. Tables are

“activated” as soon as guests are seated. A light touch of the finger

is all it takes to flip through menu items and place their order. Drinks

and food are served by a real person, but everything else, including

payment, is handled by the touchscreen. Add an ultra modern inte-

rior design and cool images splashed on the walls by more projec-

tors, and this little restaurant makes the act of ordering food a fun,

futuristic experience.

ThE MENu IS ThE MOST

IMpOrTAnT PIECE oF

AdVERTISING A RESTAuRANT PoSSESSES.

An Interactive Table at Inamo restaurant, London

Just as surely as an unshod horse will go lame, un-attended customers will leave your restaurant angry. luckily the frontiers of technology have advanced to the point where servers and PoS systems can truly become one.A case study released by Motorola last year showed how one pioneer in San

Francisco’s Bay Area benefitted from complete integration of person and POS

machine. Sam’s Chowder house, a high volume seafood restaurant that seats

about 280 people achieved a return on investment on the hand-held devices in

one month. That’s because check averages went up and table turnover times

and labor costs went down.

with this system, servers no longer have to write down orders and then re-enter

them into the PoS system. Instead, they enter orders directly into the handheld

device. This allows servers to focus on customer service and sales, which explains

the check averages and improved table turnover times.

Labor savings were realized by Sam’s because more efficient servers means less

front of house staff could serve the same amount of people in the restaurant.

That makes the servers happy because they get more tables and therefore more

tips. Staff turnover rates have plummeted since the introduction of the handheld

ordering devices as a result. Finally, these devices can also process credit cards,

allowing servers to run customer checks while standing tableside, further improv-

ing turnover times and customer service.

The handheld ordering device is obviously the future in restaurant technology,

but for now the cost of the system is still prohibitive for most operations. Yes, Sam’s

realized an RoI in one month, but Sam’s also does A loT of business ($6 million in

annual sales). The benefits listed above are admittedly direct from Motorola, who

has an interest in hyping the good points, but they also make good logical busi-

ness sense. Just imagine if your servers never had to leave their tables. of course

sales and table turnover times are going to improve.

If you’re a smaller operator, wait for the day when these devices are much more

affordable. It’s just like any new technology (hd TV, cell phones, iPads): they’re

always extremely expensive at first and then eventually become affordable to

the masses.

STOrE LOCATIOn:Sam's Chowder Househalf Moon Bay, CA

Applications: wireless infrastructure and mobile computers used by servers to take customer orders.

wirelessly send orders to the bar and kitchen

Swipe credit cards tableside

Motorola products:wS2000 wireless switchesAP300 access portsMC50 enterprise digital assistants (EdA)MSR5000-00R magnetic strip readers

Benefits: • Achieved RoI in one month• Increased sales 30%• Turned tables 10 to 15 minutes faster• Increased per-person average $4• Improved employee retention & productivity• Reduced front-of-house labor by 12%

when the transcontinental rail-

road was completed in 1869, a

golden spike was used to secure

the final piece of track. Overnight

communication and travel be-

tween East and west became much,

much faster. The coast-to-coast rail-

road of our day is teleconferencing

– the ability to communicate visually

and verbally with someone else far

away in real time.

until recently teleconferencing was

largely unavailable to the pub-

lic. Marriott hotels has begun to

change that with state-of-the-art

teleconferencing suites in select

locations across the country. The

investment started to make a lot of

sense when the recession hit last year and

businesses started looking for ways to slash

travel budgets.

This isn’t choppy video on a laptop screen

backed by lagging audio either. Three large

screens display the people on the other side

in life size, and the connection speed is fast

enough to eliminate any lag between au-

dio and visual. Already businesses looking

to save on airfare have booked these suites

despite the steep price ($500 an hour).

WHAT’S In IT fOr rESTAurAnTS? well, if a hotel can generate stays with tel-

econferencing, then a restaurant can cer-

tainly sell some meals to the same crowd.

Morton’s Steak house is on the cutting edge

of this trend, with teleconferencing capabili-

ties in dozens of its locations across the u.S.

of course, like most new technology, the

cost to implement teleconferencing is be-

yond the budget of most restaurants. But

over time, those costs will come down, and

more and more restaurateurs will be able to

take advantage of teleconferencing as an-

other service they can offer customers.

Even so, the market for expensive, quality tel-

econferencing between high powered busi-

ness people isn’t exactly a large, untapped

resource for most restaurants. on the other

hand, people are connecting online now

more than ever, and giving them a venue to

do so while providing a great meal may be

a trend to watch in the future.

As communicating with other people re-

motely becomes even more ingrained in our

culture than it already is, communal meet-

ing points like restaurants will become a

more and more popular venue for remote

communications. we’re not quite there yet,

but the restaurateur who makes their restau-

rant technology friendly is going to succeed

in the new era of communication.

These sites operate by getting large discount vouchers from restaurants (usually in the

50% range) and then marketing them to a large list of potential customers through

email and the internet.

The argument made to restaurants goes like this: bite the bullet on this deep discount

coupon and you’ll earn a repeat customer who comes back for more, making you

money in the long run.

It’s a compelling argument, and already many restaurants have tried it. There is still

quite a bit of debate about how effective these deep discount coupons actually are

at getting a restaurant repeat business.

The first school of thought is that butts in seats are better than empty

chairs, no matter what it took to get them there. These restaurateurs

are indeed biting the bullet and hoping for some repeat business

down the line.

The second school of thought takes a more skeptical approach. The

biggest fear with bringing in customers on such deep discounting

is that all the new business is there because of the once-in-a-life-

time deal being offered by the restaurant, not because they have

or plan to have any connection

with that establishment. without

repeat business, the Groupon

concept is completely sunk, be-

cause there’s no money in that

first visit for restaurants.

Naturally, Groupon claims a 90%

return rate for customers who

use their coupons. That number

hasn’t been independently veri-

fied. It’s also a bit of a logistical

problem to track customer visits

after they redeem their Groupon

coupon. The fact that coupons

are good for a year on average

makes it difficult for restaurants

to know exactly how successful

their discount program is, since it

can take a long time for all cou-

pons to be redeemed.

unfortunately, statistics are spotty on breakage rates. Many restau-

rants hope for 30% (i.e. 30% of customers who bought a Groupon

coupon for their restaurant never redeem it), but since it takes up to

a year to find out exactly who is redeeming these coupons, business

owners may have to wait awhile to find out how high their breakage

rate actually is.

Thus it comes as little surprise that many restaurant owners view these

deep discount sites with a healthy dose of skepticism. That’s not to

say these coupons can’t ever be an effective tool for

restaurants.

Some restaurateurs have used deep discounting sites

like Groupon or BlackBoardEats to promote grand

openings or significant additions like a new dining room

or patio or a new menu. In situations where it’s impor-

tant to build a lot of buzz very quickly because you’re

offering something new, a deep discount program can

be a great way to reach customers en masse.

In these cases, you’re not as worried about getting

repeat business as you are about filling your establish-

ment for a specific reason.

The jury is still out about deep discounting, but in cer-

tain situations, like opening night, it can be a surefire

way to pack your restaurant. For restaurants with an es-

tablished brand and customer base, deep discounting

appears to be a much more risky proposition.

In the last year, Groupon.com and a whole array of other discount coupon websites have stampeded

the internet like buffalo in front of a prairie fire.

The x factor in making a calculation

about using a deep discounting

coupon service for your business:

nuMBEr Of GuESTS WHO uSE THE COupOn

VS. nuMBEr WHO BOuGHT

THE COupOn

This is known as the “breakage rate”

and can really help a restaurant get

back some of the money they’re

giving away on coupons that are

redeemed.

8

The internet doesn’t always have to be a raw deal for restaurants.

You just have to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em,

know when to walk away…you get the picture. one gamble you

can certainly bet to win is online ordering - if you’re holding the right

cards.

As some restaurants have discovered, however, you can also shoot

yourself in the foot.

one national chain launched online ordering a couple years ago

and it proved to be far too successful. orders poured in and staff try-

ing to fill online orders frequently got in the way of staff trying to take

care of customers in the store. Customer service suffered, which is

the last thing any restaurant can afford.

Too many customers.

A great problem to have, right? Here are some key lessons the big chains have already learned:

BE prEpArEd. Internet sales aren’t going to come in during the af-

ternoon lull. They’re going to pour in when everyone else is hungry:

right at lunch and during the dinner rush. When you first start out,

assign extra staff. You don’t know how online orders are going to

shake out, and the last thing you want is to compromise service

because you can’t keep up with online orders.

MAnAGE OrdEr fLOW. As others have learned the hard way, hav-

ing two teams, one working on walk-in customers and the other

devoted to internet sales, is a great idea in theory, but when those

two teams are competing for the same food prep resources, prob-

lems and inefficiencies arise. Make sure you develop a way to either

give both teams their own resources or a way to integrate orders

from both sources that allows your staff to deal with them in a timely

manner.

BE fLExIBLE. No matter how well you prepare, something is going to

go wrong. Be ready to make adjustments and continue to tweak

your service until you get it right according to your circumstances.

For many restaurants, online ordering seems like a distant prospect.

don’t be fooled: this is a trend that will sneak up on the food service

industry faster than most realize, and when the day comes for your

restaurant, no matter how large or small, to accommodate custom-

ers coming in from the internet,

Be prepared.

9

Some restaurants are finding that a good computer is just like a good

mule was back then – dependable and ready to work hard every

day to save you a passel of money.

Some restaurants have discovered a great mule in the form of a

fully automated energy management systems (EMS) to help reduce

energy usage in their restaurants.

Energy management systems have been around for a couple dec-

ades, but recent technological advances have really improved

what an EMS can do. A modern EMS system can control air condi-

tioning, hood exhaust fans, lights, and even equipment power-ups

automatically via a central computer that doesn’t even have to be

in the same building.

why is that good? Imagine an employee deciding it’s too hot and

dropping the thermostat to 50 and leaving it on overnight. Idle cook-

ing equipment getting well ventilated by a hood fan on full blast.

or maybe the morning shift manager arrives a little late and cranks

up the lights and equipment all at the same time. All of these things

mean wasted energy and therefore wasted money.

The energy savings alone from having an automatic thermostat that

drops the heat in winter and the cool in summer during off-business

hours is significant.

An energy management system goes much further. An alarm will

sound if the door to the walk-in has been left open for more than

10 minutes. Employees walk into work in the morning with the lights

already on and the equipment powered up and ready to go. These

increased efficiencies not only reduce the headache factor, they

can translate into some real savings.

Granted, most smaller operations probably can’t afford a compre-

hensive EMS just yet. But as the technology gets cheaper and ener-

gy expenses continue their inevitable rise, the day may not be far off

when it makes sense for even a small restaurant to have a compre-

hensive, automated system managing their energy consumption.

In the old days, if you wanted help with the heaviest, toughest work day in and day out, you used a mule.

Why not set up your own energy management system?

It may not have all the same cool computer-powered features of

a modern EMS, but it can be just as effective. Consider setting up

some guidelines for your staff on how to power up equipment and

turn on lights in sequence when opening your restaurant:

1. Train kitchen staff to dial back ovens, ranges, and broilers during downtimes and cut back the hood exhaust.

2. post guidelines and expectations for energy usage like closing refrigerators, and hand out rewards for energy efficient practices.

3. And most importantly, buy an Energy Star rated automatic thermostat! It’s much less expensive than a fancy EMS, and accomplishes the same goal: automatically adjusting the thermostat during non-business hours.

Tundra Specialties 888.594.4183 11

he technological advances of the past decade have certainly made

for a wild ride. Every business out there is still trying to figure out how

to incorporate all of the new ways to engage and serve customers

made possible by those advances.

however, one thing is certain: the pace at which new technology

becomes available is only going to get faster, not slower, and that

means restaurants don’t have a moment to lose.

This is the point where a skeptic might say, “wait a minute, my restau-

rant is doing just fine – the past couple years have been rough, but we

got through it and now just as things are looking up you want me to

spend a bunch of money I don’t have on new technology that won’t

necessarily give me an immediate return on investment?”

The truth is that a steady investment in technology can mean real returns for your

restaurant – just look at what online ordering has done for some cutting edge

national chains or how iPad menus have changed the way customers order

food.

Some of these trends can seem a little far-fetched, like hosting teleconfer-

encing events for customers or employing robot servers. At the same time, 10 years ago a site like Groupon seemed

equally implausible, and yet the restaurant industry finds itself grappling with how to deal with mass internet discounting

today. Maybe robots and video phones aren’t all that far off after all.

No matter how you look at it, the game is changing, and that leaves the food service industry with two choices: get on

the train or get left behind. Those that choose to venture to the frontiers of technology will find themselves in green new

pastures, where they can stake out the best homesteads and wait for the rest to catch up.

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The Back BurnerA restaurant blog

4.5.6.

A BRAVE NEw FRoNT oF ThE houSE

ThE SERVER’S FAVoRITE SIx-ShooTER

GIVE YouR MENu A GoldEN SPIKE

ThE INTERNET dEAlS A ShoRT hANd

ANd CAN AlSo GIVE You A Full houSE

CoMPuTERS ARE lIKE A Good MulE