The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a great deal of upheaval for all industries, with catering and hospitality both taking tremendous blows. Whether it has been the forced closure of restaurants through the pandemic, the introduction of limited capacity due to social distancing, or the forced improvements to health and safety, restaurants have had to adapt in order to operate.
But as we emerge from the worst of the pandemic, it's time to consider the way forward. The conclusion is simple: restaurants need to change if they are to survive. Perhaps most criticically, restaurants need to embrace technology and modernisation. For some restaurant owners though, even the looming challenge of recovery from the pandemic is not enough of a motivator to make the required alterations to their business.
Perhaps then, it is sensible to consider another factor. This factor will not only benefit your business, but it will also modernise it simply through necessity. The factor that we are talking about here digitalisation.
How does Digitialisation Modernise a Business?
Being invested in the digitilisation of your business naturally forces you to modernise. Modernisation is intirisically linked to technological advancments, so investing in software that digitises manual processes will lead to a path of digitising and modernising the rest of the business.
Just as businesses had to update their working practices quickly to be able to operate during lockdown and the pandemic, taking an active interest in digitialisation means that a business has to make modernising changes. But what is to be gained for a business and why is it worth investing?
The Benefits of Digitalisation
Restaurants have a lot to gain from embracing technology. Stock control, recipe management and other key restaurant processes are still hand written in many kitchens. This can be a tedious and time-consuming manual job. Software like ours can take much of the hassle out of these tasks, saving you time and money. Let's take compliance for an example. Kafoodle makes complying with Natasha's Law and the upcoming Calorie Labelling Legislation much easier, as our easy-to-use software generates all the data for your recipes from thousands of ingredients direct from national suppliers.
With the massive shift to online consumer behavior during lockdowns, a modern web and digital presence is essential. Focusing on your website and online presence - such as providing online ordering and digital menus - will open your business up to more opportunities.
Ditch the Paper Trail
When you start taking safety seriously, one of the things that you will find yourself doing more of is entrusting data to digital, rather than paper documents. Storing all of your data on computers and in the cloud is significantly safer than having paper copies that can easily be lost or stolen. This switch can be an enormous benefit to you from a security perspective, but it can also help your restaurant in other areas.
Using Kafoodle, you only need to upload your recipe to the system once and it will be available on all your devices at all of your sites thanks to our cloud-based system. Imagine editing a recipe and having all of the nutiritional info, costing and ordering info updated instantly, everywhere. That's the power of Kafoodle's kitchen management software.
Final Thoughts
Taking digitialisation seriously can have an immensely positive impact on your restaurant. Whether you're a single site that might just need our Essentials Package, or a large scale caterer, chat to us about a solution that's right for you.
Contact Us for more information.
About the Author
Kafoodle Guest Blogger Annie Button is a Portsmouth based writer specializing in business, branding and career development, and has written for various online and print publications.