4 New Restaurant Management Tools by Otter for 2023

Happy New Year, restaurateurs! Here at Otter, we have some exciting updates to help you start 2023 off with a bang. 

We've spent the last twelve months perfecting our product line, and we've never been prouder of what Otter has to offer. 

In this post, you'll discover just how far the Otter suite has come – and how much farther we're taking your restaurant. Keep reading to learn about the 4 new restaurant management tools by Otter to kick off 2023. Cheers to more orders and less stress!

1. Keep your restaurant in your pocket with Otter’s Restaurant Manager App

We’re thrilled to announce that the Otter Restaurant Manager app is officially here! Our restaurant partners can now manage their business right from their phones, wherever they are. Download the Otter Restaurant Manager app to: 

1.  Manage your Kitchen wherever you are: Keep track of how your locations are operating – anywhere, anytime. Get a 360º view of your business right from your phone! 
2. Unlock Actionable Insights on the go: No time to check reports? See where you’re succeeding and stalling right from the app. Monitor store performance by brand, location, and delivery partner to unlock strategic data about your business. 
3. Reduce missed sales and downtime: Manage store availability on the fly. Get alerted instantly when a storefront goes down on your delivery apps, and bring it back online in a single touch with the new “Always On” add-on. Plus, reactivate offline stores without the hassle of logging in!

2. Make better staffing decisions with Staff Analytics

We hear from many of our restaurant partners about the challenges they face when it comes to staffing. The ongoing labor shortage has made it difficult to find, manage, and keep restaurant workers in a post-ish pandemic world. 

In fact, according to the National Restaurant Association, the restaurant industry has lost more than 450,000 workers since the COVID-19 pandemic’s height. Likewise, the industry’s monthly quit rate remains 30% higher than before COVID-19.

If staffing has caused significant headaches for your restaurant in recent years, you’re not alone. While there’s no quick fix for the challenges mentioned above, we created a new feature to help you make better staffing decisions with ease. 

Introducing Staff Analytics! Designed to help you fine tune your staffing and operations, Staff Analytics can help you:

1.  Operate more profitably. Stay in the black by being mindful of your Staff-to-Sales ratio and overstaffing trends. Both metrics are easily accessible with just a single click!
2. Save time with consolidation. Spend more time where the action is. We’ll give you your focus back by merging multiple spreadsheets from Otter’s employee, delivery, and POS features. 
3. Allocate resources efficiently. Put a cap on missed sales and order issues by having the right amount of staff at the right time. Retain more happy team members, and help them keep up with surges in demand.
4. Lift your team up. Discover who your top performers are and what specific actions you can take to help those lagging behind. See trends in employee performance and intervene before things get out of hand.

3. See how you stack up to the local competition – for free!

What cuisines are trending in your area? How do you compare to nearby restaurants? What are the best times to operate in your community? 

If you’re looking for answers to these questions, we’ve got you covered. See how you stack up to the local competition with our free restaurant trends tool. Simply drop in your info to get your local trends report emailed directly to your inbox. 

Unlocking local food trends is essential to finding out what works best in your neighborhood. After all – what better way to stay informed than with a quick competitive analysis?

4. Managing your menu has never been easier. See what’s new!

Your menu is the heart of your restaurant. And we know there’s nothing more important than ensuring your menu—or menus—are up-to-date and accurate.

We also know that managing your menu across multiple locations and delivery platforms can be time-consuming and tedious. That’s why we’ve made it a priority to bring you new and improved Menu Management features for 2023: 

1. Filter to make fast adjustments: Looking for a specific item to update? Simply use the search bar at the top of your Menus page to find what you’re looking for!
2. Location-specific items & pricing: Head into your Item Edit page to change the price of items across your locations. Remember, with Otter, you can use delivery-specific pricing, too!
3. Edit items easily: We’ve made your Item Edit page even cleaner, with easy-to-read headings and new error messages to help you troubleshoot better.
4. Back-of-house item names: Does your kitchen call your menu items something different than what customers see on delivery apps? Now, you can add back-of-house names to your tickets to avoid communication errors. Simply use our “Station Assignment” feature to add an item to a specific location, then add a back-of-house name for your kitchen staff to start preparing with ease!

Lastly, check out our step-by-step demo for an in-depth tutorial on making the most of your menu with Otter. Stay tuned for more product support videos coming soon to our YouTube channel! 

That’s a wrap on our roundup of Otter restaurant management tools to take advantage of in 2023. As always, we’re working hard to help restaurants like yours simplify and grow their businesses. Check back often for more updates to come! 

Manage your business wherever you are with the Otter Restaurant Manager app for iOS!

*Please note that the Otter Restaurant Manager app is currently only available to iOS users.