Heres the thing about the restaurant industry: you really have to be a part of it to understand it. Restaurants are fast-paced, nuanced, and distinct. They are, in a way, their own beloved subculture. If you haven't worked in a restaurant yourself, there are a few ways to learn more about this unique space. Take in your environment the next time you go out to eat. Watch the latest season of The Bear, which is notoriously true-to-life for many restaurateurs (debuting at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes!). If you're here, though, you're probably deeply connected to and an active participant in the restaurant industry, every single day.
As a dedicated partner to restaurants nationwide, the team at Otter prides ourselves on understanding restaurant culture and people. While many of us are restaurant veterans, we also stay connected to the industry by talking to our customers daily. We read and listen to podcasts that report on the latest food innovations, and dine with our clients as much as possible.
What we learned from the 100+ L.A. restaurants we visited
This week, we had the pleasure of spending time on-the-ground in restaurants, learning about their highlights and challenges. Headquartered in Los Angeles, we can spend time in restaurants big & small in every cuisine type from Thai to Tacos. We took advantage of our location, and went to over 100 restaurants many of which weren't current Otter customers. By doing so, we gained insight into current trends and challenges that restaurants like yours face daily.
In this quick post, we’ll go over the top 5 takeaways we discovered while spending time in LA restaurants. Let’s dig in!
1. Innovation in ordering: fast, furious, convenient, chaotic?
There have never been more ways to order food on-premise at your favorite eatery. From kiosk ordering to QR codes, traditional face-to-face ordering to counter service – in 2023, you can place an order in many, many ways. However, when a customer enters a restaurant today, they may face analysis paralysis from all the options they have. Bar or dining room? Mimosa or coffee? Sweet pancakes or savory breakfast burritos? Split the check or boost good karma by paying for the group? Customers expect to make these traditional decisions when they enter your location. If they’re also expected to decide on ordering from your kiosk, QR code, counter, or servers, they may be left lost.
It’s critical that restaurants like yours strategize and present only the most effective ordering options to customers. These options should be based on how busy you are, where you’re located, your eater demographics, and more. Let’s say you’re a super-busy lunch spot in West Hollywood, California, where the median age is 37. In your case, inviting customers to order and pay via a QR code may help boost revenue and productivity without hurting eater experiences. On the other hand, imagine you’re a fine-dining establishment in a more “suburban” part of Los Angeles like, let’s say, Century City, where the median age is 46. For this type of clientele, traditional table service may make more sense for a best-in-class customer experience.
With so many ordering innovations available, it’s critical to analyze your goals and your customer base to offer strategic ordering options. Not sure where to start? Our team is more than happy to help. Fill out this form to get in touch!
2. Lunch service versus dinner service: how to meet different dine-in expectations
Something that was super enlightening for our team on the ground was restaurateurs’ desire for variance in ordering options based on time-of-day. Our team visited a semi-formal Thai spot near UCLA that was absolutely packed during lunch hour on a Tuesday. In speaking with this restaurant’s owner, we discovered that his current operations didn’t quite match with his business goals and intended customer experience. This Thai spot averages ~70 delivery orders daily, but is intentionally more “white glove” for dinner service – with a handful of waiters taking orders tableside. At lunchtime, the owner wants to turn tables faster and reopen his back patio – even with reduced staff. He also wants to let more customers enjoy his restaurant during a meal that’s subject to time constraints.
In order to meet his expectations for dinner service, we suggested that he simplify his delivery operations to ensure that orders get out the door ASAP without in-store courier chaos (via our Handoffs solution). For lunch service, we introduced him to our QR code order & pay solution, Digital Dine-in, which lets customers order and pay using their mobile devices. With Digital Dine-in, his staff will be able to handle more tables and connect with diners when dropping off food. They’ll also be able to boost table turnover, getting more customers in and out faster!
If you’re looking to increase table turnover, maintain formality, and reduce courier chaos, Handoffs and Digital Dine-in are right for you!
3. Managing all your restaurant operations from a single device: your POS system
Most restaurateurs consider a smart Point-of-Sale system their single most important piece of technology. It makes sense why – POS systems have been around since 1879, and today, restaurants really rely on them. Smart POS systems act as a “cash” (card) register, and help you keep track of your sales. They’re also where a server inputs orders, so your kitchen knows what to prepare.
However, with the online ordering boom of the last decade, many restaurants now use multiple devices to stay organized. From direct-to-consumer ordering apps to third-party delivery, QR code ordering and inventory tracking to order aggregation, restaurant tech stacks have grown. It’s critical that these innovative solutions find ways to integrate with the heart of a restaurant’s operations – the POS.
Integrating with the most popular point-of-sale systems is going to become even more important over the next few years. When your restaurant is preparing to partner with a new tech solution, make sure it integrates with your POS system. (You’ll thank us later.) If that solution is Otter, we probably already do! Check out our list of integrations here.
4. Staffing Stresses: Keep your team happy & productive when you're operating with fewer hands
If you live on Planet Earth, you've likely heard about the staffing shortage that's been impacting restaurants around the country. If you haven't, heres the Cliffs Notes version:
- The pandemic resulted in massive layoffs in the restaurant industry. 20 million Americans lost their jobs in 2020, and restaurant workers were some of the hardest-hit.
- Unemployment benefits were at their highest during the pandemic. Even prior to COVID-19 layoffs, restaurant workers had long expressed dissatisfaction with their wages and working conditions.
- The gig economy (which grew by 33% in 2020) and other cultural shifts provided new, appealing employment options to many.
Regardless, we know that restaurants are innovative and resilient, and will continue thriving in the midst of staffing shortages. Many restaurant owners we spoke to expressed how critical it is to keep staffs tips up and stress levels down. Tech solutions like QR ordering & payment can help with this, ensuring productivity stays high!
According to our partner SpotOn, restaurant staff have seen average tip sizes rise by 7% after implementing QR ordering! They've also received a 4% increase in the number of checks they've collected, and a 3% boost in check averages. In addition to higher payments, restaurant staff are able to operate more efficiently with QR code order & pay solutions like Otters Digital Dine-in.
Traditionally, staff head to a table to take an order, go to the POS to input that order, then return to the table to deliver food. They then go to the kitchen to drop off plates, back to the table to provide the check, and back to the POS to complete payments. Digital Dine-in sends orders to your POS system instantly, notifying your kitchen staff to start preparing food ASAP. Once a meal is ready, your waitstaff can serve the table that ordered it, and payments are collected automatically. We've said it a few times by now, but its worth reiterating: in the face of staffing shortages, technology can help ease your teams stress, pressure, and tension. Restaurant tech can also increase staff productivity, efficiency, tips, and more!
5. In the face of endless innovation, human connection will always be king
Technology shouldn’t replace humanity – it should enhance it. We spoke to a handful of restaurateurs who feared innovations like kiosks and QR code order & pay solutions would result in dine-in dystopia. This anxiety stems from the belief that tech could diminish the human connection that makes on-premise dining meaningful. We’re not fortune-tellers, but we know that non-human dining experiences won’t become a reality any time soon.
The best technology enhances human connections rather than diminishing them. Innovations like QR code order & pay and kiosks free up your staff’s workload, so they can spend more time engaging with customers. Best-in-class restaurant solutions let staff do more of what they love, and cut out what they don’t.
Some quick Otter updates
Before you go, we wanted to discuss some of the new solutions weve been working on that we mentioned above. (Maybe too many times.) These are some of the exciting new products we shared with the restaurants we visited in person:
- Digital Dine-in: Increase sales & reduce labor costs with QR ordering
- More than a simple QR code. Otters Digital Dine-In solution uses mobile ordering to boost your sales, efficiency, and dine-in experience. If it makes sense for your restaurant, consider implementing QR order & pay for a specific time-of-day or all day long. Digital Dine-in helps your staff boost productivity, decrease errors, and strengthen tips, letting customers order on their own terms.
- POS Integration: Make the most of your restaurants tech stack
- Think about all the hours your team has to spend manually inputting orders into your POS. Day after day, week after week, month after month... This creates confusion, reporting issues, order errors, and lost productivity. It doesnt have to be this way!
- Help your servers be more efficient, effective, and profitable. Sync all of your restaurants tech stack with your POS, and give staff their time back.
Want us to come visit your restaurant next? Reach out at brandcontent@tryotter.com with your restaurants address, and well try to see you in person soon!
Thanks for reading!
Team Otter
