The food service industry is at a crossroads. Operational costs are increasing, primarily due to wage hikes, and competition is fierce. Today, restaurant owners are turning to technology to increase efficiency and improve their guest’s experience.
And, while restaurant technology can improve overall efficiency and guest services, your business also needs restaurant hardware support to utilize innovative technology to its fullest. What this means for you is that it’s vital to find the best maintenance and support programs to realize and take advantage of this technology.
First, let’s take a look at some of the upgrades, then we’ll explore why you also need restaurant hardware support—and what it can do for you.
Restaurant Technology
The fact is that 63 percent of consumers would rather spend money on a memorable experience than buy an item. What kind of experience do you provide your guests?
An experience that makes your restaurant stand out in a guest’s mind begins with exceptional service. You may already know that paper tickets lead to longer cook times. It’s true that there’s nothing that slows things down like a poorly written guest check.
Upgrading with a point of sales (POS) system is one way to improve your staff’s efficiency and provide a better guest experience. It used to be that the POS was a stationary terminal—however, today, servers can also take an order at the table on a tablet or iPad. Not only does this cut down on steps for the server, but it also increases efficiency in the kitchen with standardized order output.
Plus, it makes it easy for guests to decipher their receipt. Even better? There’s a record of every transaction, and all that information is useable data.
POS analytics provide such information as to how many times an ingredient was requested. How you use that data can mean an increase in sales, cost savings on ingredients, or even a campaign featuring a menu item. What’s more, the information from your POS can help improve your menu.
You can also find out things such as why a particular staff member performs better than others. Evaluating a server’s sales metrics can help you identify staffing issues that affect profitability. Plus, you can use this information for customer profiling—that is, you’ll get an understanding of what your customers enjoy and repeated customer trends.
Seamless Integration
Of course, back of the house technology is just as important. A Kitchen Display System (KDS) replaces both paper printouts and kitchen printers. When a server places an order, instead of printing a check in the kitchen that the chef must put on the wheel, the KDS uses a digital order viewer.
Imagine the improvement in efficiency with no jammed printers or the need to replace paper during a rush.
You also need systems that are responsive and can run customer’s payment information quickly and continuously with no interruptions. What’s more—discounts and promotions should be seamlessly integrated into the POS to reflect the discount on the guest check.
Additionally, you can utilize the technology of a guest management system. This tech gives guests accurate wait times and also provides a convenient way to make reservations. And there’s a wealth of analytics to glean from an integrated guest management system such as guest’s birthdays and even food allergies.
A guest management system is also helpful for staffing purposes. Not only that, but some systems allow the integration of APPS to make the process even more convenient for guests.
Online Orders
People love to order food online. Today, there’s a whole industry that’s grown around the fact that ordering online is a convenient way to get delivery. It all started back in 1994 when Pizza Hut introduced the first-ever pizza online order service.
Since then, online food delivery has turned into a billion-dollar business with platforms that have expanded through reliable infrastructure solutions. These days consumers order online through websites as well as on APPS.
With all the new technology, a tech-savvy restaurant needs responsive tech support.
Restaurant Support Services
When you’re searching for restaurant support services, you’ll want a company that provides network support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Indeed, you need a company that is on call and ready to help with quick response times to ensure restaurant efficiencies.
A company such as Sagent can help you lower the costs of your company’s network, and reduce the risk of downtime. We’re here to help when you need to repair, resell, and upgrade your network equipment. We also provide business analytics and network support services.
Sagent focuses on network hardware, including:
- Routing and Switching
- Server and Storage
- Wireless and Access Points
- Controllers and Bump Bars
- Lap Top and Desk Tops
- Point of Sale Printers
We can help identify the root causes of equipment failures as well as any failure patterns, enabling network operators to implement targeted preventative maintenance strategies. You’ll get simplified contract management and consistency in network support processes and service level agreements.
Our services include over 300 depot locations for spare parts management. We also have help desk services that are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week—and a 30-minute response time. With access to more than 5,000 field technicians and 50 plus board level technicians, you’re guaranteed a dedicated engineering and development team.
Spare Parts Management
Our spare parts management services help eliminate CapEx spend that’s required for spares inventory purchases—as well as eliminating the inventory tax on hardware spares. Additionally, you won’t have to worry about the warehouse costs associated with storing and processing the spares inventory or the transportation costs associated with spares deployment.
Not to mention that you’ll see a reallocation in administrative costs that are associated with spares deployments and on-site technical work. You’ll get the business intelligence you need to improve your network performance and reduce operating expenses at every stage of your equipment’s lifecycle.
We always provide best-in-class equipment that we ensure exceeds OEM quality standards.
New Used and Refurbished Equipment
We cover all the big names in the industry, including Cisco, Juniper, HPE, Dell, Meraki, Ruckus, Lenovo, NCR, Zebra, and Epson. And we offer new, refurbished, surplus, and used telecom and network equipment. With Sagent, an end-of-life notice from your OEM doesn’t mean the end of support.
We provide you with the necessary upgrade parts and configured systems to help you maintain your network equipment long after the OEM has stopped.
The equipment we store in our warehouse doesn’t just sit there, gathering dust. We wipe it clean of all data. Then run it through system-level testing in our ESD-controlled technical facility.
Once it’s up to industry standards, we make the refurbished equipment available for sale. Not only that—we cover it under a full warranty—and we have extended warranty programs available.
Restaurant Technology Support
Analytics and data are the realms of specialists. While restaurant owners and managers know everything about making the business run efficiently in the area of food production and customer service, they may be at a loss as to what to do with the data technology provides.
For example, Operational Cost Management Analytics empowers your business with trending network data to help identify the most financially advantageous schedules and upgrade to network assets. We can utilize data analytics to trend and reduce future network hardware failures and improve your guest’s experience.
We also track logistics and training data, then compare it to a predefined set of customizable metrics to provide additional operational efficiencies. Customized reporting means turning interesting data into actionable data.
Business Intelligence uncovers usable information within your data, such as network performance statistics, supplier performance metrics, network outage avoidability measurements, the root cause of failure data, and supplier performance metrics.
Using critical data such as network reverse logistics, network global logistics, and network equipment supply means that we can help you determine the most cost-effective approach to reduce operating expenses.
Restaurant IT Support
Working with IT support means reduced distraction for restaurant resources when you’re dealing with technology hardware support issues. This translates to an increase in revenue and results in improved uptime. Additionally, Sagent can ensure that your business has the technology to enable faster service speeds, as well as more accurate order taking with a Wi-Fi network that never drops.
Sagent’s Restaurant IT Support Services provide multi-vendor support options regarding hardware and end-user support. You receive all of the benefits that you typically get from your OEM maintenance contracts, such as remote troubleshooting, hardware support, and available bug fixes. However, You’ll see a significant difference in the flexibility and cost savings it takes to support your technology migration goals.
Work with the Experts
Why work with a variety of IT vendors when you can get IT support in one location? You’ll save hours of managing support contracts and, as a result, increase uptime. Sagent can oversee your inventory and manage your maintenance around the clock seven days a week. From kitchen equipment to your POS, Sagent can help you lower your company’s costs and downtime.
Contact Sagent today, and let’s see how we can make your restaurant more efficient and keep those guests coming back.