So, you have online ordering up and running — that’s great! Now, how do you market it to achieve your business goals? And how do you make it the best it can be? At the end of the day, if no one knows you offer online ordering free of a third-party platform, your efforts will…
It’s no secret that restaurants had to ramp up their online ordering capabilities during the pandemic. Most did — for good reason. According to Fundera by NerdWallet, more than 112 million Americans have used an online food delivery service. That’s substantial, and even more noteworthy when you consider it’s growing 300% faster than in-house dining…
We talk a lot about customer convenience but what about making things easier for the restaurant owner? How do you make running a restaurant less stressful, more streamlined and – dare we say – more fun? Running a restaurant is a constant balancing act where friction in one area immediately impacts all other areas, creating…
It’s Friday night and the dinner rush is in full swing. The phone is ringing off the hook with takeout orders and so far everything is going smoothly as you jockey between two phone lines. That is until your next takeout customer starts asking 20 questions about wing sauce flavors. The second line lights up…
Algorithms and Antipasti: Interpreting the Sales Data From Your Menu Let’s start with a short refresher on menu engineering. Menu engineering is data-driven menu design that analyzes the popularity and profitability of menu items. It couples this analysis with human behavior patterns to determine the best menu structure and organization for your restaurant’s menu. Table Needs…
We’ve previously shared the benefits of enlisting a comprehensive POS solution for your restaurant. From saving time and frustration to helping you do more with less effort, even while short-staffed, your chosen point-of-sale system has the potential to expedite and streamline processes, align your operations and improve both the employee and customer experiences. When it…
The ability to surprise and delight customers is an important part of delivering memorable dining experiences. Heck, to running a successful business of any kind. This truly is more important than ever these days. So much has changed in the last two-plus years — the onset of a pandemic, the promise and roll-out of vaccines,…
Technology in restaurants is new and can be intimidating or seem overwhelmingly complicated, but Table Needs is here to make restaurant and menu management simpler for both you and your customers. To engineer your menu in a more organized way, the first step we recommend is A/B testing. A/B Testing and Menu Engineering: In-Depth If you would like…
At Table Needs, we believe employees are the foundation of a successful restaurant. When they’re cared for and happy, retention improves. It stands to reason the diner experience does, too. Since good employees beget satisfied, loyal customers who generate repeat revenue, nurturing your staff is straight-up good sense. Of course, there are many forces at…
This will come as no surprise to restaurateurs: When a customer swipes their debit or credit card on their POS machine, the restaurant pays a percentage — say, 2% — to the bank for using its machine. It’s also no secret that percentage adds up. Of course, it can be significantly higher than that. To…
Remember the days when having your own app was the coolest and most exclusive thing you could have? Now we let out a sigh and either begrudgingly download an app or skip over the pain altogether. Not to be dramatic or seem so lazy, but who wants to have another app on their phone?! We’re…
It’s an understatement to say local, independent restaurants have been challenged — repeatedly — over the last few years. From lockdowns to limited capacity, shuttered indoor dining and customers’ hesitancy to enjoy meals in enclosed spaces, restaurants have had to pivot, often. As a result, having outdoor dining has become essential to running a successful…
Amid staffing shortages, retention challenges and changing regulations, restaurant technology tools have become not just important, but critical, to running a successful, independent restaurant. These days, contactless ordering is more than just a tool in your toolkit — it’s essential to navigating the ever-evolving restaurant landscape. Customers are impatient — and want food fast Conducted…
Designing an Appetite With Menu Engineering and Restaurant Technology If the simple menu you have printed and stacked behind the host’s podium is more complicated for you behind the scenes than bound sheets of paper ever should be, you’re in good company. And if your seasonal additions, price fluctuations, and subpar descriptions could use a…
“Some pandemic trends, consumer behaviors are here to stay.” Cristin O’Hara, Managing Director and Head of the Restaurant Group, Bank of America. Cristin O’Hara’s article makes some striking points when discussing the impacts COVID-19 have had on the industry, among them staffing shortages; the growth of new business models; increased reliance on technology and digital…
As a brand, we’re dedicated to the success of quick service restaurants and food trucks. Our flexible, tailored restaurant technology tools streamline operations while helping establishments do more with less. It all starts with our digital menu offering, which lets you put your best face forward with modern, highly tailorable features that can be updated…
In order to successfully run a restaurant, you have to maintain focus. That’s where philosopher Isaiah Berlin’s hedgehog principle comes in. It’s based on an ancient Greek parable, “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing,” Berlin notes that foxes pursue many goals and interests at the same time, resulting in…
Given a point of sale (POS) system takes payments — and can collect all your inventory, sales and customer data — it’s a crucial part of a business, to say the least. Not only can it potentially assist with inventory management, a POS system also may automate time-consuming manual tasks while eliminating the margin of…