What Every Restaurant Should Look for in a Software Solution
It’s 2021 and businesses have had to make the shift to digital, software solutions. Restaurants are no different, if not more affected by this shift. The question every restaurant owner should be asking themselves right now is “what do I need to look for in a restaurant software solution?” There are many options out there, but we have distilled it down to a simple list to get you started:
Centralized to One Platform
The software solution must centralize your brands digital footprint, giving you the business owner, a quick digestible, real-world view of your restaurants marketing and sales activities. We know you are busy, so do not make it harder on yourself by needing to access more than on platform for marketing.
Cross-Channel Communication
A restaurant's software solution needs to have the ability to push the brand and communicate across all channels with your current and potential audience. The solution must capture data in real-time from several key areas, with the most important being the brand's website, online ordering platform, gated WIFI, and of course, on all social media channels to grow the customer database as quickly as possible.
Customer Database
The software solution needs to have the ability to sort the customer database. It needs to have the ability to effectively communicate to customers with most messaging being automated to cut down on the time it takes to send and create content. Necessary demographics could include age, sex, birthday or anniversary, frequency of ordering online and the list goes on... One of the best ways to collect customer data is the ability to transact online via your website. With that being said, it is important for your solution to include online ordering and/or an online store.
Integrative
The solution must be able to communicate with other tools a restaurant uses examples would be a cloud-based point of sale system, the online ordering platform that the restaurant might use. If there is not an integration option, you must manually extract the database from a loyalty programs or table reservation tools to utilize, but it requires more work, and more importantly, your restaurant could lose out on important customer data.
User-Friendly
And most importantly, the software solution must be user friendly! Your software solution has to be intuitive enough for you to actually use. It is not helpful if it is not being utilized to the fullest.