With more than 1 million restaurant locations in the US in 2019, it becomes more important than ever to think about what your restaurant’s unique value proposition among your competition is. But think about value not just in terms of lower prices and higher discounts. Today, guests who dine out want more than a meal, and are looking for a total dining experience that they can enjoy with family and friends. What are the specific reasons that lead guests to return to your establishment? 

The same question holds for restaurant staff. With burgeoning job opportunities and higher minimum wage, what will ultimately attract servers to stay at your restaurant?

Your restaurant’s operating efficiency plays an important role in ensuring the best experience for your staff and guests. Technology can help you leverage your restaurant’s brand by enhancing your point of difference—superior guest service.

Making the Transactional More Personal

Think about the key interactions that happen between your servers and guests—taking orders, delivering food and drinks, and taking payments. A crucial exchange happens in each of these cases, and the quality of your guests’ experiences depends on these exchanges running smoothly. In fact, servers are so focused on getting these details right that the server-guest relationship has become very transactional. Think about the room for error at each interaction. Not only do servers need to focus on entering orders correctly and picking up checks in a timely manner. Servers also spend a substantial percentage of their shifts simply walking back and forth to the POS terminal, rather than spending that time at their tables.  

With server handhelds, servers can let technology handle these transactions, and focus more on making the guest experience more personal. For example, servers can directly enter orders on Presto Server Handhelds and send them to the kitchen, without walking back to the POS terminal. That means your servers can spend more time on making memorable conversations with your guests, as well as upselling complementing drinks and sides.

The Value of Technology for Guests

With the cost of education and healthcare steadily going up, consumers are increasingly making more value-driven decisions, especially when spending money on food and dining out. They want an experience that’s efficient and fulfills their needs. Secondly, health trends have been on the rise. In recent years, people increasingly make more health-conscious, diet-driven food choices.

Server handhelds facilitate in adding value to guest dining experiences. Whether it’s by increasing order accuracy, service speed, or a server’s one-on-one recommendations to a guest based on dietary preferences, technology enables servers to help guests make more health-conscious, value-driven dining decisions.

The Value of Technology for Servers

As the next generation server handhelds enter the stage, they become powerful tools for servers, to the point that someone who’s new to serving can perform at the same level as more experienced peers. As technology takes more problems off of servers’ minds, servers can focus more on their jobs.

For example, upsell suggestions are built into the Presto Server Handheld interface, significantly lowering the training time needed for new servers. Easier upselling promotes larger check sizes, while faster service allows servers to earn more tips.

The Value of Technology for Restaurants

As server handhelds improve operational efficiency, average order values, as well as guest and server retention, they add more value back to your restaurant. What results is that restaurants don’t need to change their heritage and identity to adapt to the changing industry landscape. Rather than increasing menu prices or closing more stores, restaurants can adopt technology that allows them to invest more in their point of difference—their customer service. Server handhelds empower restaurants and servers to focus on what they do best, and produce more superior experiences for guests.