Even more changes coming our way in hospitality

History will show that COVID was the line of demarcation for the hospitality industry in the 21st century.

In almost every conversation I have with other professionals in hospitality it is inevitable that someone will say “before COVID” or “since COVID.”

As a matter of fact, in many of my articles I make the same comparison.

Since COVID, technology in the restaurant industry has moved at lighting speed. I believe the changes we have seen would have been years in the making if we did not experience COVID. More restaurants are moving on from vegetarian dishes and moving to vegan. Since COVID more people are dining out and this has made vegan options available more than ever. Plant-based options are fast increasing, as well.

Controlling food waste is a hot topic in the industry. This has become more important since the substantial increase in employee wages post-COVID. I’ll make this connection for you later.

Contactless ordering

Door Dash, Uber Eats and other third-party delivery services will continue to expand and I believe this is now due to convenience rather than the fear of going to restaurants because of COVID. From the consultant’s perspective, our restaurant designs have changed substantially due to these services. We now design specific space for pickup areas for these third-party delivery systems because of the positive impact on top-line sales. You will soon see advances that include voice commands and facial recognition.

On the other hand, contactless ordering while you are sitting in the restaurant has been a big failure. Restaurants tried the QR codes at the table for menus and ordering, and it was poorly done during COVID and has not advanced very much. Anecdotally, I have found restaurants that rely on this technology have lower check averages, meaning guests purchase far less and the overall experience is not one that drives return guests, which is the lifeblood of any restaurant.

Food waste management

Food waste management always has been a challenge for the restaurant industry. Because each person is different and may not have been trained well in food preparation, the level of waste can be extremely high. A simple example is how one person might cut a head of lettuce with 10% waste vs. an untrained individual who will have a waste level of 25%.

There are new technologies coming out for restaurants that will help them track inventory, analyze their purchases and employ more recycling programs, including 24-hour composting that will help them control costs. However, that is all very technical and dry. More interesting for the general public on this issue is how restaurants will rely more on premade products that have almost zero waste, will help lower labor costs (less employees needed to make the products from scratch), and will be less chef driven (creative specials and menu items) and more management driven.

AI, memberships, subscriptions and automation

About 45% of restaurants need additional employees, and this is where artificial intelligence comes into play. Some of these AI fixes include automated customer service with AI chat bots and many more self-serve ordering options.

Loyalty programs have been very successful for years. What we are seeing as that next step is restaurant subscriptions. Some restaurants have wine membership programs that offer free tastings, discounts when dining and even wine shipped to the house each month for members.

As I mentioned earlier, the return guest is the lifeblood of any restaurant and that’s where memberships can drive these visits more effectively than just loyalty programs. It was not long ago that many of us would have thought it was crazy to join a grocery store, but look at Costco and the perceived value of being a member of the “club.”

If you want to dip your toe in the membership waters you can look at local restaurants. P.F. Chang’s has a Platinum membership program for $6.99 per month. Panera Bread’s program is $11.99 per month and is their Unlimited Sip Club.

My prediction (call me crazy) is that there soon will be a few restaurants offering a monthly membership of more than $100 per month.

• Izzy Kharasch is the founder of Hospitality Works, a consulting firm that has worked with 700+ restaurants and small businesses nationwide. He is offering Daily Herald restaurant owners a free consultation by contacting him at Izzy@HospitalityWorks.com.