Tech is transforming restaurant work, and employers must adapt to get and keep staff
The following feature was published in The Toronto Star, Monday 26 July, 2021.
Technology Proving to be Key for Restaurants Battling Labour Shortages
Restaurants are currently facing an unparalleled shift in the labour market and its impact will completely change the hospitality industry.
Public health restrictions have finally started to ease across Ontario. Many of Toronto’s restaurants are working tirelessly to recreate that ‘pre-pandemic’ atmosphere that diners have been craving since lockdowns were put in place. While the pandemic has accelerated guest-focused digitization across the industry, there is a key audience that venues and their technology partners now need to cater to in order to survive the next phase of COVID-related impacts: restaurant staff.
In the wake of what has been one of the most disruptive periods in memory for the industry, restaurants are experiencing severe labour shortages, with some struggling to attract staff and others seeing significant employee turnover. Recruitment and retention challenges are an increasingly pressing issue, and restaurants are desperate to find ways to attract workers and stay afloat. Some are reducing their hours. Others are offering higher wages. And those who are desperate are offering benefit packages, previously unheard of in the restaurant industry.
Many of the 800,000 Canadian foodservice workers that lost their jobs or had their hours reduced during the pandemic are tired of the uncertainty brought on by the extended dining closures over the past year. With many still receiving income support from the federal government, some are refusing to go back to a minimum-wage job and—for the many younger staff not yet fully vaccinated—risk their health in the process.
The restaurant industry has seen an exodus of experienced staff, with job postings on Indeed Canada up 37 per cent from pre-pandemic levels in mid-June. All of this begs the question—how can restaurants rebuild their workforce in this new and uncharted landscape?
Since the pandemic started, consumer-facing technology has changed the way the hospitality industry operates. From digital menus accessed via QR codes to self-ordering and self-payment on personal cell phones, the dining experience has undergone a seismic digital transformation.
Diners have quickly adapted to this ‘new normal,’ and trends across the globe indicate they want to have as much control over their dining experience as possible, both now and beyond the COVID-19 crisis. But for some diners, a completely server-free dining experience isn’t necessarily what they’re searching for, even if their local restaurant has great contactless options.
For many innovation-focused operators in the industry, the swift implementation of contactless technology alongside a robust digital-first, on-premise guest experience plan has meant that the role of the server is in the process of transforming. While having self-service options are critical, server assistance is still sought out and it’s in this space that the role of the server can be truly elevated into a more rewarding one for them, as well as a better experience for the guest.
The right technology has the power to free servers from simply ferrying food, manually placing orders and taking payments. It can allow them to be more present with their tables, add significant value through more meaningful guest interactions—and—reap the rewards through improved job satisfaction and increased tips in the process. Recent stats show that when guest-focused technology is implemented, some venues have seen on average up to 25 percent consistently higher tips, others up to 40 percent higher than venues still relying on traditional service models. Happier and more satisfied guests deliver more value to servers—and never has this been more critical.
But what does this mean for restaurant operations beyond individual staff members? Across any single venue, more tables can be covered by fewer servers, giving restaurants more operational bandwidth than they’ve ever had before to truly do more with less when they have to, and remain as reactive and nimble as possible in what is still a time of great change. At the same time, operators are better able to retain a core team of staff that can keep working with them to adapt to changes in regulations, workflows and guest expectations as they go.
Alongside this advantage, self-ordering technology has changed the relationship between the guest and the kitchen, putting them in direct contact via always-present menus that give guests the ability to order at their leisure. A prime environment for ‘impulse ordering,’ average cheque sizes increase accordingly, benefiting the entire operation as well as the server. And after prolonged months with no dining room business, drastically reduced overall capacity and an over-reliance on third-party delivery platforms, venues need every incremental increase in orders and tips they can get.
The complexity of the challenges involved in rebuilding the restaurant workforce are only just being fully revealed. Venues need to be conscious they now not only need a standing contactless solution for health and safety concerns but a plan to pivot for an unparalleled shift in the labour market. Having a robust strategy to elevate the role of service staff, turn tables efficiently and increase average order values is now an essential aspect of any restaurant operators’ toolkit.
Just like it was rolled out to address physical touchpoints, technology can be utilized in the labour battle to facilitate exceptional dining experiences on both sides, allowing operators to focus on all of the other factors that allow them to deliver phenomenal customer service, and keep employees happy. It’s now in the hands of hospitality technology partners across the country to be aware that labour is the next crisis their hospitality clients are facing — and to prepare accordingly.