In 2022, high-tech solutions can help deal with disruptions

The following feature was published in Restobiz.ca on Friday, January 14th, 2022 - 9:50 am

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In 2022, high-tech solutions can help deal with disruptions 

In the business and tech worlds, the word “disruption” gets tossed around a lot — usually with positive connotations, as when a new innovation changes an industry for the better. The world in general has seen major disruptions over the past couple of years, and not always the good kind.

As has been the case with every other sector, the restaurant industry continues to be hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, to say nothing of labour shortages, supply chain issues, and rising inflation. It’s been a bumpy ride.

What do the next 12 months hold?

Well, there’s some good news and there’s some bad news, according to the folks whose job it is to make such predictions. In its “Economic Outlook” for the first quarter of 2022, S&P Global projects that Canada’s GDP will grow by five per cent, and that the country will return to full employment.

That’s the good news, of course, but there are a few 2022 predictions that should give those in the restaurant business pause.

According to Canada’s Food Price Report from Dalhousie and several other Canadian universities, for example, we can expect restaurant prices to rise by six to eight per cent in 2022, which could certainly dampen consumers’ enthusiasm for dining out.

None of this is a foregone conclusion, of course. After all, who knows what further disruptions, good or bad, may be on the horizon? One thing is certain, though — the unprecedented widespread adoption of technology we have observed in the hospitality sector is unlikely to slow down. That’s a good thing, because going high-tech just might be the very thing that keeps restaurants going through the uncertain times ahead.

Welcome to the machine

It would be hard to overstate the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the implementation of new technologies in the hospitality industry.

In 2022, going high-tech is not optional for restaurant operators; it’s an absolute must. Safety concerns in the COVID era drove the adoption of contactless tech — and brought the QR code back from the brink of extinction — but digital is now the status quo. Self-ordering and self-payment options have transformed many of the traditional touchpoints in the dining experience, and there’s no going back now.

In fact, it’s no exaggeration to say that more and more of the business of running a restaurant is becoming high-tech, automated, contactless, and put in the hands of the customer. This is a boon, not just to guests, who enjoy having a degree of control over their own dining experience, but potentially to servers as well. Given the ongoing challenges of finding and retaining service staff, anything that improves the employee experience can be considered a win.

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