The hospitality industry can bounce back

 

After an undoubtedly challenging year for the hospitalityepos systems, businesses have had to adapt to ensure their offering remains at the forefront of their consumers’ minds – even when they haven’t been able to reach them in the traditional sense. Cloud solutions like Lightspeed ePOS have been developed to give businesses the best chance at continuing to leverage relationships with their consumer in the most efficient way possible, while also making the best financial sense in a time of unpredictability.

As we begin 2021 with a continued sense of uncertainty, but with newfound positivity due to the vaccination regime, there are a number of different behaviours, technologies and systems that the hospitality industry should be engaging with to ensure that they have the best opportunity to thrive when the lockdown restrictions ease.

1.      1. The hospitality industry can bounce back

While safety and rule following remains paramount, longing for a sociable meal without the need to cook for yourself is inevitable, and the data is there to back it up. A recent Lightspeed study shows that there is a strong desire among consumers to dine out after lockdown, with 34% of Brits surveyed revealing they want to eat out, as long as they are guaranteed a table.

This is the perfect opportunity for restaurateurs and cafes to be ready for their customers to ramp up again and having the technology to support this consumer demand will be incredibly important.

Over the past year, innovative changes have been taking place within the industry so that businesses can diversify and access new revenue streams in order to stay operational. We’ve seen the arrival of a whole new consumer offering with the introduction of artisanal goods and products sold by restaurants via e-commerce as additional revenue drivers, and new ways of consumer purchasing, such as the adoption and proliferation of contactless experiences, which we expect to accelerate through the usage of online channels, ecommerce and social media platforms. There is a push for merchants to innovate with more insights, tools and automation.

ePOS systems such as Lightspeed that allow businesses to streamline these practices are not only a clever move from a financial perspective, but they can provide future consumers with a safer environment too, as they promote social distancing as the norm.

2.      As lockdown prevails, so too will the power of the takeaway and delivery

In the immediate future at least, delivery/takeaways will remain an integral part to the continuation of business during lockdown, and equally integral to consumers to provide a sense of occasion and enjoyment. Restaurants that want to stay competitive will need to adapt their offerings to be better suited for consumption outside the restaurant or café. The use of delivery and takeaway services have been essential for doing so over the last year. Whether ordering food from delivery platforms or buying a takeaway pint from your local pubs, the technology behind ordering remotely has had to catch up with consumer demand.

Ordering online for delivery has been enhanced by an ordering system that communicates seamlessly with your restaurant or café database. Boundary London, a Lightspeed client, took advantage of this during lockdown by offering their food products for delivery through Lightspeed’s integration withDeliverect; “this allowed us to put every single item that we were selling in our cafe and grocery store onto Deliveroo and we were immediately selling every product we had available as a delivery. It helped save our business.” (Aaron Resch, COO, Boundary London).

3.      A safer consumer experience 

The last year has changed the way we think about consumer hygiene and safety. What previously was a behind the scenes internal process is now at the forefront of business strategy. These concerns will inevitably affect consumer buying decisions, accessibility to goods and brand identity development heading into the next year.

The digitisation of dining and consumer experiences is revolutionising and enabling safer environments for all. Undeniably, as consumers head back out into restaurants, bars and cafes, the ability to provide contactless and fully safe experiences will be of paramount importance. The hospitality industry should look to maximise the use of contactless digitised payment systems and the likes of QR scanning to minimise contact as much as possible.

As the industry continues to adapt and battle through the challenges that the pandemic is continuing to present, it’s more important than ever to ensure that the businesses within it are conducting the best practice possible. Cloud solutions such as Lightspeed’s ePOS technology have been developed to give businesses more accuracy by providing insight into the needs of their customers and the performance of their employees. Such insights can be used to manage staff scheduling and labour costs, or to deliver personalised customer service more easily. More importantly, they help businesses in the hospitality industry adapt to change in a time when their ability to provide social distanced, contactless experiences to consumers may decide whether your business can survive into the future.