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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

digital payments

Report: Over Half of U.S. Consumers Are Comfortable Dining in Restaurants

More than half of U.S. consumers (60 percent), are comfortable with the idea of dining out at a restaurant, according to new data from tech intelligence firm Morning Consult. The new data is part of a Morning Consult series on when consumers “will return to normal activities” put on hold by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Restaurants, of course, have weathered some of the biggest disruptions to “normal activities” of any business type over the last year. That includes full shutdowns of indoor dining (and outdoor dining, in some cases) and a lowered confidence from consumers that restaurants are safe places to eat. Morning Consult notes that in 2020, the number of consumers who said they felt safe dining out never rose past 42 percent.

The latest report’s finding that that number has jumped to 60 percent suggests more consumer confidence in the restaurant dining room. Meanwhile, 15 percent of those surveyed said they “think they’ll feel comfortable within two to three months” and 73 percent said they will be comfortable dining out in six months. 

For now, there is still at least some reservation. Comfort with dining outdoors (e.g., patio) is still much higher than comfort with indoor dining — 69 percent versus 57 percent, respectively. 

Eating in restaurants took the number seven spot on Morning Consult’s list of activities consumers are eager to try once the pandemic is under control and the economy reopened. Going on vacation, resuming a “normal routine,” and going to the movies were among the activities that clocked in ahead of restaurants. 

However, of these top seven activities, eating in restaurants has the largest share of people already partaking. Twenty-four percent of respondents already dine in restaurants, compared to 10 percent going on vacation or 6 percent going to the movies. Morning Consult notes that excitement around restaurants in particular spans generations. 

Worth thinking about for the future is how much tech will play a role in providing higher comfort levels at restaurants. For example, will QR code-based ordering/payment technology, which lessens the amount of server-to-customer interaction, actually make people feel safer? Or will technology’s job be more about making operations more efficient and accurate? For at least a while, it will do a little of both. As more consumers grow comfortable with eating out, it’s main role will likely be around efficiency of the business, rather than simply making people feel more at ease in the dining room.

North American Bancard Acquires Restaurant Management Platform SALIDO

Restaurant tech platform SALIDO announced this week it has been acquired by payment tech company North American Bancard (NAB). According to a press release sent to The Spoon, NAB will “vertically integrate” SALIDO’s restaurant operating system onto its own payments platform, EPX.

SALIDO, which was founded in 2012, began its life as a POS system before evolving into a full restaurant-management platform that includes data analytics, staff management tools, menu management features, and a kitchen display system for back-of-house management. The platform works for both independent operators and large chains/franchises. The company counts EATALY, by CHLOE. and Restoration Hardware among its clients. 

SALIDO said in this week’s press release that since the acquisition, the company has been building out new products, including tableside mobile ordering, contactless payments, and online ordering — all features are fast becoming the norm in the restaurant industry. 

On that note, SALIDO is hardly alone in its efforts to build more digital, contactless tech into its platform. Actually, the majority of recent restaurant tech news has centered on these types of technologies, and SALIDO will compete with the likes of Paytronix, Toast, and many other companies, legacy and startup alike.

“Speed” and “efficiency” are two words you’ll hear frequently around the restaurant industry these days, as businesses fight to stay alive. Controlling operations in the restaurant is one way to get closer to achieving those things. SALIDO bills itself as a “unified” solution with which restaurants can do this. The integration with NAB will also give the platform better capabilities around digital payments, another new norm of the restaurant biz.

NAB acquired the EPX payment-processing platform in 2014. The acquisition of SALIDO will further embed the company in the hospitality industry. 

I, Restaurant

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This week’s virtual Spoon event was a goldmine of information for restaurants and restaurant tech companies, or really anyone who wonders what the word “digitization” actually looks like in action in a restaurant.

Once an industry reticent to adopt any new technology, the restaurant biz has been forced into using all manner of digital tools — from delivery apps to contactless ordering platforms — to stay afloat in the troubled waters brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. As one of the event’s panelists, Ian Christopher of Galley Solutions, put it, there is now a “survive or die” mentality when it comes to digitization for restaurants.

Front-of-house technologies get the bulk of the investment money right now. But as Christopher, along with Martin Flusberg of Powerhouse Dynamics, SousZen’s Stephen King, and The Spoon’s Mike Wolf discussed, the reinvention of the back of house is arguably more important. 

As the panelists noted, 75 percent of a restaurant’s costs are in the back of house. If restaurants can’t address those, they’ll never get a good handle on their margins. Meanwhile, the pandemic has made those margins even thinner, intensified the labor shortage issue, and accelerated the widespread rise of ghost kitchens, which consist of nothing but the back of house.

How can more technology in the back of house assist in those areas and others? Here are a few takeaways from this week’s event:

More automation. Back of house automation isn’t just about robots making burgers. It has much more to do with digitizing operational processes to make them more efficient. That could mean a robotic arm doing manual tasks. But it could also mean using tech to replace paper-and-pen accounting books or taking a better, more granular analysis of food inventory to cut down costs.

More operational efficiency. Related to automation, the back of house will become more about making operational processes faster and more efficient. One of the panelists went as far as to say efficiency is the biggest thing for restaurants to get right. That’s especially true with fewer people eating in dining rooms and instead ordering takeout or delivery meals that are constantly evaluated for convenience and speed in addition to quality.

More transparency. The pandemic has arguably brought a greater desire for transparency when it comes to our restaurant food, and tech-savvy companies will respond with a variety of solutions. That could include installing software in a restaurant that can tell a customer exactly where their order is at any given moment (e.g., “on the grill,” “out for delivery”) or a tool that better informs them of a restaurant system’s security measures.

Will everyone in the restaurant industry welcome these changes with open arms? Absolutely not. Panelists said we can expect some pushback at the individual level from different folks in the restaurant industry, and one can hardly blame them. After all, what I just laid out above sounds more like a manufacturing facility than a restaurant. 

And to be honest, part of me balks at this new restaurant “experience” where speed and convenience rule and the majority of meals are flung together in ghost kitchens and delivered to me in a cardboard box. But listening to today’s panelists, it’s also clear that digitizing the restaurant biz could mean more businesses being able to stay open (in some fashion), more entrepreneurship, less waste (food and money), and safer procedures for everyone. At a time when the entire industry hangs in the balance, those factors provide some welcome sense of optimism.

80% of Restaurant Jobs Could Go to Robots

On the subject of digitization, this week, the Spoon’s Chris Albrecht wrote about some new numbers that claim 80 percent of restaurant jobs could be taken over by automation. That includes cooking, serving, and prepping jobs.

While the 80 percent figure is high, it doesn’t feel all that surprising. Automation was already coming for the restaurant industry, and robots specifically have been in use for the consumer-facing side of the business for some time (see Starship’s delivery bots or Chowbotics’ Sally).

The pandemic has obviously accelerated that. Reduced dining room capacity, full-on restaurant closures, and a move towards the so-called “contactless” experience has amplified the labor shortage. Throw in the above discussion about efficiency being the number one priority for many restaurants, and it’s easy to see why the industry’s automated future seems a foregone conclusion at this point.   

Restaurant Tech ‘Round the Web

Pacific Northwest chain Duke’s Seafood has installed a pathogen-filtering system in all of its restaurants “to kill COVID-19 particles.” The filtration process uses needlepoint bipolar ionization (NPBI) to reduce airborne pathogens, and is the same system installed in the White House, the Mayo Clinic, and some airports.

Hospitality platform BentoBox this week launched its own take on the contactless dining experience, according to a press release sent to The Spoon. The company’s Dine-In Ordering product features customized QR codes and digital menus, as well as complimentary tabletop signs with a restaurant’s branding.

Adobe Spark this week released a guide that, according to a press release, “covers everything small business owners and marketers need in order to implement QR and other touchless efficiencies right now.” Restaurants that sign up for a free Spark trial can access templates for in-store signage, mobile menus, and other graphical elements needed to communicate social distancing and contactless ordering.

 

Week in Restaurants: Moe’s Goes Digital, Denny’s Adds Pay-at-the-Table Features

Some weeks are all about the incremental developments. Such has been the case over the last few days, with much of the news in the restaurant-tech space about chains adding new tools and features to their digital-focused operations. As the weekend sets in, here are a few more of those developments. 

Moe’s Southwest Grill Plans Digital-First Locations
Joining the growing number of restaurant chains experimenting with off-premises-focused store formats, Moe’s Southwest Grill announced this week it will launch its first-ever “all-digital/kiosk-only” locations in the first quarter of 2020, one in Pittsburgh, PA and the other in Charlottesville, VA. Each store will be equipped with four self-order kiosks and accept cash, Apple Pay, and, for, University of Pittsburgh students, university credit cards. Both locations will also offer limited in-house seating and one traditional cash register.

Denny’s Adds Pay-at-the-Table Feature
Denny’s, beloved pit stop of roadtrippers everywhere, plans to add tabletop devices in its restaurants that allow customers to pay for their meal, rather than having to wait for a server to run a credit card. The Spartanburg, S.C.-based chain has teamed up with restaurant tech company Presto, whose partners also include Applebee’s, Red Lobster, and Outback Steakhouse, among others. An initial deployment of Presto tablets at Denny’s is slated for 2020, and guests will be able to pay, complete feedback surveys, and access loyalty points on the devices. As of now, they will not be able to order food. 

Now You Can Reorder Your Favorite Chipotle Meal With Alexa
Chipotle added a little extra beef to its existing Alexa efforts this week by announcing a reorder skill for the device that functions just as it sounds. Customers download the Alexa app, enable the Chipotle skill, link up their Chipotle profile, and say something like “Alexa, tell Chipotle to reorder my favorite for delivery.” While a very incremental development in the world of restaurant tech, as voice-enabled technologies improve and become more integral to the order process, we’ll see more restaurant chains offering similar functions for repeat customers.

DoorDash May Go for a Direct Stock Listing Instead of an IPO
There have been plenty of rumors about DoorDash’s IPO, which we first heard rumblings about in August. But according to Bloomberg, DoorDash many now opt for a direct stock listing, which would allow it to enter the public markets without incurring the burden of investor pressures that go hand-in-hand with IPOs. This is an approach both Slack and Spotify took when they entered the public markets, and it’s one that lets companies save on bank fees. Whether this is the better approach for food delivery companies, who continue to struggle with the problem of becoming profitable businesses, remains to be seen.