Restaurants report uptick in tech adoption: Survey

The covid-19 pandemic as well as the subsequent lockdowns battered the restaurant industry last year. Meanwhile, it helped those that were equipped to deliver orders quickly.

As a result, most restaurants were prompted to not only work deeply with aggregators but also develop their own ordering capabilities.

Dineout surveyed restaurant owners, food and beverage consultants, and restaurant general managers across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and other cities. In all 2,000 responses were collated.

The report found an uptick in technology adoption by restaurants to manage their daily operations and to further minimise their dependency on aggregators. “Online reservation systems, loyalty programs, and targeted marketing solutions provide restaurants with an opportunity to retain customers and provide a safe customer experience,” it said.

More than 90% of restaurateurs believe owning customer data can help boost their business.

Meanwhile, 81% of restaurants believe that their own website is a more cost-effective medium to generate direct order. Nearly 70% of those surveyed said consumers prefer using digital menus. In fact, technology solutions like QR- based menus, online reservations, and feedbacks are now ingrained in the system, it said.

Over 90% of those surveyed said that owning customer data can help them serve and reach out to shoppers directly. Over 70% of those surveyed said social media is quite helpful when it comes to generating orders for their restaurant. Almost all of the surveyed said digital market during the pandemic has been very important.

The dynamics to run a business have now changed and with effective solutions available in the market, restaurants can save huge overhead expenses, said Ankit Mehrotra, CEO and co-founder, Dineout.

Dineout is dining out and restaurant tech solutions platform, while Inresto is its business-to-business platform. It works with a network of 50,000 restaurants in 20 cities.