Quick-Service Restaurants – Modernizing Operations With a Full Tech Stack
Driven by comprehensive digital transformations, the Quick-Service Restaurant (QSR) industry has been evolving at breakneck speeds. As processes get digitized and made more convenient for customers, businesses have been able to expand faster. And with the widespread use of cloud technology, companies have been saving thousands — or more — on hardware and software licenses.
The key to staying competitive is thoughtfully leveraging technology. In this way, you maximize the agility of your business and speed up growth without sacrificing quality of service. However, doing things the old-fashioned way using minimal tech, while effective on a small scale, limits innovation and stifles growth.
Your full tech stack, particularly in the context of the QSR industry, includes nationwide network access, Internet of Things (IoT) devices and network capability, cybersecurity, managed wireless, multi-cloud services, and network management. Here’s a breakdown of the role each of these plays in the QSR sector and how they can benefit your operations.
Nationwide Network Access
Having reliable, high-speed and fiber internet is essential for quick-service restaurant operations because you have to transmit large amounts of data in real time across your organization. Service dropouts or throughput bottlenecks can negatively impact the customer experience, forcing them to use your competition instead.
On the other hand, if you have seamless connectivity across multiple locations, you unify your operations under a single digital umbrella, resulting in deeper visibility and control.
Nationwide network access also paves the way for data sharing. For example, you can use real-time data streams to:
- Optimize food delivery solutions
- Keep track of drivers
- Gather feedback about meals
- Streamline your supply chain so you’re the most essential ingredients using just-in-time (JIT) methodologies
- Communicate with your entire team, regardless of which states they’re in
IoT
IoT devices, such as smart kitchen appliances and automated inventory management tools, streamline your operations and reduce the risk of human error.
For example, you can use smart appliances to automate cooking times and temperatures, reducing the risk of undercooked or prepared food. This also makes it easier to comply with food quality and health regulations, as well as document your compliance measures.
One of the most significant benefits of weaving IoT into the fabric of your tech infrastructure is an enhanced customer experience. For example, using self-service kiosks, customers can peruse your options at their own pace and place orders on their own.
Digital menu boards provide customers with vivid, vibrant images that drip off the screen and onto their plates. You can also change the images as you’d like, updating them to reflect menu adjustments or recipe improvements.
IoT sensors come with additional benefits, particularly when it comes to streamlining the monitoring and maintenance of restaurant equipment. With sensors attached to various components, they can provide data regarding wear and tear and when it’s time to service or replace individual units.
Cybersecurity
Attackers have been targeting QSR businesses around the world. Time magazine recently reported a hack that downed McDonald’s establishments across the globe. But by including robust cybersecurity measures, you protect both customer and business data, preventing hackers from exploiting vulnerabilities. Not only does this safeguard you from corporate sabotage and malware, but it also makes it easier to conform to data protection laws, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
QSRs are frequent targets of hackers trying to steal information or leverage ransomware assaults. But by establishing cyber security solutions, such as encryption, firewalls, and regular security audits, you can stay a step ahead of threats.
For example, encryption can make your data unreadable by an attacker who’s able to intercept it in transit, and a next-generation firewall can identify and prevent attacks by pinpointing suspicious network behavior.
Managed Wireless
With a managed wireless solution, a QSR gets consistent and reliable Wi-Fi for both staff and customers. Since you have professionals configuring and monitoring your network, the stress of maintenance is off your shoulders.
In addition to enhancing convenience and connectivity for employees and customers, managed wireless also improves operational efficiency. Wireless POS systems, for instance, make it easy to process orders and accept payments throughout your establishment. This can eliminate long lines and speed up the payment process for customers.
The benefits are numerous. For example, with a faster payment system, you can get customers on their way, freeing up tables for those waiting in the lobby.
Of course, customers love — and expect — free, secure Wi-Fi access as well. A managed wireless solution ensures you can give them the access and speed they want without consuming the bandwidth you need for other operations.
Multi-cloud Services for Quick-Service Restaurants
When you use a multi-cloud architecture, you incorporate more than one cloud environment to handle different facets of your operations. For instance, you could host your restaurant’s website on one cloud platform and your supply chain management system on another.
This comes with several benefits, especially if you already have some operational elements in the cloud. You can simply use Cox Business to set up a new cloud environment that handles another aspect of your business.
You can also save money using a multi-cloud architecture because some functions may cost less in one cloud environment than in another. By choosing the least expensive provider for each function, you can save significant money each month.
Perhaps the most compelling benefit for QSR businesses is the disaster recovery options when using a multi-cloud setup. You can establish redundant backup systems or segment your backup solution, spreading it across two or more cloud environments. You also have the option of automating your failover system so your parallel, redundant, or backup assets spin up automatically when needed.
This is especially helpful for QSRs when it comes to CRM systems and online ordering platforms, which have been growing in popularity, according to a recent report by Nation’s Restaurant News. The information and functionality of these systems are often central to your business. So when using a multi-cloud resiliency solution, you can be back up and running moments after an outage in a primary CRM, ordering platform, website, inventory management solution, or business intelligence system.
Network Management
Effective network management prevents outages and latency for critical operations, such as online or kiosk-based ordering. Similarly, with a network management solution, you don’t have to worry about whether customers have access to payment portals or interactive menus while in your establishment, at work, or at home.
Some of the more common network monitoring and management solutions include:
- Bandwidth management, which makes sure essential applications and services get the bandwidth they need to be available to customers and staff
- Traffic analysis, which can manage the traffic going through your network and detect certain kinds of cyberattacks, such as distributed denial of service (DDoS) assaults.
- Application monitoring to make sure your applications are receiving and processing requests efficiently and without interruption.
Challenges and Considerations
Implementing a full technology stack often comes with complicated challenges, such as cost and integrating with your existing systems. There can be compatibility issues and the danger of interrupting workflows for extended periods of time without the right plan and guidance.
This is why a tech partner like Cox Business is essential. For small-to-medium-sized QSRs, Cox Business can guide you through choosing the right tech stack for your current business model. We can also design a tech stack to future-proof your quick-service restaurant, ensuring you have the agility and scalability to compete in a changing competitive environment.
QSRs need to be especially thoughtful when it comes to choosing a tech stack that enables resiliency against outages and cyberattacks because even a relatively brief interruption can cause significant monetary and reputational damage. Another important consideration is maintaining throughput for all internet-based functions. Delays or glitches can result in lost business and customer loyalty issues. But a smooth, efficient customer-facing solution boosts the lifetime value (LTV) of each customer by making their buying experience easy to use.
For a successful implementation, you want to:
- Choose the right vendors. Each provider excels in certain areas and may not lead in others. For instance, an excellent cloud backup solution may not provide equally strong order processing.
- Staff training. Your staff needs to understand the basics of how data flows through your system, how to use cyber hygiene to prevent cyber threats, and how to get the most out of your new tech stack.
- Use a goals-based design approach. While it may be tempting to grab the tech that has worked for other QSRs, you’d be better off using your specific business goals to decide what to implement. For example, if you want to connect several locations to the same cloud-based order processing system, you want to choose a platform that excels in this function, as opposed to simply going with one of the best-known brands.
Using the expertise of professionals like those on the Cox Business team, you maximize your chances of getting a solution custom-tailored to your business model and future goals.
Future Quick-Service Restaurant Trends and Innovations
IoT devices will continue to play an increasingly central role in the QSR industry because they offer ease of use and the ability to collect and analyze vast amounts of useful data. According to Michael Garrity, Director of Marketing for beverage company Brewlogicx, “Data is the way to make great decisions, reduce waste and loss, and actually be efficient so that we can do the most we can.” Following this logic, data is poised to be an insight and process improvement gold mine for years to come.
Customer-focused tech will also play a major role in winning tech stacks. These solutions make it easy for customers to place orders remotely and can even provide experiences similar to what they’d enjoy using onsite kiosks.
Another element of customer-focused tech is creating easy-to-understand benefits and loyalty programs. By aligning these with customer buying behavior, you can customize each visitor’s experience, making it easier for them to get what they want when they want it.
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