Pizza Today - August 2023 - 49

What's next in digital
ordering?
Though online ordering has been
around for well over a decade and is
essentially table stakes in today's pizzeria
game, that digital ordering solution has
most often been geared toward generating
additional sales and has frequently carried
added steps to service. As digital orders
climb, however, restaurants are now
demanding more seamless, all-in-one
solutions from tech providers.
While digital ordering solutions ranging
from self-ordering kiosks and server
handhelds to QR code-initiated menus
that enable customers to order and pay at
the table are seemingly destined to become
more commonplace, the specific solution
isn't necessarily as important as how it
behaves and interacts with operations.
" The fully integrated solutions will be
taking the front stage, " says Cris Jucan,
CEO of Tacit, a leader in digital ordering
for restaurants. " Solutions offering
ordering automation, including customerfacing
features, such as incorporating
loyalty, order personalization, keeping
track of the customer order history and
making it available on all channels. "
Restaurants, after all, want sales, but
don't want to complicate operations.
In fact, solutions that bolster staff
productivity are particularly prized,
especially given ongoing labor challenges.
Tsang says servers using Toast Go
handheld units, for instance, are
getting orders into the kitchen quicker,
eliminating the redundant process of
re-entering orders into a point-of-sale
terminal and accelerating payments to
expedite table turns.
Jucan, meanwhile, notes rising
demand for standardization in the
kitchen - all orders printing the same
way in the kitchen to reduce staff training
requirements and errors when preparing
the food - as well as solutions that can
present the menu to all channels as
opposed to having multiple solutions that
require the operator to re-enter the menu
multiple times.
" What we see with our clients,
including pizzerias, is a demand for
omnichannel solutions that can take orders
from all channels that the restaurant
offers to its client, " Jucan says.
Oh, and one more thing:
restaurants are no longer blindly
accepting digital ordering tied to the
delivery or marketplace solution, such
as DoorDash or Grubhub. Instead,
they prioritize a solution branded to
their individual restaurant.
" Operators want to communicate
directly with their own clients
and incentivize them to buy from
their locations, as opposed to
guests developing loyalty with the
marketplace operator, " Jucan says.
DANIEL P. SMITH Chicagobased
writer has covered business
issues and best practices for a variety
of trade publications, newspapers, and
magazines.
Why pizzerias' exploration of
technology cannot - and should
not - stop at digital ordering
While technology is helping restaurants on the
ordering front, including positioning restaurants to
meet consumer expectations around personalization,
speed of service and order accuracy, Toast vice
president of product marketing Teddy Tsang says
technology continues emerging a must-have in more
areas of the restaurant to fuel bottom-line results,
whether that is controlling costs or identifying new
sales opportunities.
" We believe technology will increasingly become
the essential operating system or backbone of any
restaurant, " Tsang says.
To Tsang's point, xtraCHEF by Toast provides
restaurants with in-depth point-of-sale data with
ingredient-level purchase details and an end-to-end
view of a restaurant's operational and financial performance.
For example, xtraCHEF can track the cost
of pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, mushrooms and
other ingredients to help spur profit-driving ordering,
marketing or menu changes.
" Pizzeria owners and operators can take profitability
into their own hands with robust reporting,
recipe costing and inventory management, " Tsang
says. " These insights are helpful to maximize productivity
and proactively manage costs. "
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