3 Restaurant Trends to Look Out For in 2021

The Covid 19 pandemic has been tough on the restaurant industry and has pushed restaurant business owners to adapt to the tough times and this has given rise to new customer trends. It is more important than ever for restaurant business owners to keep up with these trends as they will present new market opportunities and customer expectations.

Here are 3 restaurant trends you should keep a lookout for in 2021.

Cloud Kitchen

Cloud kitchen or ghost kitchen’s rise to popularity can be attributed to the popularity of food delivery platforms among consumers. Cloud kitchens are a viable option for restaurant owners who are looking to expand while keeping their costs low amid the ongoing uncertainty.

Operating entirely from the back end brings down overheads enabling restaurant owners to shift their focus to sourcing for quality ingredients to better their food quality for a better customer experience. Restaurant owners can also operate multiple brands from their cloud kitchen using the same kitchen setup, moving away from the traditional one shop one brand restaurant business model.

Contactless Dining

Covid 19 has made hygiene a top priority for consumers when they are dining out. Many restaurant owners have made the shift to contactless QR ordering where customers scan a QR code with their smartphones to browse your digital menu and place orders. This saves restaurant service staffs the hassle of sanitizing physical menus after every use.

Adopting a contactless QR ordering system brings about many benefits apart from hygiene. Here are a few examples.

• Appetizing images and descriptions of your food can be attached to each dish, educating customers on your menu and attracting them to order more, or try a new dish.
• Handle high order volumes simultaneously without having to increase your operational costs. QR ordering helps restaurant owners to break out of the cycle of hiring more to handle more customers, thus increasing the restaurant’s profitability.
• Contactless QR ordering also helps generate additional revenue by allowing restaurant owners to set up add on suggestions that will automatically pop up when customers place their orders. This will safeguard a restaurant owner’s revenue as upselling opportunities will never be missed.

Online Ordering for Delivery or Self Pick Up

During the circuit breaker, customers were not allowed to dine out at restaurants or restaurant outlets, hence, consumers turned to order food online for self pick up or have it delivered to their homes. Online food ordering which was already popular among consumers, became even more widely used with the convenience it offers. Even after the circuit breaker had ended, many consumers are still ordering their food online instead of dining out or cooking at home.

Restaurant business owners should capitalize on this market opportunity by adopting a reliable, easy to use online ordering system to boost revenue. Restaurant business owners can also use online food ordering systems to receive orders from customers for their cloud or ghost kitchens, making online food ordering a must-have asset for restaurant businesses.

Having a Robust POS System is Still Essential

The digitalization of the restaurant industry is speeding up rapidly amid the pandemic. Hence, having the right tools to adapt to the new business environment is crucial for your business. A good POS system enables restaurant business owners to have a centralized operation management system where backend functions like inventory management, menu items creation and updating, etc., can be performed through a cloud based backend system simultaneously, while front end operations like order taking are ongoing. 

On top of that, a future proof POS system will be able to integrate with self ordering digital tools like QR ordering system, online food ordering system, and self ordering kiosks so that your staff can manage orders from a centralized device without having to look at multiple devices for order management.

If you are keen on getting a robust future proof POS system, drop us your contact details below and we will be happy to arrange a free demo with you!