The Role of Technology in the Future of Full-Service Dining – FSR magazine

And therein lies another benefit of tech. When properly deployed, restaurants can tailor the guest experience.

I think that, again, it comes down to personalization and really caring about what the guest needs and wants and not just serving them up messages and hoping they resonate, but really doing the due diligence to know that something is going to resonate, Zoiss says.

But what constitutes guest care can be a fraught issue. At Barcelona, technology does not figure into the relationship-building equation. The 18-unit concept has incorporated some tech within its operationwere not complete luddites, Halberg saysbut it does so in a very deliberate, measured way. The brand is currently exploring tech that can help with systems like F&B inventory. It also wants to update the POS system.

There are really smart people creating some wonderful restaurant apps now. Its sort of finally caught up to the restaurant industry. Overall, the challenge that weve always had and continue to have is what we want out of our technology; it tends to be something that we want to be able to customize, Halberg says.

Even before the pandemic, Barcelona used Wisely (now powered by Olo) for online reservations because it allowed for customization. Unlike other platforms that direct users to alternative restaurants if a particular time slot is unavailable, Wisely prompts guests to call the restaurant and provides its phone number. Because on-the-ground employees have a better read on foot traffic, they may be able to take the reservation after all.

At the very least, its an opportunity to strengthen the relationship with guestsand thats where Halberg sees potential. Hes in favor of technology that streamlines operations but has no interest in cutting opportunities for interaction, even if such solutions make things easier.

Its a point Halberg regularly debates with Tim McLaughlin, CEO of GoTab. Barcelona uses the platform for takeout orders but has opted out of its pay-at-the-table functionality.

He jokes about the fact that servers are great when you can find them. From his perspective, this pay-from-the-phone and just get-up-and-go sort of a thing would be a real win, Halberg says. He concedes that for venues like food halls or even diners, its a great ideabut not for restaurants like Barcelona. After all, the restaurant invests a great deal of time in training staff to keep their antennae up so they can quickly respond to guests needs.

Its not because we dont want the convenience, but because we lose that last touch. If you came over to my house for dinner, and you left without us getting a chance to say good-bye to each other, something would be wrong with our relationship, Halberg says. Theres something that we really felt we would lose if we had to embrace that sort of payment system.

But again, thats not the case for all concepts. Zoiss also likens hosting guests at one of Bottleneck Managements restaurants to inviting them into a home. For the brand, the best way to show hospitality is to make the experience as smooth as possible for the customer.

No matter what tech we implement, we still want to consider what the guest needs and welcome them in warmly, whether theyre using technology in a restaurant or not, Zoiss says. Were not fast casual; we are full service, and we intend to always be full service.

In recent years, the fast-casual segment has elevated both its offerings and its hospitality quotient, but even so the latter remains a hallmark of the full-service category. How restaurants interpret the application and efficacy of tech may vary widely, but the guiding principle remains the same: Any addition to a restaurants operation should enhance the guest experience.

Thanxs Goldstein says one potential pitfall for operators is only half-heartedly committing to tech solutions.

Brands that go only part of the way down the technology solution can annoy consumers. The reality is if Im getting my phone out and scanning a QR code, why cant I order a glass of wine right there? Why am I waiting for the server to come over? he says. One of the things were seeing great brands do in full service is really differentiate between a heavily tech-enabled experience and a completely non-tech experience.

For example, when guests walk into a white tablecloth establishment, they expect a hardcopy menu and interaction with waitstaff, Goldstein says. However, if a guest saddles up to a casual bar that features a QR code menu, theyll want the option to order and pay digitally.

Case in point: In the early days of COVID, Barcelona launched QR code menus, mostly as a sanitation measure. Once more was understood about how the coronavirus is transmitted (not through surfaces, generally), Halberg was eager to bring back the restaurants leather-bound menus.

That touch, he adds, helped guests feel like they were no longer stuck in a pandemic. The restaurant might not be a fine-dining concept, but the CEO wanted it to embody the same level of hospitality. Supply chain issues with paper have further delayed the rollback of QR code menus, but Halberg thinks its still on the horizon.

Because, at the end of the day, Barcelona wants to differentiate itself through the dine-in experience.

The evaluation about whether or not we keep this technology going into 2022 and 2023 really depends on what youre selling. If youre selling a fried chicken sandwich, then absolutely, your goal should be to get people a fried chicken sandwich as quickly as possible, as hot as possible, Halberg says. If what youre selling is an immersive experience then anything that removes you from that experience hurts the product. A guest at Barcelona, scrolling through social media on their phones instead of chatting with the bartender, meeting new people, listening to the musicall those are the things that degrade the product. Our product is an experience.

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The Role of Technology in the Future of Full-Service Dining - FSR magazine