The UK hospitality sector is losing £21 billion in trade due to record staff shortages, according to a new survey from UK Hospitality. Their data shows nearly half of operators have had to cut trading hours or capacity due to a vacant 174,000 jobs in the industry. 81% of these operators have reported looking to fill front of house roles.
Although people are at the heart of the hospitality industry, there is technology available to help you operate with reduced staff and speed up service. Read on to learn how you can deal with the hospitality staff shortages using EPOS integrated tech.
Give your staff handheld EPOS tablets
With an integrated EPOS tablet system, your wait staff can go paperless. Get rid of the need for pen and paper to improve order accuracy, speed up table service and reduce the amount of wastage. Using the tablet software is a simple, convenient and quick process for your wait staff, and they’ll be able to save time and serve more tables at once. They’ll also be fully equipped to answer any questions about what’s on the menu, what’s out of stock, and any relevant dietary information.
Benefits of EPOS tablets
- Faster order fulfillment and average dining time
- Improved order accuracy
- Staff will have clarity and confidence on dish information and upsell opportunities
- Staff can serve more tables at once
Create an order at table app
At the height of the pandemic, most hospitality businesses were using some form of table ordering or order and pay technology. A lot of businesses have now reverted back to table service or ordering at the bar, but if you’re struggling to recruit, an order at table app will reduce the workload of your existing staff and give them more time to complete other tasks.
Benefits of order at table apps
- Guests don’t have to wait for staff to place an order
- Staff only have to focus on serving food and clearing plates
- Customers spend more when ordering on a device
Integrate with online ordering platforms
Add a software integration to send your takeaway orders straight to your till, no matter if the order was placed on Uber Eats, Just Eat or Deliveroo. Reduce the stress on your staff by taking away the need for manual entry, with all orders placed automatically sent to your kitchen printer or kitchen display system.
Food delivery integrations feature live menu control, with the ability to sync your on-site menu with your online ordering. If you run out of something, you can update the availability in real time and mark items as out of stock.
Benefits of delivery platform integration
- Staff do not have to manually enter orders placed from different platforms
- Automatically update out of stock items
- Instant reconciliation of payments
- Centralised menu and pricing management
Install a self service kiosk
Ideal for quick service and takeaway environments, a self service kiosk can help while you have a reduced number of workers. You’ll be able to take more orders with less staff at the tills, so they’ll have time for other tasks and focusing on the customer experience.
A kiosk can also help reduce overhead costs for your business; assisting increasing sales through upselling. Customers spend 10% more on average when ordering food at the kiosk than when ordering at the counter, as they’ll have the freedom to browse the menu at their own pace.
Benefits of self service kiosks
- Customers spend more when ordering through the kiosk compared to at a till
- Speed up the ordering process and reduce queues
- Take more orders with less staff at the tills
Make the switch to Gardiff
At Gardiff, we put our customers first. Designed for ease of use and convenience, our EPOS systems give you more time for your staff and company. If you choose to switch to us, we’ll work with you every step of the way to make sure your life is made easier from the switch, not harder.
