Sleep Working
Analyzing restaurant technology that really works
The best part of my job is figuring out how to utilize technology, not to eliminate the human touch in restaurants, but to enhance it. Managers doing "paperwork" in the office do not touch tables, do not observe the plates leaving the kitchen and do not lead their teams to successful shifts.
In the world of individual finance, if one wishes to grow their wealth, they develop streams of income that are self-perpetuating. That means they develop income that is not directly related to their hourly output. Financial gurus call this type of income, "sleep money" as revenues continue to flow, even when one is asleep. Examples of sleep money are royalties from creative output like music or writing, dividend returns on investments, and performance-based incentive programs. When it comes to productivity in the workplace, I take the same approach. Instead of looking at work as a one-to-one ratio, that being one unit of work equals one unit of output, I devise systems that enhance that ratio. In a sense, I develop business structures that sleep work.
When I first got into the restaurant business many decades ago, technology was expensive, slow, and required highly-skilled maintenance contracts to operate. The tech in those early days served only three functions, speed, accuracy, and accountability. Early restaurant point of sale (POS) systems sped up order input and order delivery to the kitchen, made accurate customer receipts and held staff accountable for cash and hourly clock-ins. That was it. The tech only enhanced team output while they were working and did nothing while they were off the clock. That dynamic started to change with the tech boom of the 1990's.
In that evolution, companies began developing automation processes and restaurant tech slowly started working while we were asleep. These automations included tasks like sending the day's credit card batches to the processor and auto bank deposit of funds thus enhancing restaurant cash flow. Tech systems in the 2000's started to automate inventory, labor scheduling and accounting procedures, but the process involved complicated and comprehensive software interfaces. Again, these automations increased worker productivity, but required expensive IT maintenance support and was still a day operator's task to facilitate the work. The challenging part of those early restaurant tech interfaces was that the data gathered was static, but our restaurant operational world is (and always will be) dynamic.
For the restaurant industry, the climb up the tech hill ever since the dawn of the twenty-first century has been slow but steady. The biggest advancement in the development of "sleep working" technology came when companies developed Software as a Service (SaaS) to replace “shelfware” software. Although SaaS does not come without operational obstacles and investment hurdles which I discussed in these prior articles, The SaaSy Lifecycle and A SaaSy Journy, the benefits these product offer to the restaurant industry way out performs the negatives of not owning our operational tech stack.
A quarter century has passed since the tech boom of the 90's. My industry and customers are in full acceptance of utilizing technology to enhance their dining experience. Now, when I analyze tech upgrades, I am looking for automation of tasks that once took in-person labor hours to complete. In a sense, I am looking for SaaS that sleep works. Here are some examples of that mentality:
On-line reservation systems like OpenTable, Resy, or Tock have increased the work unit work output of our host stations as multiple guests at any hour of the day may make restaurant reservations thus eliminating the old "one call one reservation" work ratio.
On-line ordering through multiple third-party resources like DoorDash and Uber Eats as well as SaaS restaurant POS systems like TOAST and SpotOn greatly enhanced customer ease of ordering and pre-ordering food for deliveries and pick-up. These systems run 24/7 and do not choke the host station phones with call-in orders.
Electronic gift cards are also sold 24/7 and cash flows automatically to operators' bank accounts for these convenient on-line sales.
Labor scheduling products like 7shifts, TeamWorks, and Restaurant365 allows staff communicate with each other and management at all hours of the day, greatly reducing in-person or on-phone conversations regarding scheduling, shift changes or pre-shift communications.
Electronic job boards, on-boarding and benefits management have also enhanced employee experiences in the hiring, training and benefits management and are available 24/7 thus easing the burden on HR departments.
Accounting, accounts payable, daily sales input and data analytics automation by companies like Restaurant365 have had a huge impact on what I have dubbed sleep working. R365 automates daily sales and labor into its cost accounting system, automates vendor invoice entry and payments, automatically updates inventory costs, and creates emailed analytical reports all while my office personnel are sleeping.
Social media engagement also works while we are sleeping. Media messages and video reels posted during daylight hours continue to work their customer engagement magic and promote our stores at all hours of the day and night.
The restaurant industry has come a long way since the DOS based POS systems entered our environment. But as a restaurant operator, I look not for systems that will automate our teams out of a job, but for products that enhance their on-the-job performance as well as improve customer experiences. The more we can free servers to serve, cooks to cook and managers to manage, the better the dining experience will be for our guests.
Technical enhancements that fall into my sleep working category are at the top of my list for implementation. When I travel to trade shows, I am the person immersed in “tech alley,” learning all the newest integration imaginations. Next stop for me on the super tech highway will be the Restaurant Finance & Development Conference next month in Las Vegas. If you are attending that event, look for me poking about the tech booths and seeking the next great sleep working innovation.