It is a concerning time in the food and beverage industry. Increased operating costs, confusing and challenging award rates, combined with a shift in consumer behaviour have driven venues to struggle and eventually shutting down their businesses.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 2018.
Specifically in Australia, staffing costs present the biggest challenge. A survey conducted last year by Restaurants and Catering Australia concluded that 50% of their overall business expenses are related to staffing costs.
Will we lose our position as one of the world's most well known culinary destinations? What will our industry's future look like?
Here are our recommendations for you to thrive in this demanding environment and reap the benefits in the long run:
1. Implement a smarter pricing model
Firstly, analyse your POS sales data along with your inventory cost, you can be smarter by increasing prices of high-volume and high-margin items only, for example, coffees, wines and spirits.
Charging your customers at various prices for different dining options might be a solution. If your business is likely to favour the takeaway model, you can decrease pricing for customers who order their meals to go compared to others who want to dine at your venue.
2. Make the right scheduling decisions
Is your POS integrated with an employee scheduling platform that works best for you? Are you investing in the right technology?
According to a leading workplace management software Deputy, many managers find that 25% of their time spent on scheduling staff, resulting in a negative impact on their productivity. For tips on how to best schedule your employees and save on labour costs, click here.
Venue operators who don't use data to make scheduling decisions are missing out key insights and live data that could save them significant costs.
The benefit of integrating your rostering platform with POS is that you can have live data on the number of hours worked vs the actual sales.
Sales per staff hour is a measure of the sales in an hour, divided by the number of people working in that hour. It's an excellent benchmark for controlling labour costs, especially if you can track it at least up to the last hour.
So with this benchmark, you can make the right decisions and help you to save money.
3. Engage with the 'on-demand' diners
With the rise of the 'on-demand' diners, it's critical for owners and operators to seek new ways to turn this challenge into an opportunity.
People are now accustomed to ordering food digitally and simply won't accept having to wait either to order their food or standing in a long queue at a counter or bar. @Table ordering is the perfect solution to provide a seamless and convenient experience to your diners, as well as influencing them to order more by incorporating high-quality photos in your digital menu.
More importantly, you can combat the increasing pressure from wage costs and focus on delivering fast and friendly service, and ensure that your business is achieving growth.
For more ideas on how you can profit from 'on-demand' diners, click here.
Let's make our food scene thrive once more and maintain our position as the world's top culinary destination!
At OrderMate, we're committed to solving real-world problems in the food and beverage industry. From POS systems, online ordering to table ordering solutions, we can help you to run better businesses. So chat with us today at 
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