How is tech changing food service?

1% margin improvement, better decisions, and more sophisticated pricing.

The Zupa Forum

EP was delighted, in partnership with Zupa, to host the third in a series of breakfast forums which have asked the question as to how is technology impacting and changing the food service sector? For this forum, the focus was on high volume environments and we were delighted to be joined by Kevin Watson, (Managing Director Amadeus) and Adam Elliott, a long established industry CEO and expert across sports stadia and events.
It was an engaging discussion which made a number of points for consideration:

• The sports and major events sector is recovering strongly and is, in many ways, leading the way in the industry’s recovery; however, customer expectations are growing all the time and major stadia and venues are becoming increasingly sophisticated. It was noted that all operators on how to increase dwell times and improve the customer experience. Technology sits at the heart of this debate but the industry is arguably still learning with it comes to the consumer engagement and improving.
• In contrast, the back of house operational systems are improving and it was noted that operators today do receive strong consistent data which does allow for leaders to have the information on how each part of their operation is developing.
• The point was made that sustainable profit is driven through 1% improvements in margin across many outlets and this is where technology is leading change.
• There is a strong view that technology and A.I is evolving at such a fast rate that most industries are struggling to keep a pace; that most executives need training to understand what is taking place and changing.
• However, maybe most crucially, A.I is now about to change most board discussions as suddenly CEOs will be supported with stronger analysis than they have ever been able to access in previous times. How will leadership discussions now change with A.I sitting at the table offering greater accuracy than the opinions and views of an executive? Do leaders need board discussions in the same way as was once the case?
• Will it make leadership more understanding on key issues or will costs become more streamlined? How will this extra insight be used by leaders?
• It was noted that the hardest challenge across operations was the education of operators who were often the barrier to successful progression. Operators would often feel concerned that progressive technology may impact on their own security and jobs.
• There was good debate around how technology is helping improve faster, better customer service but also that there is a growing focus on the VIP experience. Many operators are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their ticketing and pricing and , in turn, offers; so it does maximise revenue flow.
• It was noted that different generations do have different preferences when it comes to service. Older generations prefer to still verbally order whilst younger generations prefer to order via an App.
• It was also being asked how A.I will impact on productivity? The advocates are arguing that it will free up time for people to be able to offer better service levels.
• There was discussion around EPOS which sometimes struggled as service systems become faster. How too can all systems be linked effectively and come together more fluently?

The core conclusions were that the industry still has a way to travel on journey. What has changed is that operators are making more efficiencies, better margins and becoming more sophisticated in their pricing. At the same time, leaders are changing as their decision making is being supported by live data and the old gut-feel decision is now consigned to history as there is clear evidence.

A need for knowledge share and education.

It was noted that all are learning together and working at some pace. One of the ideas being discussed is to now create a best practice forum which does meet regularly and shares ideas.There appears to be genuine support for this idea.

If you would be interested to be part of such a forum, then please do let us know by emailing izzy.mchattie@epmagazine.co.uk