Adopting technological innovations is a must for enterprises, lest they are rendered uncompetitive against more agile competitors. The range of digital solutions is now so comprehensive that even industries that are primarily centered around the skill and productivity of their workforces, in the past, are discovering the advantages they can gain from these upgrades.
One such, supposedly ‘old school’ industry is the food service and restaurant business. Thanks to digital technology, hospitality establishments, and restaurants are transforming their operating models and enhancing the customer experience in ways that signifies a clear departure from the past. The digital bandwagon has well and truly arrived in the restaurant business, and businesses are hopping on board for the ride.
The food service industry is no stranger to the concept of a special ingredient, the addition of which takes one of its creations to the next level. In the case of digital transformation, the recipe may not be one that harks back to grandma’s kitchen, but it’s having an equally dramatic impact. From social media presence and online services to optimized back end processes – such as rostering, inventory, purchasing and more – the food service business is discovering how a quintessentially ‘human’ industry too can gain from the brave new digital world.
As early as 2015-16, Pizza Hut in Hong Kong became one of the earliest enthusiastic adopters of digital technology in its market. The extraordinary success of its Social CRM strategy not only extended the available platforms and channels through which they communicated with their customers, but their use of the Microsoft Azure platform also revolutionized their corporate website, online and app-based ordering system, as well as completely replacing a physical card system in their loyalty program(1). The dynamic scaling that a public cloud IaaS allows their operations to integrate now gives Pizza Hut Hong Kong the ability to react with flexible procurement and resource allocation in minutes. The addition of a single feature based on real-time feedback, to a website or mobile app, can draw huge customer traffic. The app for Chipotle, the famous Mexican food chain, became one of the most downloaded because of the addition of a single simple feature. The company’s inclusion of instructions as to which designated drive-in lane customers could pick up their orders from, increased downloads by a staggering 50%(2).
Enthusiastic adoption of digital solutions is not limited to the fast-food end of the food service industry. The restaurant industry affiliate of Trip Advisor, The Fork, reports that respected culinary schools, such as the CETT in Barcelona or the Basque Culinary Center in Gipuzkoa, are including training on how to best leverage digital tools, in their curriculum(3). Fortune 500 listed Darden Restaurants, incorporated a customer-focused digital initiative – based on data and cross channel engagement – to raise the bar on customer experience, at their Olive Garden restaurant as well as other fine dining establishments(4).
Microsoft Dynamics 365 provides the foodservice and restaurant industry with a comprehensive ‘end-to-end’ solution that is fully customizable to their needs and current operational model. The solution enhances foodservice businesses through integrated CRM and ERP and cloud technology that leverages multi-platform and multi-channel access, to enable agile management and enhanced customer engagement.
Between the process efficiencies that were enabled and the reinvented customer-facing model, it’s no surprise that the food service industry is becoming another highly active arena of digital transformation. Some of the transformative upgrades specific to the restaurant and food service business that digital solutions such as Dynamics 365 enable include:
To understand how Dynamics 365 can help your food service business perform to its optimum potential, please reach out to us at sales.uae@intwo.cloud
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