New flavor trends are emerging at the intersection of persistent food inflation and pent-up consumer demand leftover from COVID lockdowns.
According to industry experts, consumers are looking for authenticity and transparency above all else, and those values are largely dictating which flavors will win out next year.
With that, here are three of the top flavor trends experts say to watch in 2023:
1. Complex Heat
Spicy food has been gaining popularity over the last decade, but today’s consumers crave more than just heat—they want to learn about different peppers and the complexity of their flavors.
According to Spoonshot’s 2023 Trends Report, interest in complex heat “goes beyond level of heat to specific varieties of pepper from around the world, underlying flavor notes, and even pairing with other flavors.”
Spoonshot’s data shows that the complex heat trend is being driven by consumers’ growing interest in international flavors, which some experts attribute to a collective desire for new experiences in the wake of COVID lockdowns.
“What we’re learning is that this is partly about making us feel something,” Robyn Carter, founder and CEO of Jump Rope Innovation told The Food Institute. “Breaking up the monotony, amusing and stimulating ourselves.
“There are also cuisines that are trending, as consumers seek new experiences through food, where spice levels are more complex and at higher levels than U.S. consumers are generally used to—Indian, West African, etc.” Carter explained. “As those cuisines continue to go mainstream in 2023, we’ll see more complex heat ahead.”
2. Nostalgia
Coming out of the COVID pandemic, many consumers are drawn to comfort foods that remind them of simpler, pre-pandemic times. Nostalgic foods have become hugely popular over the last year, and the trend doesn’t show signs of slowing in 2023.
“In times of change and uncertainty, human nature takes us back to the things that make us feel safe and comfortable,” Dan Mesches, CEO of Sprinkles Cupcakes told The Food Institute. “Food especially has the power to do this.
“So when you start seeing certain flavors you remember having growing up or dishes that remind you of cooking at home with your family, there’s an instant connection there,” Mesches said.
Kellogg’s banked on this kind of instant connection when it brought back Frosted Grape Pop-Tarts earlier this year, a flavor that was discontinued in the 90s, when millennials were growing up.
McDonald’s also tapped into the nostalgia trend this year when it released an adult Happy Meal, complete with a plastic toy, as part of a limited-time collaboration with streetwear company Cactus Plant Flea Market. The fast-food giant is doubling down on nostalgia this Halloween by bringing back the Boo Bucket, a Happy Meal served in a familiar trick-or-treating pail, which debuted in 1986.
3. Street Food
Consumers are looking for new experiences through food while navigating a steady increase in food inflation at the same time—street food reconciles both of these truths, making it a cuisine of the moment.
“Street food carries an aura of authenticity that people right now, especially Gen Z, seek out,” Leith Steel, senior strategist and Head of Insights at Carbonate told The Food Institute. “By nature, it is accessible and carries a lack of pretense, it can also be seen as an antidote to fine dining.”
Elote, Mexican street corn, is one example of an authentic street food that reached mainstream appeal in the U.S. over the last few years. PepsiCo released Mexican Street Corn Cheetos as a limited-time offer in 2021, and Kellogg’s came out with Pringles Mexican Street Corn Crisps this summer.
According to Spoonshot’s report, chaat masala, a spice blend from North India and a staple ingredient in many street food dishes, could be the next big thing in 2023. Right now, consumer interest in chaat masala is five times greater than business interest, indicating that there is demand waiting to be fulfilled.
The alcoholic drinks industry has had to deal with a “relentless series” of major macroeconomic challenges, creating “a perfect storm” for brand owners, according to analysts at GlobalData.
Speaking at an event on the outlook for the industry, GlobalData analysts highlighted a number of “major disruptions” to the alcoholic beverages value chain, including supply-side shortages of crucial ingredients and packaging materials such CO2 and aluminum, lower yields of raw materials including hops brought on by summer droughts and skyrocketing energy costs.
GlobalData beer and cider research director Kevin Baker said because of these increases price hikes have been unavoidable for alcoholic beverage manufacturers. He warned, however, that continued pressure on consumers’ personal finances from inflation would feed into demand in the future.
“The alcoholic drinks industry has witnessed major disruptions across the entire value chain due to raw-material shortages, rising operational costs and distribution challenges,” he said. “Companies have been left with little choice but to raise prices to protect their profit margins, and therefore pass these costs onto their consumers.”
Baker added: “However, consumers have elevated levels of concern over their personal finances, which will most likely lead to a change in purchasing habits either immediately or at some point in the future.”
Citing GlobalData’s Q2 consumer survey, Baker said 84% of global consumers were concerned about the impact of inflation and their personal finances, and would likely face “tough shopping choices ahead”, with non-essential food and beverage items most at risk.
“Ultimately, the consumer will be faced with tough decisions ahead, either to spend less through trading down, buying less or switching out of the category altogether,” he said.
Baker added the onus was on beverage brand owners to mitigate concerns over the rising cost of living by “reviewing their portfolio range, from packed down, sizing and multi-pack formats to price promotions and discounting strategies” in order to ensure sales remained resilient.
Despite this, demand for alcoholic beverages has continued to rise, with GlobalData predicting volume and value growth of 4% and 12% respectively by the end of 2022, as pent-up demand following two-years of pandemic disruption outweighs the impact of inflation on consumer disposable income.
GlobalData alcoholic beverages manager David Harris said alcoholic beverages categories remained “resistant to inflationary concerns”, highlighting their credentials as “recession-proof”.
“Consumers continue to spend more on alcoholic beverages each year,” he said. “In 2016, the average consumer was estimated to spend US$230 on alcoholic beverages every year. Now, however, the average per capita spend adjusted for inflation has increased to US$245 per year.”
“Despite inflationary and geopolitical concerns, performance is forecast to pick up in the coming years, with pent-up demand being a key driver following the Covid-19 pandemic, and this will drive growth across all price segments, through to 2026.”
Tripadvisor has recently announced that it is launching relevant and meaningful guidance for hospitality businesses and travelers. According to the travel guide company, this new business is listing works to make its platform more inclusive of diverse communities using its influential website and app. The new listing aims to celebrate diverse voices in hospitality businesses in the United States and Canada.
The platform states that the self-identification tool was rooted in insights shared by accommodation providers and restaurants. They overwhelmingly indicate that businesses on our platform will use the new functionality.
Tripadvisor reveals that 39% of all business owners surveyed said that the ability to showcase identity attributes on a listing page is important. They also said they would take advantage of the functionality to showcase identity attributes on their business listing page.
“Representation is extremely important to the millions of businesses listed on our platform — and to the hundreds of millions of travelers and diners they serve,” said Kanika Soni, Chief Commercial Officer, Tripadvisor. “Enabling hotels and restaurants to celebrate their diversity is yet another way we deliver helpful guidance to those eager to support these businesses when visiting Tripadvisor.”
See below for the details:
The List Of Self-Identification
Asian-owned
Black-owned
Disability-owned
Hispanic/Latinx-owned
Indigenous-owned
LGBTQIA+-owned
Veteran-owned
Woman-owned
How to Identify Your Business
A business owner or operator can claim their listing on Tripadvisor, giving them access to free reputation management and brand-building functionalities like:
. Customization of business listing details, uploading owner and operator-approved photography.
. Ability to join the conversation by enabling operators to respond to reviews and access free tools to generate more feedback for their business.
. Access to key insights to help owners or operators analyze — and build on — their business performance.
. Finally, any claimed business located in the United States or Canada that wants to self-identify can easily access and select any relevant attributes in their Management Center, and their business listing will reflect that information for millions of travelers or diners to see.
The Owner Identity Attributes
Hotel and Restaurant owners in the United States and Canada can now highlight identity attributes that will be showcased on their Tripadvisor listing page. Currently, within the Management Center experience, hospitality business owners in these regions can select any of the attributes listed above.
Providing owner identity attributes is entirely voluntary and is only available to US- and Canada-based businesses. Tripadvisor informed that it does not verify the accuracy of this information.
Knowing if one of these attributes applies to your business
Tripadvisor says that If 51% or more of your business is unconditionally directly-owned and controlled by a person or people who identify as a member of one or more of the identity attributes outlined above, you should select that or those attributes.
This criteria applies to individual owners, individual franchise owners, as well as to ownership groups of franchised chain hotels and restaurants.
Adding an attribute to your business
Any registered owner in the United States and Canada can add an owner identity attribute to their Tripadvisor listing page via their Management Center.
Within the Management Center, under the “Manage Listings” tab, you will see a new option called “Business Identity Attributes.”
Upon selecting that, you will have the option to click one or more of the attributes Tripadvisor is offering. Upon selecting, the attributes will appear on your Tripadvisor page within 1-2 business days.
What if you no longer wish to display an attribute on your profile?
Providing owner identity attributes is entirely voluntary and can be edited any time within the Management Center.
Here’s how loyalty programs often pan out: A customer downloads the app. They might create an account, log in, place an order, and apply a discount — or they might not even get that far. And when they close their phone or exit the order line, they never touch the app again.
Does that sound familiar? If your answer is, “Yes, chef,” then you aren’t alone. Although the average consumer belongs to 15 or so loyalty programs, they use fewer than seven. Within a year, more than half of loyalty memberships go completely inactive — leaving your promo codes, deals, and discounts to rot away in the spam folder of history.
In today’s digital world, restaurant and food brands need to focus on digital engagement that freshens up the overall customer experience (CX), making the process more convenient, informative, and integrated from start to finish. So how can you make your loyalty program stand out instead of going stale?
Digital Touchpoints that Feed Customer Appetite
More than 90 percent of companies offer loyalty programs, but not all brands see the same success with their members. In fact, eight in 10 consumers report they withdraw their loyalty from brands faster than they did three years ago.
Thanks to expectations set by Amazon, Apple, and other customer-optimized brands, today’s consumers demand more from companies across all industries. Features like a seamless checkout process, free shipping and delivery, early access, and easy-to-use rewards have become table stakes.
At the same time, smart restaurant and food brands understand that loyalty programs aren’t just a way to get diners in the door. They’re vehicles for building brand preference by heightening emotional connections with customers and fostering satisfaction with a purchase. Adding more discounts or upping reward points isn’t enough to achieve this deeper level of engagement. It’s not a sustainable strategy long-term, either — you’d eventually have to make your whole menu free to keep customers coming back.
Instead, successful loyalty programs focus on understanding customers and elevating their experience — and that means integrating loyalty benefits into digital touchpoints to guide a better, more satisfying experience that lines up with customers’ evolving expectations.
What does that type of seamless digital engagement look like in practice? A loyalty app could remind a customer that they have a reward for a menu item and allow them to redeem the reward with one tap. Or customers might receive a personalized notification from a restaurant manager saying “thank you for your order” and that morning coffee is on them.
Loyalty programs that build personalized connections with customers create emotional responses that are stronger than a simple price cut. That’s a recipe for better engagement and relationships with customers that last longer than a single interaction. And the result makes a tangible impact on the bottom line: Companies leading in loyalty grow revenues 2.5 times as fast as other companies.
Cooking Up a Better CX
Brands that recognize the value of loyal customers want them to get the most value from their loyalty program — and they make it as easy as possible to do so. As you look to reinvigorate your loyalty program, consider these three steps to build better experiences for your top customers.
1. Seamless experiences are the standard
You may have had the unfortunate experience of standing at the counter or in line at the drive-thru, scrolling through your phone trying to find a reward, while the cashier stands silently and other customers grow increasingly impatient. Dealing with a poorly designed app is a stressful experience — and it’s one reason why many loyalty program members end up paying for their meals and leaving without using their benefits.
The best loyalty programs take away redemption anxiety by offering a more streamlined experience. Take Chick-fil-A, for example. When a customer orders ahead, Chick-fil-A’s online checkout system will identify the order, assess applicable rewards, and allow the customer to apply rewards with one tap. This system works because it guides customers through the redemption process instead of placing the burden on them to locate and access rewards on their own.
Integrating loyalty benefits into your checkout system is a great first step toward seamlessness, but you shouldn’t stop there. Take a long, hard look at your customer journey and ask yourself how you can make every step from browsing and ordering to rewards redemption and checkout quicker and easier.
2. Innovate with the customer in mind
If you’re a regular at Panera Bread or Chipotle, your go-to order is already waiting when you log into their apps. If you’re a loyalty member, you’ll also get suggestions for additional items that qualify for a reward. Brands that set CX trends don’t just ask what customers want in a loyalty program, they find their own ways to reduce friction throughout the process, solve common frustrations for customers, and reward their most loyal diners for their patronage.
You can differentiate your loyalty program and its benefits from competitors by mapping out your customer journey and reducing points of friction that customers might not even know existed — whether creating more predictive experiences or giving preferential treatment to your most loyal patrons.
For example, you might move loyalty members’ orders to the front of the queue or guarantee their order will be ready within 30 minutes. They might get bumped to the front when they make a reservation or have priority parking when they pick up their meal. Invest in solutions that meet needs customers haven’t yet thought of — and show how loyal customers get value from your loyalty program at every step of the process.
3. CX is an organization-wide initiative
Businesses often delegate every aspect of loyalty programs to the marketing department. But successful CX optimizes all touchpoints your customers have across your company. When the marketing department is entirely responsible for building loyalty experiences, you risk creating an empty promise that can’t be delivered. Your store operations team won’t be on board with the latest discounts and deals once customers are inside. Your data team won’t have the right information to customize and personalize experiences online. Your engineering team may not be able to implement that app update in time for the next promotion.
It takes the entire organization to carry out any CX function — and loyalty programs are no different. Start by mapping out every aspect of your loyalty program and every department necessary to carry those efforts out. Providing a high-level view of your loyalty program ensures that teams across your organization are on the same page and working together to accomplish a common goal: Better experiences for your customers.
CX is a full-course meal — and loyalty programs should be the cherry on top that keeps customers coming back for more.
For food and restaurant brands, just having a loyalty program is no longer enough on its own (really, it never was). With so many options on the table, brands that stick with old-school methods — forcing customers to remember, select and redeem a reward on their own — are missing opportunities at best, or losing customers at worst.
Rather than offering yet another untargeted discount, turn your attention to how customers will access, interact, and redeem that offer. More importantly, focus on how those processes build strong relationships with loyal customers, create an emotional response to your brand, and improve the overall dining experience. CX is a full-course meal — and loyalty programs should be the cherry on top that keeps customers coming back for more.
All social media platforms are driven by one thing—find relevant popular content for users.
In today’s world of the internet and social media, content is produced at an overwhelming rate. In a single day, there are 4.75 million items shared by Facebook users each day, 95 million photos and videos shared on Instagram and about 720,000 hours of fresh video content per day on YouTube. With all the content being created , it’s impossible for social media channels to display 100 percent of the content to a user’s feed. So, businesses often find their posts are lost in the deluge of content—especially since their content is only shown to less than 5 percent of their total audience due to social media algorithms resulting in an average engagement rate of only about 0.25 percent, according to Hootsuite. For businesses looking to engage with their customers and ultimately drive revenue via social media, knowing how to use the social media algorithm to your benefit and ensuring your content is front and center becomes critical.
The business of social media platforms and why they need an algorithm
As demonstrated above, the reality is that there is too much content being generated to display all things to a user. Further, users have short attention spans and other priorities competing for their time.
All social media platforms are driven by one thing: find relevant popular content for users, whether a picture of a puppy, a really popular band, or a friend’s story and put it in front of them. Why? Because the truth is, active users and the time they spend on the social platform is the most significant asset of a social media platform. The platforms are all competing for that “golden” asset, the active user. Failure to bring the user the popular content, that is easily accessed and at the top of the page (their “feed”), will result in their users going to another platform–because no one wants to be bored, look at unpopular content or spend hours going through the deluge of content that is being posted every hour to find something that interests them.
Thus “the algorithm” is the most critical user facing component to the social media platform.
How social media algorithms work
According to Facebook, the platform says the purpose is to “discover new content and connect with stories they [the users] care about the most.” Social media channels like Facebook accomplish this by ranking content based on three main criteria: The people and businesses users interact with the most, the type of content users tend to engage with (for example, photos vs videos) and the amount of engagement a particular post is receiving. When a business sees that posts are receiving very low engagement, it’s likely that the posts aren’t meeting the criteria and thus aren’t being delivered to a large enough percentage of followers. In essence, all that hard work creating social media content and planning and scheduling the posts is being wasted.
Beating the algorithm by increasing your Social Gravity
The way many businesses ensure their posts will appear in people’s feeds is by boosting the posts by placing a paid budget behind it via social media advertising. In fact, a survey of business executives by Sprout Social found that 80% think it’s important to invest in social media advertising to achieve a strong social media presence. Boosting fundamentally sounds like the easy way to get more exposure, but there are several nuances to the strategy. For example, by boosting a post one area you will get more exposure would be an increase in display of the post to your followers, intuitively this would seem positive however the next question is key, “what is the quality of your followers?” If your followers are high value, brand loyal connections then this is a great investment, but if your followers have been acquired through paid exposure, or non-relevant cute pictures of puppies, then these connections are less likely to engage or take your Call-to-Action. It turns out that boosting as a singular strategy is randomly effective and the ROI is not a reliable method of engaging your customers. What if there were a better strategy that didn’t rely on paid advertising to ensure the algorithm works in your favor?
Let’s go back to the criteria social channels like Facebook use to rank content. Number one, it’s the content that people interact with the most, quantified as likes/reactions, comments or shares–and these elements build on each other. For example, when a post by a business is shared, not only is that person seeing it, but all of the people they’re connected with through social media. And as more people begin to see it and click and engage, the algorithm notes this engagement and delivers it to more users. A helpful way to think about this is through a term I coined: Social Gravity. Gravity is a force that attracts mass, and social media works in a similar way. A post attracts reactions, comments, shares, etc., which increases the original posts popularity (mass) and that increase then adds to the popularity resulting in greater and greater gravity with each engagement. Thus, it increases social gravity.
But imagine taking it a step further and integrating your business’s social media with other technologies to create a successful revenue-driving strategy. This is where integrated WiFi marketing comes in.
A revenue-generating advantage through integration
Integrating technologies to further customer engagement and hack the social media algorithm looks like this: A customer goes to a sports bar during happy hour and provides his name and phone number to access the WiFi. The restaurant collects that information and can utilize it to engage with the customer. While he’s still inside the sports bar, he receives a text message with a link to a Facebook post sharing that appetizers are buy one get one free during happy hour. The Social Gravity is instantly increased because his smart phone reaches out to Facebook and displays a “preview” of the post or event. The social algorithm sees that preview as activity. He’s already at the sports bar during happy hour, so this is a great post to see, and he “clicks” the link which opens Facebook and goes to the post. Again, the social algorithm then “sees” that someone has opened Facebook and gone directly to the full post further increasing the Social Gravity of the post.
But, then he likes the post and then shares it so that his friends see it too and both of these activities are “seen” by Facebook and each has a greater impact to the Social Gravity of the post. One simple text immediately becomes four measurable events that all contribute to the Social Gravity of the original post. And while at it, he orders an appetizer to take advantage of the buy one get one free deal. This is one person though, now multiply that across everyone who comes into the sports bar during happy hour. That’s a lot of people engaging with the post which ensures the algorithm will rank it higher. Not only did the sports bar not have to pay to boost the post, but it also gained revenue from the happy hour promotion.
The above example utilizes a sports bar, but the use of integrated WiFi marketing campaigns has grown across business sectors including restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, retail stores and franchises. The strategy is effective since customers enjoy having access to free WiFi (96 percent prefer businesses that offer it according to Global Market Insights) and 74 percent of people are happy for businesses to send them text promotions while using the in-store WiFi, according to an OnDeviceResearch survey. Also, integrated WiFi marketing campaigns are hyper-targeted and delivered in real-time which further ensures the right customers are receiving the right message at the right time.
A sports bar’s Facebook post promoting a happy hour special is one example. But there are numerous opportunities to integrate WiFi, social media, text messaging and even digital signage to drive engagement across social media platforms and hack the algorithms—and that’s merely the start. The end result is revenue and improved profitability from driving more customer traffic, filling seats in restaurants on the slowest days, boosting average sales or gaining larger event attendance.
While using credit cards is a convenience for consumers, this form of payment represents a major cost center for restaurants. In fact, credit card processing fees rank as thethird highest cost of doing business behind the cost of food and labor. As restaurants work to recover from the impact of the pandemic, interchange fees or “swipe” fees continue to curb their ability to grow and thrive. Although these fees can be a growth inhibitor, innovative credit card processing software, services and solutions can help drive growth and mitigate the impact of rising interchange fees.
Credit card acceptance is an essential part of doing business today as more consumers move toward cashless forms of payment. According to a PYMNTS survey of 3,250 U.S. consumers,33 percent of these consumers used a credit card for their most recent restaurant food purchase. This research, from the March edition of the Digital Economy Payments report, “Going Digital to Pay for Travel and Restaurant Dining” also found that credit cards account for the greatest share of food spending with consumers using credit cards to purchase an estimated $29.8 billion in food items in February.
A Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Diary of Consumer Payment Choice report further revealed that consumers continued to use credit cards and debit cards for most of their payments, accounting for57 percent of total payments in 2021 compared to 55 percent in 2020 and 54 percent in 2019.
As an increasing amount of consumers use credit cards to pay for dining, the swipe fees continue to mount, eating into razor-thin margins, which average about three-to-five percent in the restaurant industry. Recent credit card fee hikes are also eroding restaurant profits. In April, Visa and Mastercard raised transaction fees which are estimated to cost U.S. business owners an added$1.2 billion in fees.
Credit card processing fees have more than doubled over the last decade. According to the Nilson Report, U.S. merchants who accepted credit cards as payment for goods and services paid$105.23 billion in processing fees last year, an increase of 25.1 percent. Nilson Report data also revealed that credit cards accounted for 76.3 percent of total processing fees paid by U.S. merchants in 2021, up from 75.9 percent in 2020.
In a recent letter to two members of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the National Restaurant Associationnoted that swipe fees averaging 2.22 percent of each transaction “can hamper restaurants’ and other small businesses’ ability to succeed.”
Rising credit card fees coupled with increasingly thin profit margins and general inflation are making it challenging for many restaurants to stay in business. To help recoup the cost of accepting cards, some restaurants are raising the prices of menu items, and others (where permitted by state law and merchant services agreement) are adding a credit card surcharge to bills.
While restaurants have no control over the interchange fees set by card companies such as Visa and Mastercard, they can cut costs and improve the bottom line by selecting a payment processing company that tailors merchant services to the needs of each client and continues to audit those services to ensure they scale up or down as necessary. Each restaurant has unique payment processing needs and one size fits all solutions can result in overpaying for services and technology that are not wanted and/or used. A customized approach makes certain that this does not happen.
Partnering with a payment processing company that delivers services designed to inject efficiency into operations is another way restaurants can reduce their costs. A point of sale (POS) system which combines payment processing with restaurant management software can help make restaurant operations run smoother and more efficiently. Using this technology, restaurants can take orders, accept payments, organize inventory, manage team members, and grow their customer base.
In an increasingly cashless society, credit card processing fees are a high cost of doing business for restaurants and other businesses. Restaurants do not control those interchange fees, but they can better control and lower operational costs with the payment processing services and software they use to accept credit cards.
For millennials, the video app might be the new Yelp.
Users between the ages of 26 and 41 are apparently quick to act on cravings piqued while browsing the app. More than half (53%) said they ordered from a restaurant after seeing a video about it on TikTok, according to a survey of more than 1,100 users by marketing agency MGH.
Millennials aren’t the only ones behaving this way: More than a third (38%) of all TikTok users said the same thing.
Extrapolated out, that equates to about 52 million of the app’s 136 million U.S. users, presenting a large and impressionable group of potential customers for restaurants.
The app, which serves up an endless stream of short videos, is massively popular and continues to see double-digit annual user growth in the U.S.
It has proven to be particularly influential on users’ offline behavior. A viral pasta recipe led to a feta cheese shortage at some grocers last year, and books that get traction on the app regularly become best-sellers.
That has made TikTok an increasingly important marketing channel for restaurants. The rapid growth of Crumbl Cookies, for instance, has been fueled in large part by its more than 6 million TikTok followers. And many large chains now have a TikTok strategy.
“TikTok truly is a restaurant marketer’s dream come true,” said Ryan Goff, EVP, social media marketing director at MGH, in a statement. “There aren’t many other tools we have left in our marketing toolbox that can drive the sort of impact promised by TikTok through this survey.”
According to the survey, TikTok’s sway on users’ dining decisions can be quite powerful. Three in 10 respondents said they traveled further than they normally would to visit a restaurant they saw on the app. And about the same amount (28%) went to a place that was more expensive than their usual spots after it popped up in their feed.
The driving factor is the appearance of the food itself. Seventy-two percent of respondents said seeing appetizing food on TikTok led them to place on order.
Forty-five percent said it was a unique menu item, and 42% said the restaurant looked like a fun place to go.
Of course, the exposure TikTok offers restaurants can cut both ways. As Bon Appetit reported this week, the app has given rise to amateur restaurant critics who are building large audiences with their scathing 30-second reviews.
Quick-service restaurants always look for ways to live up to their names.
Streamlining workflows and minimizing wait times are what keep them competitive in a digital world seeking instant gratification. To continually improve a restaurant workflow plan, restaurant operators must assess their operations periodically to ensure they’ve created cohesive environments capable of consistently producing high-quality foods. Furthermore, operators will find that improving ergonomics with tablets and tablet stands can shave time from each customer interaction and order prep, taking efficiency to a new level.
Tablets and tablet stands at these four points in the restaurant workflow plan will result in the most significant key performance indicator (KPI) gains.
1. Menu Display Options
A tablet display mount that locks tablets securely in place enables a quick-service to make digital menus visible throughout the store. Instead of one digital display behind the counter, tablets allow restaurants to feature the entire menu or to scroll through specials, combos, and limited-time offers at key locations in the dining room.
Tablets can also display order numbers and wait times so customers can find a seat and relax while they wait.
2. Stands and Tablets at the “Checkout”
Quick-service restaurants that want to deliver the dining experiences their customers seek must offer self-service ordering and payment options. Research for the National Restaurant Association 2022 State of the Restaurant Industry report found that 67 percent of U.S. consumers say they’d order and pay for food using a tablet. That statistic increases to 82 percent for Gen Z consumers and 79 percent for millennials.
Multiple options for self-service ordering allow guests to skip the line, order exactly what they want, pay using a credit or debit card or mobile wallet, and print a receipt with an order number. Having many tablets available, securely displayed using tablet kiosk stands or mounts, can significantly free up employee time to do other work, like attending to customers.
Additionally, tablets on table mounts or kiosk stands that can easily move around give managers the freedom to test locations for tablets and position them as needed to optimize their restaurant workflow plans.
3. With a KDS System
Tablets can work with kitchen display system (KDS) software to track orders, highlight food prep for specific stations, and keep the kitchen staff aware of time. Point-of-sale (POS) systems integrated with a KDS increase efficiency by displaying orders for the kitchen as soon as they’re entered.
Additionally, restaurants with third-party ordering systems like Grubhub or DoorDash can use tablet display stands to organize incoming orders better. Third-party ordering systems don’t always integrate with in-house POS software. Hence, orders may come in from different sources, often causing confusion. Having readily accessible and visible tablets can help sort through these types of orders, organizing them with greater accuracy.
Using tablets with tablet enclosures and wall mounts instead of KDS screens also give restaurants more flexibility. Tablets are typically smaller and, with VESA mounts, can work in more locations, helping managers give staff a clear view of orders and achieve the ergonomic restaurant workflow plan they aim to create.
4. Behind the Scenes
In addition to streamlining customer-facing and kitchen operations, displaying tablets can also improve efficiency in the back office. For example, a tablet display kiosk can replace the time clock. Staff can clock in and out digitally and save all data to the POS system. Efficiency and accuracy are even higher if the POS system is integrated with the accounting and payroll systems.
The Easy Way to Optimize a Restaurant Workflow Plan
Tweaking manual processes and retraining employees will only go so far toward improving performance, efficiency, and financial KPIs. Technology solutions, specifically tablets and mounts, kiosks, or stands, are an easy way to enhance quick-service efficiency, speed, and workflow ergonomics. Furthermore, they’re easy to implement, cost-effective, and can result in a faster return on investment than other options.
In the current climate, efficiency gains can tip the scales from barely scraping by to streamlined profitability. If your business is short-staffed, the right technology can help you provide excellent customer service with fewer employees. Implementing tablets and tablet stands, kiosks, or mounts can improve restaurant workflow plans and take your business into the future.
The world of food is growing, and restaurateurs need to make sure to not lose touch! The past two years have been nothing but a roller-coaster. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many norms and increased the number of challenges for everyone. But it also provided opportunities for people to reconnect with their kitchen and explore new tastes and ideas. Food trends come and go due to the ever-lasting loop of dynamic tastebuds. As 2022 is coming to an end, and the focus shifts to the new year, not only will present the hottest food trends for 2023 to grow but also make way for a whole chapter of new ideas.
Here’s 8 Hot Food Trends to watch out for in 2023:
1.Plant-based foods take the lead
People have already begun to reduce meat consumption and embrace a plant-based orientated diet. In fact, people identifying as ‘vegan’ has increased by 600% in the past three years. Driving this trend are Millennials-the largest living adult population. They have become more conscious of how eating meat affects the environment and how animals are treated during the process. In order to cope with this growing trend, restaurateurs need to start updating their menus with innovative plant-based, vegan options. Plant-based meat, vegan cheeses, and plant-based milk are a few early innovations that were introduced into this new herbivorous world.
2. Potato Milk enters the ring
For generations, the only milk that was spoken about was dairy. As time passed, people began to hunt for other alternatives. This is when soy milk, almond, milk and oat milk came into play. These 3 types of milk welcomed the vegan, the lactose intolerant, and anyone avoiding dairy with a big hug. However, according to the National News, potato milk is the plant-based alternative that is going to be stealing the spotlight soon. It is known to be low in fat and sugar, cholesterol-free, easier to produce and apparently doesn’t even taste like potatoes!
3. Alcohol-free beers and cocktails
The days when people were drenched in booze 24/7 are gone. Drinking habits have started to change. During the pandemic, many alcohol drinkers cut down on booze. Millennials and Generation Z have begun to understand the health risks of over-indulging in alcohol and have been drinking more mindfully. Sales of alcohol-free beers and cocktails show no sign of losing momentum with the numbers rising continuously. Breweries are continuously experimenting to introduce new alcohol-free beers to meet the growing craze. Having to see alcohol-free beers and cocktails on restaurant menus would definitely please some eyes.
4. Zero waste cooking – The new normal
It’s no secret that restaurants create a lot of food waste. However, being an environmentally conscious restaurant can change that. US restaurants generate an estimated 22 to 33 billion pounds of food waste each year. This is partly due to the fact that not all ingredients are used completely when preparing a meal. As natural resources and food supplies are being strained every second, it’s not wise to be wasting food. This is why leaf-to-root cooking is accelerating.
5. A taste of Yuzu
Yuzu is an Asian fruit that is commonly found in China, Japan and Korea. According to Food & Beverage Insider, Yuzu has seen a 49% growth in google searches in 2021. More people than ever in the US are raving about this fantastic zesty flavor. As the primary flavoring component, yuzu has been used in ice cream, cake mixes and chicken breast bites as well.
6. Cold Brew Coffee is here to stay
Even though cold brew coffee has been around for a while, it still hasn’t lost its flare. Cold brew is one of the most delicious, flavorsome, and richest types of coffee in the market. It is a trend that will endure for years to come because of its simple brewing method and superb flavor. According to Statista, the size of the cold brew coffee market is estimated to rise continuously in order to meet customer needs. Hence it’s time to add different varieties of Cold Brew Coffee to your Digital Menu
7. Keto: An eternal food trend?
This 1920s-created diet still seems to be embraced by millions around the globe.
What exactly is a Keto Diet?
It’s a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet that has become an effective way of weight management. The Keto diet not only promises weight loss but also lowers blood sugar and has numerous benefits for people with cancer and heart disease. People following a keto diet must avoid high sugary foods, chips and baked goods to experience positive results. Even though this diet is promoted to improve one’s health, some experts argue saying that it’s sometimes extreme. Keeping all opinions aside, this food trend is here to stay and is predicted to reach a global value of $15.6 billion by 2027.Restaurants can take this opportunity to experiment and create meals to suit this diet.
8. Mushroom Madness
The New York Times declared mushrooms as the “2022 ingredient of the Year”. They provide a range of health benefits and play the main role in people’s favorite foods – pasta, pizza and even desserts. Mushrooms are predicted to become even more popular in the coming years. So, restaurants better stock up!
There you have it! 8 food trends for 2023 that cannot be ignored.
By noting down these popular food trends, restaurants will not only be able to satisfy their customers but also boost sales and profits. global value of $15.6 billion by 2027.Restaurants can take this opportunity to experiment and create meals to suit this diet.
Self-service ordering kiosks are quickly becoming the standard in most quick-service restaurants. Although the COVID-19 outbreak pre-emptively highlighted the advantages of self-ordering kiosks, their use increased even before lockdowns and social distancing. Self-service ordering kiosk sales increased 17.9% in 2019 to more than $11.9 billion. Furthermore, a survey shows that 65% of consumers prefer self-service kiosks. These numbers are not surprising given the various advantages of kiosks, such as increased order efficiency, decreased labor costs, and improved customer experience. Furthermore, kiosks may extend your brand’s reach beyond your establishment’s four walls, resulting in a modernized restaurant experience.
We’ll dive in more to explore the advantages of self-ordering kiosks for restaurants and highlight some of the keys to selecting the best food-ordering kiosk for your restaurant.
What Is a Food Ordering Kiosk?
A self-ordering kiosk is a free-standing touchscreen gadget commonly found in restaurants that displays menu items and allows diners to make their orders and pay without the assistance of a waiter or cashier. According to the findings of this study, around 73% of customers polled prefer retail self-service technology, such as self-checkout, versus interacting with store employees. Self-service kiosks provide clients with the same digital experiences they’ve come to love via e-commerce sites but instead in physical locations.
What’s more, these kiosks often can be linked with a restaurant’s existing point-of-sale (POS) system. Some kiosks actually offer their own POS system. The biggest advantage of merging your fast food kiosk and POS system is that you can streamline all elements of your restaurant’s business, from generating receipts in the kitchen to showing orders on the kitchen display system to linking to your favorite payment method.
Applova Self-ordering Kiosk
Why Are Restaurant Self-Ordering Kiosks Becoming More Popular?
Ordering kiosks are among the handiest technologies introduced by restaurants in recent times. They are not only intuitive to use, but they also cut the time consumers spend waiting in line, perhaps leading to happier customers and increased revenue per checkout.
However, self-ordering kiosks are not limited to fast food restaurants! Hoteliers are already implementing self-service features. In a 2020 study, 27% of hotels had either adopted or were in the process of introducing self-check-in options, and 42% planned to do so in the future.
Kiosks have also become commonplace in grocery and convenience stores, as well as other retailers. Earlier this year, Amazon established an automated grocery outlet giving customers the option to purchase things from a menu without having to interface with employees – simply press a button on their smartphone or tablet device and walk out the door with what they need.
Advantages of Self-Service Restaurant Kiosks
Clearly, restaurant self-ordering kiosks are clearly gaining popularity, and for a good reason. Below, we’ll dive deeper into the top 9 advantages of implementing a kiosk at your fast casual or quick service establishment.
1.Increased Order Size and Sales: Many fast food restaurants implementing self-ordering kiosks have witnessed significant increases in average check sizes. According to Business Insider, McDonald’s brought out hundreds of ordering kiosks as part of their digital renovation in 2017 and witnessed a 5-6% increase in sales within the first year. In the following year, they noticed an additional 2% lift in sales.
What’s causing the lift? Consumers are more likely to take advantage of add-ons and special deals with gentle upsell reminders provided by kiosks throughout the checkout experience. Additionally, there is also no fear of being scrutinized by the server or cashier for their meal selections. Food-related shame, particularly fast food, may have been a powerful deterrent to larger orders in the past. Simply put, customers can now place their orders through machines, totally unencumbered by any type of judgment.
2.Increasing Ordering Efficiency: Ordering efficiency remains a challenge for quick-service restaurants, and technologies such as self-service kiosks can assist. They give real-time data critical for order prioritization, allowing your front and back-of-house to remain in sync.This might involve anticipating traffic numbers or peak order volumes at specific times of the day based on historical data, providing insights on menu options, and distributing consumers between servers/cashiers and kiosks so that neither ordering channel is overwhelmed.
3.Improving Order Accuracy: When cashiers take a customer’s order, there is a potential that the order will not be accurately entered into the POS for various reasons. The cashier could have misheard the consumer, the diner could have misspoken, or the cashier could have heard the customer but pressed the incorrect key on the POS device. These types of communication challenges between cashier and client are reduced, if not eliminated, with a self-service ordering kiosk. The result is fewer orders need to be refired, which makes both customers and staff happier.
4. Solving Labor Shortages:Restaurants are increasingly encountering labor shortages. This is due to a number of macroeconomic causes and the fact that restaurants traditionally have high employee turnover. According to a 2021 survey, over 60% of restaurant operators said their workforce levels were lower than what was required, and restaurant kiosks can help food establishments suffering from limited workers stay afloat.Additionally, with the help of kiosks, there are fewer restaurant roles requiring headcount. A kiosk allows you to repurpose workers who would otherwise handle orders and to be reassigned to other jobs that a machine can’t perform (at least for now).Kiosks will not replace the many advantages of your human workforce, but they may allow you some much-needed wriggle room when staffing the dreaded late-night shifts, as well as covering for personnel who may ‘call out’ unexpectedly.
5. Decreasing Wait Times:Using kiosks may significantly speed up your ordering process. A number of independent studies have revealed that installing kiosks cut down overall order time by approximately 40%. Customers will autonomously queue up and utilize kiosks to order conveniently and quickly, lowering wait times across your restaurant.Furthermore, many questions a consumer could ask a server or cashier can be addressed by merely pressing a key on the kiosk. For example, customers may use the kiosk to acquire information or request modifications instead of waiting for an answer regarding the ingredients in a meal, current specials, or a side substitute.
6. Upselling More: Despite being in a physical restaurant, a digital kiosk ultimately doubles as an e-commerce cart, complete with all of the UX experiences and optimizations that drive basket size. According to a study on online e-commerce stores, upselling can contribute a 10-30% lift in revenue. Furthermore, cross-selling and upselling are up to 68% less expensive than acquiring a new customer.
A restaurant self-ordering kiosk has several cross- and up-selling opportunities that non-digital restaurants do not have. This involves, among other things, bundling the purchase, automated suggestions dependent on both shopping patterns and complementary items, and time-limited deals.
7. Modernizing the Customer Experience:Consumers increasingly want tech-driven products that make searching, ordering, paying, and obtaining support easy. According to one study, the digital generation is more inclined to use self-service kiosks. What’s more, 60% of polled millennials are hoping restaurants will employ technology to give nutrition, allergen, and ingredient origin information.
8.Increasing Data-Driven Decisions:Restaurant kiosks, like traditional point-of-sale systems, provide merchants with enhanced consumer analytics enhanced consumer analytics that allow merchants to better identify their most popular food items, busiest times, and their most popular order modifications and add-on products. This valuable data allows you to select which items to strategically advertise on kiosks when to operate kiosks to help clients move through lines, and which popular add-on products you can raise the price of for more income.
9.Improving Consumer and Staff Safety: When the pandemic began in early 2020, one of the primary advantages of having kiosks was on full display: kiosks facilitated contact-free operations, which helped eateries adhere to the CDC’s 6-foot distance rule to combat coronavirus transmission.Generally, fast food kiosks can create a safe atmosphere for both staff and consumers. Customers may simply approach a self-service kiosk and only need to engage with employees when their meal is ready.
Key Features When Choosing a Restaurant Kiosk
While it is obvious that kiosks provide several benefits to restaurants and their diners, finding the right kiosk for your establishment is not as simple as it may appear. We’ll highlight some of the primary considerations that factor into which product you choose.
Menu Building: Your restaurant kiosk software should enable you to create compelling and aesthetically appealing menus that include photographs of dishes and ingredients. Provide your consumers with an intuitive, modernized user experience and design, as well as exceptional functionality, so they can obtain precisely what they need in the fastest and easiest way possible.
Loyalty: Put yourself one step ahead of the competition by implementing a comprehensive omnichannel loyalty system that authenticates your consumers and allows them to collect and spend their reward points at kiosks. Kiosk data should be gathered, customized, and synchronized with your POS like your other ordering channels.
Upselling Capabilities: Invest in a self-service ordering kiosk that allows you to add cross-sell and upsell recommendations, make menu combination offers, and modify your restaurant’s menu to increase average ticket size by up to 30%.
Instant Updates: Increase customer engagement by telling them when their meals are ready or prompting them about bargains, news, and deals available on the restaurant kiosk via personalized SMS, push notifications, or emails. Few things irritate customers more than placing an order, waiting, and then discovering that a portion of their purchase is out of stock. When an item or ingredient is no longer available, your kiosk should reflect this to reduce dissatisfaction.
Payment Options:Look for restaurant kiosks that accept a range of payment methods, including contactless payment, which customers increasingly prefer. A 2020 study 2020 study indicated that 78% of Americans utilize some sort of digital payment, such as digital wallets, in-app purchases, or scanning a restaurant QR code to pay, citing COVID-19 as the reason for the change in payment preferences. A reliable ordering kiosk supplier should be able to support several payment options and payment gateway solutions for your specific markets.
Wrapping Up
There’s no denying that a self-service ordering kiosk demands a high initial investment. However, experts expect this trend will not diminish anytime soon. Although the pandemic has passed, self-ordering kiosks are projected to increase in popularity due to the numerous advantages they provide to both restaurateurs and customers.
