In 2023 the restaurant industry is as competitive, if not more so, than it ever has been meaning all restaurants, from those offering fine dining to the local café, have to up their game to provide diners the best experience possible.
It is no longer enough to just offer great food, essential though this is. Instead, restaurants in 2023 have to go further to both attract new customers and retain their loyalty thereafter.
Thankfully, there are numerous ways restaurants can enhance the level of service and hospitality they can offer, and it is those restaurant owners who implement these that can expect to see their restaurants thrive whereas those who do not, are going to start struggling.
If you read on you will discover seven key ways today’s restaurants are enhancing the dining experience for their customers.
Greater Personalised Experiences
Offering personalised experiences is not just something applicable to the restaurant industry but is being embraced across almost every business sector.
Simple examples include knowing which dishes customers prefer, how they like certain foods to be cooked, and their favourite drink.
By having these available for offer on their subsequent visits and making recommendations to them based on previous choices, it takes the restaurant to a different level in how it is perceived by customers due to it seeking to serve the individual’s needs rather than generically serving a faceless crowd.
Utilising Virtual/Augmented Reality
How many people who might consider eating at a restaurant do you think would love to know the layout and the ambience within that restaurant before they even visit it?
Well, it is possible to enable this to happen via virtual reality technology.
One option is a virtual tour of the restaurant in much the same way real estate companies have virtual tours of the homes they are trying to sell.
This technology could also let diners see how some of the dishes are prepared by the restaurant’s chefs.
Seasonal Menus
Apart from being able to offer foods during the season when they have optimal flavours, seasonal menus are also an excellent way to enhance a restaurant’s green and sustainability credentials.
Having seasonal menus mean a restaurant will offer dishes that include ingredients that are abundant rather than those which are scarce.
This can also help reduce food wastage because abundant food types will be used rather than stockpiled where they will most likely will go to waste.
Greater Focus On Service Staff Training
No restaurant can survive without its staff but how those staff are trained can be the difference between a thriving restaurant and a struggling one.
Putting resources and time into training staff on how they can take the levels of hospitality and service they provide customers can pay huge dividends in terms of positive reviews, and repeat customers.
It will also improve staff satisfaction and retention neither of which should be ignored or under-rated.
Offering A Greater Range Of Non-Alcoholic Beverages
The rise in how popular non-alcoholic drinks have become recently should be taken into account by restaurants when considering what they offer their customers, in 2023 and beyond, as this trend will increase further in 2024.
We are not talking about having one or two more soft drinks on tap, but instead expanding the entire range of drinks.
Prime examples of how to do this are offering a selection of mocktails and having non-alcoholic beers on draught or in bottles.
Adoption Of AI Technology
AI has both its advocates and its knockers who both think it will change the world in which we live to positive or negative effect respectively.
Within restaurants, AI can be used to improve the hospitality they offer customers.
Examples include chatbots that can help answer customer questions online in real-time, and AI programming being able to calculate table wait times accurately.
Increased Use Of QR Codes
Anyone who uses a mobile phone will almost certainly have used a QR code.
They are the little black-and-white boxes that look like a mixed-up crossword and their use has many opportunities for restaurants to offer better service to their customers.
QI codes can help decrease transaction times and in doing so eliminate customer queues.
They can also be used to update menus in real-time, for example, when an item becomes unavailable it can be removed.
