IMPLEMENTING INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE THIS COMING YEAR.
The past three years have been disruptive and unpredictable. Climate change has been destroying traditional farming. Pandemic-related backlogs—combined with factors like the Russian-Ukrainian war—have led to ongoing supply chain interruptions. Product shortages have forced restaurants to pivot, changing their menu or using substitute ingredients. And when products are available, inflation at a 40-year high means they’re significantly more expensive. Labor shortages have left restaurants scrambling. And, of course, we navigated a multi-year global pandemic. After an extraordinarily difficult few years, I’m cautiously optimistic that things will improve in 2023.
Technology will be essential to innovation and improvements in the new year. Tech has morphed from “nice to have” to an absolute necessity for restaurants, as we’ll use tech to elevate the way we train, audit, manage our suppliers, and more moving forward. Thankfully, today’s tech solutions are more affordable, accessible, intuitive, and user-friendly, allowing brands of all sizes to leverage these tools.
Here are my seven predictions on how tech will drive positive changes in the coming year:
Restaurants will use tech to manage suppliers across the supply chain. Your restaurant may be prioritizing safety and quality efforts, but if your suppliers are providing contaminated produce—or not holding refrigerated foods at proper temps—your restaurant (and your guests) are at risk. Even if you maintain the highest safety and quality standards, weak links in your supply chain can jeopardize all your hard work. Increasingly, operators will use digital tools to boost transparency across the supply chain. For instance, you can use digital tools to organize, manage and track supplier certifications in a central location, which allows you to see which suppliers prioritize safety and quality (and avoid the ones that don’t).