After several years of disruptive labor shortages, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for hospitality brands.  As other industries, including tech and retail, are downsizing, the hospitality industry is starting the year strong in terms of job growth, recently adding 128,000 jobs and leading all sectors. It’s likely that people leaving other jobs are entering (or re-entering) the hospitality industry.

Amid this influx of new employees, hospitality brands should rely on tech tools to optimize operations, elevate safety and quality, and boost transparency. Tech tools are also instrumental in training – and retaining – employees.

Here are seven ways that tech will improve your operations. Tech will:

1. Boost brand excellence. As your brand onboards new staff, use tech solutions to improve safety, quality, accuracy, transparency, consistency, and compliance – all factors that contribute to brand excellence. Unfortunately, many brands are still relying on antiquated paper and pen systems or Excel spreadsheets to manage their safety and quality efforts. These outdated methods can’t provide the huge benefits and value that tech tools can. Tech solutions offer comprehensive and accurate views across an enterprise – or drilled down by location – so operators can track and analyze critical data. These insights help operators make more informed business decisions to maximize successes.
2. Improve safety and quality protocols. Each year, 48 million (1 in 6) Americans get sick from contaminated food or beverages. A foodborne illness outbreak can sicken (or even kill) your customers, and it could also destroy your brand with negative press, scathing reviews, diminished sales, plummeting stock prices, and potential litigation. Don’t let this happen to you! Establish and maintain a best-in-class food safety culture, starting from the top. Make your commitment to safety and quality well-known and non-negotiable.
3. Track food from its point of origin. It’s not enough just to follow proper food safety protocols yourself – you must be certain that all your suppliers adhere to the strictest food safety standards, as well. You could be doing everything right, but if your suppliers deliver contaminated produce, proteins that were improperly held, or past-its-prime dairy, your guests (and your business) are at risk. Food safety and QA must be followed all along the supply chain – from each product’s point of origin until it’s prepared and served. Audit all suppliers regularly and ensure that they have proper, up-to-date safety certifications. When you have multiple suppliers – as most hospitality brands do – it can be challenging to track and organize these important safety certifications manually. RizePoint has innovative solutions to automate this critical task, making it significantly easier, more accurate, and less cumbersome to manage.
4. Improve training. Training is an essential part of elevating safety, quality, consistency and compliance, but not all brands are prioritizing it. In fact, some organizations are using antiquated or informal training efforts, giving very little thought to this important effort. Instead, prioritize – and modernize – training with tech tools – such as gamification, AI, microlearning platforms, and learning management systems – to take your training efforts to the next level. Tech makes lessons more interesting, engaging, interactive and memorable, helping the information “stick.” Remember that training is not just a one-time endeavor but should be an ongoing effort. Not only can tech tools help train and onboard new employees, but they can (and should!) be used to reinforce key lessons, provide updates, and serve as a way for employees to easily access important information, as needed.
5. Improve employee loyalty and retention. Even though the labor shortage is easing in the hospitality sector, staff retention remains critical. Turnover can be extremely expensive and disruptive. Did you know that the average restaurant loses $150,000 yearly in staff turnover? So, how can you make sure your employees are happy, so they’ll want to stay? Pay them well. Offer appealing benefits, including tuition reimbursement, advancement opportunities, mentorship, and more. Promote from within. Provide tech tools to make tasks like line checks, audits, inventory, purchasing, etc. easier and more efficient. Use digital scheduling solutions to make sure employees are getting their preferred shifts and aren’t being overutilized. Incentive programs have been shown to increase employee performance by as much as 44%,so give rewards (like gift cards, cash bonuses, etc.) to high performers. And if your organization is experiencing high quit rates, use tech tools to determine if there are commonalities around why employees are leaving (and then fix those problems!).
6. Prepare for new FDA requirements. FDA recordkeeping requirements go into effect in 2026, so it’s wise to begin preparing now. Get in the habit of using tech tools to improve transparency and drive safer practices. For instance, digital temperature monitoring systems can record and manage data in real time, so your team is immediately alerted to any issues – like if the temperatures of your walk-ins drop below safe levels or if your ovens stop working properly – so you can take corrective actions before they become huge liabilities. Also, moving forward, many businesses will require safety documentation and certification, and tech tools, like RizePoint’s solutions, make it exponentially easier to simplify and automate this important task. Increased transparency leads to improved KPIs, including consumer trust, satisfaction, and loyalty, as well as sales and profits.
7. Improve the guest experience in exciting ways. Tech trends in the hospitality industry include artificial intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality, robotics, blockchain, and 5G/6G mobile technology, which are providing guests with amazing, engaging, and fully customized experiences. Facial recognition software is enhancing security and privacy. Artificial intelligence is making guests’ experiences safer and more consistent. For instance, Starbucks uses AI and IOT to remotely monitor and fine-tune its espresso machines for a consistent coffee experience. Robotics are automating tasks, like Flippy the Robot automating the fry station at White Castle. Chipotle is using radio-frequency identification (RFID) label systems to optimize operations and trace ingredients. Be inspired by these trends and use tech solutions to drive improvements across every aspect of your business.

The return to hospitality is exciting and long overdue. As brands welcome new employees to their teams, they should embrace tech tools to amplify safety, quality, accuracy, transparency, consistency, and compliance. It’s clear that tech will continue to be a game-changer for our industry, and anyone that doesn’t adopt tech tools will be left behind.

Contact the RizePoint team to find out how our best-in-class tech solutions can help your brand improve your safety, quality, and compliance programs.