Will the restaurant industry have a better year in 2023 than we’ve had for the past three years? Will we still face product shortages and supply chain interruptions that began during the pandemic –
as well as stalled global food shipments due to the Russian-Ukrainian war? Can we rely more on alternative food production methods since climate change is destroying traditional farming? And when the heck will inflation stop soaring?
Here are my eight predictions for the coming year. Thankfully, things look more optimistic for 2023. And
the common denominator for each of these trends is that technology will be essential:
- The industry will use tech to overcome ongoing challenges. As the food industry continuesto face major, simultaneous crises, including production delays, food shortages, supply chain interruptions, and extreme weather impacting crops, food businesses must rely on tech to deliver products (and promises) to customers. ResTech has morphed from “nice to have” to essential for the restaurant industry. Luckily, tech solutions have become more affordable and accessible for restaurants of all sizes and budgets, all
- owing them to significantly increase transparency, accuracy, safety, and quality – and compete with bigger brands.
- Quality and accuracy are critical. Making a mistake – like serving regular Caesar dressing instead of a vegan dressing to a seafood-allergic guest – might not seem like a huge deal, but anchovies could sicken (or even kill) that customer. Even if you make an error for a non-allergic customer, you’ll still disappoint (or even anger) that guest. You’ll waste food and related cost when you throw away the wrong meal and remake it correctly. And if you comp the meal, that means you’ve made it twice and not gotten paid for either one. If this happens multiple times per shift, the costs will add up over time. You’ll also have the intangible costs of poor word-of-mouth, negative reviews, and decreased traffic, lower sales, and declining customer loyalty. To make your customers feel valued and appreciated – and to boost key metrics like visits and sales – use tech tools to get customers’ orders right!
- We’ll prioritize sustainable food production. Climate change is putting traditional farming methods at risk, with extreme weather events ruining crops.In the coming year, sustainable food production, like vertical farming and hydroponics, will become more popular. Technology will be instrumental to this initiative, making farming more sustainable, building new infrastructure, reducing our dependence on foreign food supplies, increasing transparency across the supply chain, and ensuring that today’s problems don’t reduce our future food supply.