On the 9th of November, our R&D Tax Specialists headed to the 2021 Restaurant & Bar Tech Live, Europe's leading event for the technologies driving the commercial success of hospitality venues.
Through the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitality was one of the hardest-hit sectors, with restaurants and bars undergoing swift transformations to abide by social distancing measures. Coming out of lockdown, many venues have kept technologies such virtual queuing and QR code menus in place, due to sheer efficiency.
With a modernised perspective on how restaurants and bars can operate, this year’s event was brimming with groundbreaking developments making waves at the forefront of the hospitality industry.
In this blog, we’ll be celebrating 5 companies that stood out to us as industry trailblazers, and letting you in on the amazing work they’re doing.
1. Stint
Stint is a platform that connects students to hospitality businesses for short shifts of work. By doing so, Stint takes the pressure off core staff during busier periods and allows students to earn money without compromising on their university experience.
Students often struggle to find employment, as they move between home and the city they’re studying in, or are simply too busy to commit to 8 hour shifts.
Equally, fluctuating footfall in cafes, bars, and restaurants means that hospitality staff are often spread too thin during busy spells.
Stint solves both of these problems by listing businesses looking to make quick, temporary hires, and energetic students looking to earn.
By using geo-tracking and a staff review system, the need for a drawn-out application process is eliminated. With Stint, there’s no CVs, and no interviews!
Stint’s technology streamlines hospitality staffing, saves venues money, improves customer experience and utilizes the student workforce.
2. Sona
When your team is deskless (as it is in hospitality) it’s vital to provide them with a digital hub encompassing everything they need to stay connected.
Too many managers rely on outdated channels of communication, such as printouts, noticeboards, and multiple web portals.
Sona is a platform that brings workplace organization into the modern day, by digitalizing previously out of reach tools and putting them in the hands of every colleague.
Delivered through an app, the Sona platform is designed to integrate with employers existing HR, Rostering, Payroll and T&A systems – improving the employee experience whilst cutting down admin time for managers by an average of 5 hours per week.
This one-stop-shop for workplace operation covers all bases, including:
· Shift calendars
· Holiday
· Timesheets
· Feedback
· Shifts available for cover
· Announcements
· Secure direct & group messaging
With Sona, managers can eliminate poor communication and staff can feel empowered to take-back control of their work lives.
All Axis Studio bridges the gap between online and real-world shopping by providing interactive online 3D photography, allowing products to be rotated and viewed from any angle.
The mission behind this technology, proven successful in numerous case studies, is to:
· Improve conversion rates;
· Increase buyer confidence in a brand and its products;
· Create a unique user experience;
· Reduce waste and environmental impacts of product returns.
So, how does All Axis Studio merge with the hospitality industry?
As mentioned before, the use of digitalized menus isn’t going anywhere. As we continue to advance down this path, the 3D visualization of restaurant dishes seems like the logical next step.
For fine dining, wedding or birthday cake design – All Axis Studio offers caterers and customers full transparency and an all-round improved experience.
4. Roam
Roam is an app providing its users with a destination guide, allowing them to feel like a local wherever they go.
Roam offers insider knowledge and showcases independent of restaurants and bars, as well as loyalty deals, discounts, news, and events directly to your phone.
Users can bookmark their favourite venues and share their places of interest with others. Roam is the perfect pocket-guide for a night out – the in-app chat allows users to create and discuss plans, and Roam users can even feel safe with the app’s “Find my Friends” functionality.
It’s free to list your business on Roam and start building out your customer community. Listed venues can keep customers engaged by sending out push notifications with news, offers, events, loyalty deals, and much more.
Did you know, it’s 6-7 times cheaper to keep an existing customer than to gain a new one – so incentivizing your regulars is key to commercial success!
Roam’s mission is to champion the best spots to eat, drink and socialize. And with the cloud of social isolation now lifted, there’s no better time to use Roam to celebrate local hospitality.
5. Attensi
Working in a restaurant, bar or café doesn’t accurately translate onto paper. Staff can be given a written run-down of what they’ll be doing, and how to do it, but the learning only truly starts when immersed in practical work.
So, the hands-on nature of the hospitality sector has been difficult to ‘teach’ to onboarding staff – with most new employees having no choice but to jump in at the deep end.
Attensi’s training technology is here to change that.
Attensi is the global leader in 3D gamified simulation training. Adopted by many large corporations, Attensi creates a ‘learning by doing’ environment in a virtual 3D setting, revolutionizing the training of staff.
By combining gamification and realism, combined with multi-layered interactivity powered by AI, hospitality training can now be deeply engaging for onboarding staff, as opposed to an inaccurate and rushed process.
Attensi’s technology is a fantastic way to incentivize the training process. When staff are motivated to learn through virtually ‘doing’, instead of reading documents and watching videos, hospitality managers will see an improved rate of progression, greater efficiency and a happier team!
These five companies show a glimpse of the exciting research and development (R&D) taking place in the hospitality sector.
Some might think that technology doesn’t have much to offer the world of food and drink, but this innovation shows endless opportunity to enrich the human experiences that make this industry so well-loved.