Technology is no longer an option for the restaurant industry - it is a necessity. It boosts revenues, optimizes efficiency, and enhances customer satisfaction. Therefore, it’s no surprise that 76% of operators feel that technology gives them a competitive edge.  

Consequently, choosing the right restaurant technology company for your business becomes imperative. However, due to the plethora of options available in the market, choosing the right technology platform may become a challenging task.

Let’s check out the essential parameters that will help restaurant owners like you to opt for the best restaurant technology company.  

Understanding Your Business Requirements

Every restaurant business is unique, whether it is a fast-food joint or a fine dining establishment. You might want a standalone restaurant POS solution, or you might be looking to migrate the entire restaurant management system to an advanced all-in-one solution like NOVA. Hence, it is important to assess your business requirements before shortlisting restaurant technology companies.

Assess the entire technology stack and shortlist the tools you require. Identify operational bottlenecks and integration pain points. You must include both Front of House (FoH) and Back of House (BoH) personnel in the decision-making process. In addition, you can also get customer feedback about the difficulties they face when using your technology stack.    

Conducting Research

Once you have assessed your business requirements and budget considerations, the next logical step is to research the restaurant technology companies available in the market. Thorough research ensures proper evaluation of a vendor’s service levels and reliability.

You should visit all the trusted review sites and community forums online and check the ratings for restaurant technology companies. You can also contact their customers and ask for testimonials from the company.      

Evaluating ROI

As a restaurant owner, investing in restaurant technology can be a long-term commitment. Hence, it is vital to analyze the vendor’s pricing carefully. What are the terms and conditions? Are there any hidden charges? Does the vendor offer custom quotes? Is there a demo included?    

Cost can be a critical factor in choosing a vendor. However, it is better to evaluate them on ROI rather than cost. An advanced restaurant technology platform can seem expensive at the get-go, but it will prove to be cost-effective in the long run. Therefore, you must compare the cost of different companies, keeping vital parameters, such as features, technical support, and scalability, in mind.    

Industry-Specific Expertise

Various software vendors in the market offer diverse products catering to different industries like hospitality and retail. For instance, a company can offer standard POS software for all industries. These types of vendors generally offer common features and are not tailored for the specific challenges of the restaurant industry.    

It is recommended that you shortlist restaurant technology companies that offer niche restaurant management solutions designed specifically for your type of business. For instance, the solution can have specific features like kitchen display systems, handheld POS terminals, floor management, and more.  

Customer Support and Onboarding

A critical parameter for selecting the best vendor is its customer support services. Firstly, the vendor’s customer support team must consist of experts from the restaurant technology domain. Secondly, the vendor’s response time must be minimal, and support should be available 24/7 for swift resolution of critical issues. Thirdly, the restaurant technology company must ensure easy onboarding of the technology by assigning a dedicated manager.  

Choosing a restaurant technology company with competent support will ensure minimum downtime and operational efficiency. Moreover, if you own a restaurant chain across multiple geographies, ensure the vendor offers multilingual support.      

Running Pilot Tests & Phased Rollouts

Transitioning to new technological tools can be a business-transforming decision for your restaurant. Therefore, it is recommended to test the new restaurant technology solutions in a real-world environment before onboarding the vendor.

You must run pilot tests to evaluate if the restaurant technology offered by the vendor overcomes the common challenges, manages data, and integrates with the existing system. Also, ensure that both the Front of House and Back of House are involved in the pilot tests, as they are more familiar with the daily operations. Moreover, to add a layer of precaution, you can also roll out the technological tools in phases.      

Security and Compliance

The hospitality industry deals with critical customer information, such as credit cards or personal information, that cannot be compromised under any circumstances. However, the evolving cybercrime spectrum keeps on testing contemporary restaurant security protocols and technologies. Consequently, the average cost data breach in the hospitality industry increased 13% from 2023 to 3.82 million U.S dollars in 2024.

Needless to say, you must opt for a restaurant technology company with advanced security protocols. Moreover, the vendor should apply regular software updates and help you comply with all the critical regulations like PCI DSS and GDPR. Also, check if the vendor has any history of data breaches.      

Integration Capabilities

A restaurant functions optimally with seamless integration of its technology stack, which can consist of POS (Point of Sale), self-order kiosks, online reservation system, kitchen display systems, payroll, employee scheduling, and more. The vendor you opt for must offer a solution capable of integrating with the existing stack.  

Another option for restaurants is to choose a vendor like NOVA that offers an all-in-one restaurant technology stack with AI-native features and state-of-the-art devices. It ensures a seamless data flow between all FoH and BoH tools for advanced analytics.      

Boost Restaurant Revenues with the NOVA Platform

Faster Onboarding

The NOVA platform’s user interface is designed with the new-age workforce in mind. Its image-first principle ensures that the new workers can adapt quickly to the platform, leading to faster onboarding and reduced training times.  

A One-Stop Solution

The NOVA platform is an all-in-one restaurant management platform. It offers advanced features for both Front of House and Back of House functions, creating a comprehensive solution for restaurants. It ensures seamless data flow between all departments, improving delivery times and boosting revenues.  

Designed by Industry Experts  

The NOVA platform is designed with operational input from experts in the hospitality industry. Consequently, the platform is built for real-life use cases and efficient recognition of niche pain points and challenges.  

Custom-made for Businesses  

Want a restaurant management solution customized for your brand? NOVA offers diverse customization options to tailor it to your brand preferences. Be it custom marketing campaigns, loyalty programs, or gift cards, enhance your brand’s reputation with the NOVA platform.  

Advanced Analytics

The NOVA platform offers AI-based real-time reports to identify operational bottlenecks and boost revenues. With NOVA’s manager app, you get real-time reports on your smartphones from multiple locations. You can also generate consolidated reports to gain deep insights into each restaurant’s performance.  

AI-Native Operations

NOVA platform is an AI-native solution that enables higher revenue and order size with AI-based campaigns, loyalty programs, targeted promotions, and demand predictions.    

Recommended: How NOVA’s AI-Driven Loyalty Programs Increased Restaurant Traffic by 60% During Non-Peak Hours

Choose the Right Restaurant Technology Company for Guaranteed Success

A restaurant technology company eliminates operational hassles and increases profitability. Therefore, it is critical to choose the right technology company for your restaurant. Start by analyzing our current setup to identify the requirements. Do thorough research on the vendor and check if the vendor is reliable. Effective planning to onboard the vendor will ensure smooth operations in the long run.  

NOVA is a restaurant technology company with a complete AI-native restaurant management solution. Get a free demo now to experience our features before onboarding.  

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