Rajesh Kumar Subramanium is an ex-Amazon and ex-SAP product and software developer with a rich experience of 15 years in the industry. From the SaaS capital of India, Ghoshak helps SMBs conduct their day-to-day operations like creating an online store, building a website, generating e-bills, sales reports, customer data, inventory management, and more. Founded in September 2020 by Rajesh Kumar Subramanium, the retail-SaaS company raised Rs 1.2 crore in seed funding from his friends and family members last month. While working at the enterprise software company SAP, Rajesh realized he wanted to start a similar platform for small enterprises. He, however, went to work at Amazon for about 10 years before deciding to start Ghoshak amidst the pandemic. With the world moving fast, Rajesh was concerned about customers gradually moving online, but SMB owners still using “pen and paper” for their day-to-day operations.
Technology is intended to make lives and businesses simpler. The restaurant is one industry that has evolved and adopted the technology well over the years. Unfortunately, the industry has been the worst hit and needs effective tech solutions to run the operations smoothly while abiding by the new norms. From taking online reservations, booking tables, online payment & feedback to getting insights into the customer, technology is helping the restaurant industry to sail through the times. During the Pandemic, restaurants have been relying upon aggregators to fulfill their delivery needs. This leads to payment of up to 40% commissions to them.
An end-to-end technology solution or a platform like Ghoshak can aid restaurants in earning revenue even during difficult times and own their data. Many restaurants still stick to the age-old pen and paper method to conduct their operations. Here are few ways in which technology is helping the hospitality industry upscale its business operations:
Online Table Reservation and Bookings:
Now that the lockdown has been lifted in many cities, restaurants have reopened their doors to welcome the customers. A readily available platform that enables them to take online reservations and book tables can help them maintain social distancing norms and run their business. It also helps with queue-management
Digital Menu:
Customers dining out are now wary of and want to avoid high touchpoints like a physical menu. Also, to reduce the wait-time, customers can directly place the order from the digital menu. This way, both parties are safe, and orders are placed and served on time.
Direct Offers and Discounts:
Strong customer relationships are built with regular communication. For example, restaurants can directly offer the current discounts they are running with their customers, get direct walk-ins, and increase order volume. Offering direct discounts also helps connect with the customers during festivals and on special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries.
Loyalty Programs:
One can target the customers, but to retarget them sometimes is the struggle that restaurants face. To keep the customers coming back, restaurants can run some loyalty programs on a long-term basis to turn first-time customers into returning customers. Restaurants have complete control of what kind of offers they want to share.
Such mobile-based restaurant tech tools can be used to enhance a restaurant’s existing customer experience and enhance the overall dining experience more engaging and valuable to the customer. The cherry on the cake is that such a technology is now available at a very pocket-friendly price. Ghoshak comes with a smooth UI/UX, which the restaurants and the customers can easily access, and it costs less than the cost of having a monthly tea.
Restaurants have been slow to adopt technology and innovation. The Pandemic changed that and forced food and beverage outlets to look beyond the traditional. Apart from the above-listed mainstream technology, many other solutions are leading the way and are the need of the hour.
Online Ordering System or Own Website:
Many restaurants still face forced limitations, strict guidelines, online food orders, and contactless home-delivery have acted as the industry’s saviour and hero. However, delivery and pick-up services are here to stay as customers grow accustomed to getting the food at their leisure. Therefore, it is time to become their boss and have their website to receive direct orders. This will provide them with complete ownership of their customer data which can be used to retarget their customers. Ghoshak empowers restaurants to own their website in just three simple steps: Register your domain, choose your design & content and make your website live.
Point of Sales (POS) System:
Receiving multiple orders from various sources is difficult to handle for any restaurant. Getting direct orders through your own website, social media and even through aggregators can be managed from one single dashboard. The restaurant technology is constantly evolving, and there are now cloud-based POS systems available that can be accessed from anywhere and from any device.
POS is like the digital central kitchen for any restaurant. Forget about going and taking orders through pen and paper. With the POS system, kitchen staff access the Kitchen Display System (KDS), which displays the order directly. One can also access real-time billing and reports through the POS system.
Inventory Management System/ Supply Chain Management:
Keeping up with everyday stock and inventory can be a tedious task for restaurant staff to manage. A new-age inventory management system updates the restaurant about the items that are short and are about to get over. Many new systems also keep track of the precise ingredients to prepare a dish so that there is no wastage. Additionally, such a system also helps check any possible theft of the items, thus, keeping a close track of things. Many multi-outlet restaurants can use inventory management systems to keep the inventory stocked up and maintain uniformity across the outlets.
Like every coin has two sides, the Pandemic has accelerated the adoption of technology by the restaurant industry. Restaurant operations can be easily streamlined with the help of technology to bolster the overall service and the experience and keep the revenue flowing. A platform like Ghoshak comes with multi-features that enable many small and medium-sized eateries in India to own their website thus, taking charge of their data to serve them better.