What new technologies are changing the HORECA industry?

According to a recent study¹ by Aarronallen & associates, technologies that could be used in the HORECA environment represent a $3 billion global market (counting categories as diverse as POS restaurant management systems, automation and robotics to 5G and ERP systems, across all industries).

Let's start with the technologies known by the general public that have been popularized following the pandemic: 

- The explosion of delivery apps managed by the restaurant itself or by a third-party company such as Uber eats or Smood. To survive, restaurants have been pushed to offer a quality delivery service so that their customers can continue to enjoy their food in times of confinement.

- Contactless applications for ordering without human interaction: order & pay directly on your smartphone. This type of order taking is still used in some establishments & the way waiters work is directly impacted.

- The democratization of contactless payment, which facilitates customer payment.

Beyond these technologies identified by all, other new technologies, innovations can deeply change the HORECA institutions such as: 

- Restaurant Kiosk that are no longer exclusive to fast food restaurants. Fluidizing the order taking by letting the customer make his choices independently can change the payroll strategy of the establishments.

- More and more complete checkout systems that become all-in-one platforms - reservations, point of sale and payments in one package. This type of platform optimizes the way establishments work. 

- Automation & robotics that revolutionize the restaurant business at all levels. Robots are replacing waiters by providing service like "Janet" who serves breakfast to customers at a restaurant called Denny's in the US. You can see for yourself "Janet" in full service by clicking here). Automats replace cooks by instantly preparing fresh pizzas or salads like "Sally" from Chowbotics. The trend is not limited to restaurant operations. Several projects are underway for delivery via autonomous cars. 

- Management software that simplifies the traceability of the food chain

- Smart garbage cans as developed by the Swiss company Kitro & platforms to sell unsold food such as TooGoodToGo that reduce food waste 

- IoT, Internet Of Things has become a key element for the HORECA world. Imagine a platform that allows you to receive all your data such as the volume of drinks poured, the performance of your servers depending on the time of day. A tool that allows you to have a precise view of the most popular drinks according to the weather so that you can develop sales strategies or a connected cellar that anticipates breakdowns. Our Loop plateform allows you to do that.


These different technologies are now available and will be more and more present in the years to come. Technology is positioned as the ally of the HORECA industry to increase their profits.

Sources:

1. https://aaronallen.com/restaurant-technology