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3 ways tech can take your summer menu into fall

With the start of fall and cooler temperatures, restaurant menus need to say goodbye to watermelon and other warm weather delicacies and embrace the all-encompassing taste for pumpkin spice everything. This menu shift doesn't have to be complicated now that restaurants are able to lean on technology tools to streamline the process.

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October 3, 2019

By Chris Adams, vice president, Food & Beverage Strategy, Oracle

Leaves aren't the only things that change with the season. When it comes to menu preferences, customers tend to experience different cravings and tastes depending on the weather outside. With the start of fall and cooler temperatures, restaurant menus need to say goodbye to watermelon and other warm weather delicacies and embrace the all-encompassing taste for pumpkin spice everything. This menu shift doesn't have to be complicated now that restaurants are able to lean on technology tools to streamline the process.

1. Let tech do the dirty work
Many restaurant owners keep a track of their inventory and customer preferences manually, but the process is usually time-consuming and can be subject to human error. Food costs account for 30 percent of a restaurant spending, which means that profitability depends on visibility — enter the restaurant POS system — into what you're buying, what's on the shelves and what you're selling. Menu management tools provide real-time, accurate insight into all pricing and inventory needs across the business, ensuring the restaurant's structure and standards are maintained in a relentlessly fast-paced industry.

2. Make menu managementfun
Menu management tools are especially helpful when employees take inventory of food items needed for seasonal menu changes. If managers or their employees are having to physically go into pantries or freezers to check inventory levels, that's hours of time every week that is being lost. Inventory management minimizes the amount of manual effort involved in monitoring stock, allowing restaurant staff to prepare menu changes well ahead of seasonal changes.

Most importantly, seasonal recipe planning should be a fun and not time-consuming process. This additional free time can allow restaurant managers and employees to dedicate time toward thinking of and sampling creative new recipes and starting seasonal trends.

3.Get the data
Cloud technology allows access to data from the previous years' seasonal purchases, offering restaurant managers a more accurate view of which items they need to be ordering for each new season. Additionally, the data is able to identify the most popular items in any given period, allowing the restaurant to adjust their menu and purchasing accordingly. Restaurant managers who implement restaurant POS analytics technology over a series of years have the ability to identify long-term trends to better project forecasting ahead of each season as well.

Data from menu management tools also help restaurants make changes in real-time. For example, if data from an initial purchase of previous fall favorite isn't resonating with customers, real-time purchase data will allow restaurant managers to shift purchasing decisions to items that are resonating more with their customers, better satisfying demand. This real-time data can similarly assist service staff when answering customer inquiries about what seasonal items are most popular, relying on accurate numbers versus hearsay or memory.

Customers are more demanding and expect restaurants to nimbly shift their menus to their tastes, specifically as it relates to the seasons. With restaurants under more scrutiny than ever before to deliver on these expectations, technology offers the solutions needed to drive menu modifications and ensure customer preferences are accurately represented.

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Oracle helps ambitious food and beverage providers transact in new ways, prioritize guests, and deliver great experiences. With Simphony Cloud, an open and extensible digital transaction platform, NetSuite for business management, and CrowdTwist for loyalty, thousands of operators worldwide automate operations and elevate personalized guest experiences with Oracle.

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