Emerging Technology Trends That Will Impact The Restaurant Industry in 2023

Given the importance of the restaurant business to the American economy, it is impossible to overlook the new technology trends that are affecting the restaurant industry. You can use this information to enhance your restaurant business regardless of the size of your food business in 2022.

To make this information easier to understand, we separated it into four sections:

• Innovative tech breakthroughs that will improve your restaurant’s kitchen.
• Technological advances that enhance the customer experience.
• Helpful tech suggestions to boost your restaurant’s presence in the competition within the restaurant industry.
• How technology innovations will impact the restaurant sector.

1. Innovative tech breakthroughs that will improve your restaurant's kitchen

A) AI-Powered cooking: We live in a world where you can order meals online, have them delivered to your house, and even make payments digitally. AI-powered cooking is a novel and quickly strengthening concept. Many robotics companies are developing AI technologies to automate your restaurant and home kitchen.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has been around for a while, but it has only recently gained popularity because of its convenience, cost, and ease of use. Artificial intelligence is used in every aspect of this style of cooking, including recipe choosing, grocery buying, and cooking itself.

AI-powered cooking has many advantages that are worth investigating:

• AI-powered cooking is the ability to deliver nutritional information about meals.
• It can support grocery lists and meal planning.
• You can learn how to prepare a specific dish or recipe for it.
• The AI-powered cookware can perform all the tasks that a professional chef can in the kitchen. They can work nonstop for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

As a result, they are ideal for eateries with high customer demand, such as fast-food chains and sizable catering businesses that must supply meals every day at all hours of the day.

B) Making room in the kitchen: The shared kitchen concept involves making space in the kitchen. Typically, the kitchens are broken up into smaller rooms that are rented out to other businesses. Many franchisees in the food sector employ the usage of community kitchens.

They are an excellent way for tiny businesses to gain the exposure they require to expand. In various ways, this arrangement is helpful to the firms.

• Shared kitchens allow businesses to pool resources and cut costs.
• Some communal kitchens offer cooking appliances. It lowers the expense of purchasing new kitchen appliances for your little restaurant enterprise.
• Since there is less likelihood of cross-contamination with other residents in the building, it is also simpler for them to maintain sanitary conditions.

2. Technological developments that enhance your customer’s experience

A) Contactless payment: Contactless technology has been used for various purposes in the past, but it has only recently been used for payments.

Two main reasons for contactless payments are becoming more popular.

• The Corona pandemic created a contactless culture in every industry because customers and industry owners prefer online/ contactless payment options to prevent corona spread.
• They are faster than using cash or cards. Transactions can be completed within seconds and you don’t need to enter your PIN or sign anything. This makes it perfect for busy people who want to avoid long queues and still pay with no hassle.

B) Digital ordering: The restaurant sector currently uses digital ordering. Future ordering systems will be highly developed.

The current digital ordering system offers two options.

• The first ordering option is that you are in a restaurant, but there is no need for you to make an order with the waiter/food ordering counter. Franchises for fast food have helped to popularize this habit. Customers can place an automated order for meals and pick it up from a window close to the kitchen. The franchise owner can save money by needing fewer waiters, cooks, and cashiers at one restaurant location.
• The second option is to order food from your home or business. There are plenty of food delivery apps that allow you to order food from anywhere. It has been a helpful resource for students, those who are too busy to cook, and people who don’t have time to go grocery shopping.
• Simply select the restaurant, place your order, and then sit back and wait for the meal to be brought to your door. These apps have the advantage of eliminating the time and effort required to physically order food from a restaurant. The major disadvantage is that it is a little more expensive than ordering from a restaurant.

C) AR technology enhances dining experiences for the customer: The use of augmented reality (AR) technology in the food business is on the rise. Customers can view the ingredients and preparation of their food via augmented reality before placing an order. This simplifies the decision-making process for customers and improves their dining experience.

Restaurants can use AR in a variety of ways. As an illustration, restaurants can use augmented reality to add animations and movies to their menu items, bringing the cuisine to life. This gives customers a more engaging eating experience because they can watch their food being prepared from beginning to end and get a sense of the ingredients that go into each dish.

3. Helpful tech suggestions to boost your restaurant’s presence in the competition within the restaurant industry

A restaurant owner should invest in a quality website because it can increase their clientele. Benefits of maintaining a high-quality restaurant’s website:

• Able to grow their consumer base as a result of using this platform to reach a larger audience.
• Another benefit is that they will not be dependent on outside businesses with competing interests, which will help them preserve their brand.
• The final benefit is that they can save money by not having to pay storage, advertising, and other expenses to third parties.

A decent website will give the restaurant a credible and professional appearance. Currently, restaurant owners adding the following technology trends to their websites:

A) A safe inbuilt online payment method: Today’s world depends heavily on online payments for all transactions. In any business, they play the most significant role. Using a secure payment method is the most popular strategy to avoid fraud or scams.

B) Content to reach targeted customers: Content is the fuel for a brand awareness campaign. Targeting clients with the correct content at the right moment is widely trendy. For a content generation, you can use content writers or AI writers. The AI writer will research the client’s preferences and areas of interest before producing content that is interesting and pertinent to them.

C) AI & voice technologies: Restaurants may use voice and AI technologies in a variety of ways. The most common use cases are placing food orders, receiving suggestions for their next meal, and learning more about the menu, location, and hours of restaurant operation.

D) Chatbots & operations: Customer support can be automated using chatbots. They can be used to help with orders, with answering frequently asked questions, or with other issues.

4. How technology innovations will impact the restaurant sector

A) Delivery robots will become more mainstream: Robotic delivery services are becoming more and more popular. Using delivery robots could cause speedier, safer, and more effective deliveries. Delivery robots can lessen the need for delivery drivers to work in hazardous situations, such as severe weather or during rush hour traffic. They can work continuously. We can solve labor shortage problems using robots for food or other delivery things.

B) Supply chain and food supply: Food is transported from the producer to the customer along a supply network, which is called the food supply chain. This procedure is divided into four stages: manufacturing, processing, distribution, and consumption.

Various factors, such as changes in food production practices and transportation technologies, have had an impact on the supply chain. Restaurant proprietors face many complications related to fresh vegetables, meats, and paper goods including coffee cups, straws, and takeaway containers due to supply chain issues. Additionally, it is challenging to purchase cooking equipment parts quickly because of the inadequate supply chain. As a result, shortages continue to affect restaurant owners.

. Automation, AI, and Blockchain technologies will reduce major problems in the supply chain and food supply.

C) Ghost restaurants: Restaurants that aren’t accessible to the general public are referred to as “ghost restaurants.” Ghost kitchens are those that solely provide services to customers online. It allows chefs and restaurant owners to experiment without worrying about upsetting customers.

They give chefs and restaurateurs the freedom to explore their concepts and work together with other experts in the field. The number of ghost restaurants will probably keep growing because this business model is profitable and requires less capital.

D) Blockchain technology in food tech: Blockchain is a distributed, decentralized ledger that can effectively and permanently record transactions between two parties. Blockchain technology has limitless potential for the food technology industry. One sector that has been eager to incorporate blockchain technology is the food business.

Public health may be significantly affected by the ability to trace the source of food goods, record the conditions throughout transport, and monitor temperature at every stage of production.

The food business will undergo a significant technological revolution in the future. Are you prepared for these changes? There is no better approach than using emerging technologies to improve your business.

PartsFe provides food equipment parts to help restaurants maintain the functionality of their restaurant cooking equipment. Order the parts you need and improve the productivity of your kitchen equipment and ensure that your restaurant is prepared for what’s to come.