Survey
2021 Technology Survey Responses
BACK| Question 1 | Top 5 Most Widely Used Technology Solutions |
| Question 2 | Least Used Technology Solutions |
| Question 3 | Are there any other areas where you are successfully using technology? |
| Question 4 | Highest-Priority New App/Technology Additions or Upgrades Planned for 2021 |
| Question 5 | Most Mentioned New App/Technology Additions or Upgrades Planned for 2021 |
| Question 6 | If you would recommend your technology provider to other operators please provide the app and/or company name. |
| Question 7 | Please name any other apps or technology companies that you are presently using that you would recommend to other independent operators. |
| 1. Top 5 Most Widely Used Technology Solutions | |
|---|---|
| Technology | Percentage Using |
| Online ordering on website | 73.2% |
| Online ordering on mobile app for take-out/curbside orders | 61.9% |
| Contactless payment for take-out/curbside orders | 61.2% |
| Contactless payment for on-premise dining | 49.2% |
| Reservation / waitlist system or app | 34.1% |
| 2. Least Used Technology Solutions | |
|---|---|
| Technology | Percentage Not Using |
| Online Training for Hourly Staff | 81.9% |
| Automated guest survey & response app | 81.3% |
| Self-delivery ordering & management | 81.0% |
| Auto attendant phone app | 80.8% |
| New phone system in last 12 months | 75.9% |
| Online ordering on mobile app for on-premise dining | 70.7% |
| Integration of third-party delivery data into POS | 66.2% |
| 3. Are there any other areas where you are successfully using technology? (Top 5 Responses Shown Below) |
|---|
| We have an online platform through ChowNow which has a one-time setup fee and a low monthly maintenance fee which runs about 3%. Same as the nationals (GrubHub, DoorDash, etc.) minus the 35%+ fees they charge. Ties to my website and I even have my own app. |
| We have created an online portal for our restaurants that houses employee files, I-9 are filled out correctly using docs-sign, recipes, chef demonstrations, meeting archives, store management staff and contacts, price tracking, instant food cost reports. We are also using the BAND App for constant communication between corporate and management, another one for just locations, and another one just for corporate. |
| We use Ovation for guest experience management. We get automated feedback queries that lead to reviews and better recoveries when the experience is sub-par. It has helped us improve our guest experience substantially. |
| Inventory and ordering management software MarketMan. Hot Schedules for shift scheduling communication. |
| Rostering - 7Shifts, Stock control/ordering -- MarketMan, Food Control - Chomp |
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| 3rd party consolidation of takeout orders through Otter |
| 7 shifts |
| Accounting & Social Media Management |
| Avero linked to Toast POS |
| Camera system for monitoring curbside pickup |
| ChefTec for purchasing, recipe development, and inventory control |
| Communication with team |
| Cost of goods, email, and website marketing |
| CRM integrated with our website with automation and workflows |
| Dashboards for kitchen prep time, rider location tracking |
| Email blasts |
| Facebook page |
| Food cost, tracking inventory items costs |
| Ghost kitchen |
| Going to add the ability to order and pay from the table |
| We are in the initial stages of combining 6 virtual brands with brick and mortar and placing them on a self-delivery platform combining 4 software apps |
| Integration of online ordering directly to POS scheduling and staff communication software |
| Integrations between payroll and accounting programs |
| Inventory, scheduling, cloud computing/digitized data storage. |
| Just Facebook, Google, and Instagram. |
| Labor management |
| Loyalty program |
| Loyalty program tied to POS sales |
| Loyalty/Marketing using analytics and creating custom campaigns based on visits |
| A mobile unit, we are using a kiosk for orders while on the food truck |
| More open to technology from the entire team, adding bill-pay, invoice scanning, inventory, and other back-of-house technology |
| Need much better POS/payroll management |
| Online ordering |
| Online ordering for all wholesale food orders |
| Online ordering from social media platforms |
| Online ordering is successful from a customer perspective, but the software has been extremely unpredictable on the backend. |
| Owner/Management training and checklists through Restaurant Owner Team Portal |
| Paperless food and cocktail menu. Automate gift card purchasing. Beer and liquor sales automated. |
| Paycom for HR, payroll, training. Ctuit for inventory, scheduling, etc. |
| Payroll/HR tech. Onboarding employees. App for staff to access their payroll info. We house our manuals policies and procedures on the site. Starting to use it for employee training. |
| Phone system for curbside service |
| POS |
| POS and Inventory Management |
| We are using a POS, though many in our area do not. Thrilled with Square! A digital beer menu, moving towards a full digital menu. Using Untappd, great! |
| POS, Kitchen tickets, scheduling, margins, costing recipes |
| Posting program for social media |
| Processing orders |
| Reward Program, but at the early stage |
| Rewards system |
| Royalty Rewards |
| Scheduling and labor analysis - 7 Shifts, sales mix and server audits -- Avero, purveyor orders, to go arrivals - Parking lot |
| Scheduling and training |
| Smart-home dining room light dimming. Invoice photography automation. |
| Social Media |
| Staff scheduling app |
| Staff scheduling, marketing |
| Third-party delivery ordering integration into our Toast POS |
| Toast POS, 7 shifts scheduling, xtraCHEF, ovation, Bill.com |
| Very happy with online ordering with our Toast system |
| We are continuing to look at online options and additional technology to help our restaurant. We are looking at Square POS since our ShopKeep POS online ordering is still glitching. |
| We are just beginning a transition from our old POS system to a new POS system. Stay tuned! |
| We are using Upserve POS it is good for the Admin but not the best for the floor management as much as Micros or Adelo (Windows base) |
| We are using zoom timers to speed up our drive-thru and a camera system to monitor the line. |
| We are very happy with RESDiary and Mobi2Go. Both integrate into our POS. |
| We have TouchBistro POS which is not a good system for a fast-casual restaurant. As soon as we pay off what we owe to them we are switching to Toast. We use Toast Take Out it would be better if it and all our third-party apps integrated into our POS |
| We share our daily menus using Google forms within our Square website |
| We use 7Shifts for scheduling and employee communication. We feel it works very well. |
| We use Margin Edge, which helps on the back end with inventory, recipe cost, food cost tracking, etc. |
| We use Tock for reservation and online ordering for carryout |
| We use WhatsApp, and e-mail contact |
| 4. Highest-Priority New App/Technology Additions or Upgrades Planned for 2021 | |
|---|---|
| Technology | Percentage High Priority Projects |
| Online ordering on website | 30.7% |
| Contactless payment for take-out/curbside orders | 25.9% |
| Contactless payment for on-premise dining | 24.6% |
| Online Training for Hourly Staff | 24.3% |
| Online ordering on mobile app for take-out/curbside orders | 21.7% |
| 5. Most Mentioned New App/Technology Additions or Upgrades Planned for 2021 | |
|---|---|
| Technology | Percentage Upgrading |
| Point of Sale System | 70.8% |
| Online Training for Hourly Staff | 64.2% |
| Self-delivery ordering & management | 61.2% |
| Automated guest survey & response app | 59.8% |
| Auto attendant phone app | 59.6% |
| 6. If you would recommend your technology provider to other operators please provide the app and/or company name. | |
|---|---|
| Online ordering on website | |
| Technology | Number of Mentions |
| Toast | 40 |
| ChowNow | 8 |
| BentoBox | 4 |
| Heartland | 4 |
| Online ordering on mobile app for take-out/curbside orders | |
| Technology | Number of Mentions |
| Toast | 18 |
| ChowNow | 10 |
| Heartland | 5 |
| Square | 3 |
| PopMenu | 2 |
| Online ordering on mobile app for on-premise dining | |
| Technology | Number of Mentions |
| Toast | 10 |
| ChowNow | 2 |
| Square | 2 |
| Contactless payment for take-out/curbside orders | |
| Technology | Number of Mentions |
| Toast | 26 |
| ChowNow | 6 |
| Square | 6 |
| Clover | 4 |
| Integration of third-party delivery data into POS | |
| Technology | Number of Mentions |
| Chowly | 4 |
| DoorDash | 4 |
| Toast | 3 |
| Otter | 2 |
| Square | 2 |
| Automated guest survey & response app | |
| Technology | Number of Mentions |
| Ovation | 6 |
| Toast | 4 |
| Resy | 3 |
| Reservation / waitlist system or app | |
| Technology | Number of Mentions |
| OpenTable | 9 |
| Yelp | 7 |
| Cake | 6 |
| Resy | 6 |
| New phone system in last 12 months | |
| Technology | Number of Mentions |
| Panasonic | 2 |
| PizzaCloud | 2 |
| Auto attendant phone app | |
| Technology | Number of Mentions |
| PizzaCloud | 3 |
| Phone Company | 2 |
| Self-delivery ordering & management | |
| Technology | Number of Mentions |
| ChowNow | 2 |
| InHouseDelivery.com | 2 |
| Square | 2 |
| Toast | 2 |
| 7. Please name any other apps or technology companies that you are presently using that you would recommend to other independent operators. | |
|---|---|
| Technology | Number of Mentions |
| 7 Shifts | 11 |
| Toast | 8 |
| Square | 7 |
| DoorDash | 4 |
| MarketMan | 3 |
| Touch Bistro | 3 |
| UpServe | 3 |
View Other Recommended Technologies/Apps
Hide Other Recommended Technologies/Apps
| Technology/App | Number of Mentions |
| Aloha POS | 2 |
| ChefTec | 2 |
| Chowly | 2 |
| ChowNow | 2 |
| Clover | 2 |
| GrubHub | 2 |
| Hot Schedules | 2 |
| Open Table | 2 |
| QuickBooks Online | 2 |
| Repeat Returns | 2 |
| Revel | 2 |
| Slack | 2 |
| Untappd | 2 |
| Aldelo | 1 |
| Band app | 1 |
| Beyond | 1 |
| Bitrix | 1 |
| Bizopia | 1 |
| BumpIt | 1 |
| Cake by Sysco | 1 |
| Chomp | 1 |
| COGS-Well | 1 |
| Cradle Point | 1 |
| Ctuit | 1 |
| DashNow | 1 |
| Davo | 1 |
| Deputy | 1 |
| Eventbrite | 1 |
| Fintech | 1 |
| FoodBam | 1 |
| Fox Ordering | 1 |
| FuturePOS | 1 |
| Gather | 1 |
| Google Data Studio | 1 |
| Google Workspace | 1 |
| GoParrot | 1 |
| Guest Manager | 1 |
| Gusto | 1 |
| Handheld devices | 1 |
| Heartland | 1 |
| Homebase | 1 |
| iContact | 1 |
| Jolt | 1 |
| Kounta | 1 |
| Lightspeed | 1 |
| Margin Edge | 1 |
| Marsello | 1 |
| Menufy | 1 |
| Microsoft Teams | 1 |
| NoWait | 1 |
| Numa | 1 |
| Office 365 | 1 |
| OLO | 1 |
| Ooma | 1 |
| Oracle Hospitality | 1 |
| Orca | 1 |
| Ordereze | 1 |
| Orderly | 1 |
| Otter | 1 |
| Ovation | 1 |
| Partender | 1 |
| Paycom | 1 |
| Paytronix | 1 |
| piSignage | 1 |
| PlateIQ | 1 |
| Popmenu | 1 |
| Posiq | 1 |
| QR Codes | 1 |
| QSROnline | 1 |
| R365 | 1 |
| Rails | 1 |
| Relay delivery drivers | 1 |
| Restaurant Pro | 1 |
| Rezku | 1 |
| Rockbot | 1 |
| Shift 4 Portable Terminals | 1 |
| Shopify | 1 |
| Skip the Dishes | 1 |
| Sling Scheduling | 1 |
| Smart Online Ordering | 1 |
| Sociavore | 1 |
| Statement Simple | 1 |
| Swipely | 1 |
| Tableau | 1 |
| Take Out 7 | 1 |
| Team Comx | 1 |
| TempStick | 1 |
| Tockify.com | 1 |
| Uber Eats | 1 |
| Verizon | 1 |
| VINU Wine List | 1 |
| Waitlist | 1 |
| Waitr | 1 |
| xDine | 1 |
| Xtrachef | 1 |
| Yelp | 1 |
| Zoom | 1 |
