This article was originally published in Franchise Times, a sister publication to Food On Demand.
Who has restaurant technology figured out? Nobody. But the brilliant operators named in Food On Demand’s Outstanding Operator series come close.
The Outstanding Operator project is dedicated to finding innovative restaurant technology strategies, and this year is no different. There are dozens of lessons from the operators named. So many great tidbits, in fact, that I’ll be dedicating two columns to this program because there are great insights for internal operations, and another set of insights for customer-facing technology.
Among the honorees are several brands who continuously innovate in-house operations for delivery, on-site dining and generally let smart folks attack problems with all manner of tools, not just cutting edge whizbangs. Each Outstanding Operator has at least one savvy operational leader testing, iterating and reimagining restaurant operations.
Clarity and consistency at Freddy’s
While a kitchen display system, or KDS, seems a bit “basic,” Sean Thompson, head of IT at Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, said an end-to-end rethinking of how orders are set up on the company KDS drastically improved efficiency and reduced pressure on staff.
Prior to a KDS rethink, Thompson said counter workers each had their own way of ringing up complex orders. That would translate to a hodgepodge of abbreviations and digital shorthand. Then the kitchen staff would have to decode the veritable hieroglyphics to make the food. That led to mistakes, stress and a huge amount of decision fatigue for kitchen staff.
Under a new strategy, the KDS visually shows restaurant staff what is in the order. Whether it’s the grill, the fryers or the custard station, staff receive a clear, detailed display of each order. The technology minimizes human error and ensures that even complex orders with multiple modifications are interpreted correctly.
That’s critical for in-person dining, but also because digital orders from apps or delivery providers may send order details in another format.
“My daughter likes her burgers plain, except for ketchup and grilled onions, and the cashier would know how to ring that in. But when you do it in the digital space, it would say, no mustard, no onion, no pickle, add ketchup, add grilled onion. … But the order isn’t that crazy,” Thompson told FOD. “With our new KDS, the person on the makeline is seeing the order the same way as my daughter. … The person can see that it’s bun, patty-cheese, patty-cheese, ketchup, grilled onion, bun. When you have 100 sandwiches coming through in an hour, that’s great.”
Robots, really, at White Castle
I love some robots, but watching the hype-to-disappointment cycle over and over has gotten exhausting. It’s different at White Castle, which has a robotic fry cook in 16 locations cooking fries and all manner of nibblers.
Flippy, the automation solution, continues to evolve. Version three has much better uptime, is easier to clean and has unlimited menu items. White Castle brand leaders say the staff still loves it, or at least loves not coming home smelling like sliders.
“It takes some of that load off the team, allowing members to step away from the fryer and focus on other tasks,” said Steve Foreman, White Castle’s director of operations.
White Castle earned high marks for delivery operations. The goal is to keep the food flowing and delivery drivers moving.
The brand added multiple new KDS screens and additional makelines to flex into high delivery times so off-premises and in-house orders didn’t compete for staff attention. For the front of the house, there are fewer screens thanks to total integration with Checkmate, an order integration firm. Now, all digital orders flow right to the kitchen instead of to busy counter workers.
“That was a huge step for us, especially for our operators. They didn’t have to worry about additional tablets,” said Foreman.
Food On Demand reported the brand created dedicated pickup stations and has rolled out heated storage lockers that keep food warm for pickup. All delivery orders are sealed in tamper-evident packaging. White Castle is testing adhesive prints to keep receipts attached to the bags to avoid pickup confusion.
Shipping chicken at Dave’s
Every operator knows order accuracy for third-party delivery is paramount. Any order mistake can quickly snowball into a total refund. With 37 percent of business going out via third-party channels, Dave’s Hot Chicken leaders are fanatic about order accuracy.
As Chief Operating Officer Jim Bitticks said, “We label every single product that comes out of the kitchen with its own individual label, so it looks like FedEx and Starbucks combined.”
This level of detail ensures each item is tracked through the process, reducing the chances of miscommunication and order mix-ups.
Qu, a point-of-sale provider, a KDS from QSR Automations, and integrated orders from Olo send orders directly to the label maker.
Smart labels aren’t the only reason Roark Capital is looking to acquire Dave’s. There’s also a little dash of AI magic in the company. Bitticks said the company is working with Loop AI to do the busy work of tracking errors to highlight needs for retraining or new processes. The AI platform also helps manage reconciling revenue, grabs proof of delivery and accurate orders to manage fraudulent refunds.
“It’s a third-party management platform that we started working with about a year and a half ago,” he said. “It’s helped us recover refunds. It’s cut them more than in half. Our refund number used to be 1.1 percent of third-party sales and now it’s down to under half a percent.”
The brand is leaning on a loyal customer base thanks to a loyalty program that is “skewed generously in favor of the guest.” The quo end of that quid is data as juicy as the discount hot chicken. The brand uses that data to create new products and drive customers to grab premium options.
Check out more from the Outstanding Operator series as the group shows some seriously smart approaches to technology. Maybe the only unifying guidance from these operators: There are plenty of tech solutions, but savvy operational leaders can find the right one or make the most out of the tools at hand.
Nicholas Upton has reported on retail and restaurant technology for more than a decade. His Tech Stack column in Franchise Times aims to distill complex ideas into actionable insights. Send interesting tech topics to [email protected].