Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs), better known as fast food restaurants, have been a rage for quite a while now. In our busy lives, QSRs have helped customers to satiate their hunger without wasting any time. Even though the QSR business model is decades old, it still has infinite potential. However, in order to run various aspects of the operations seamlessly, you need to have the right tools to manage a Quick Service Restaurant.

To put it simply, the future of QSR depends upon its ability to embrace the digital culture. For that, you need to have proper tools and software in order to stand against the current of competition.

Here are the 7 must have tools to manage a QSR:

1. Social Media

The world is now a big network, where virtually everyone is connected to each other in one way or the other. Social Media has gone beyond its traditional role of connecting each other, though. It has become a platform where everything is accessible, and this importantly affects your business.

The fact is that people like to talk about things. They like to talk about the restaurant they visited, how much they hated/loved the food and how whether they would recommend it to others. This is your glorious chance to seize the momentum and use it to your advantage.

A well-maintained social media account can allow customers to have a single platform to give their reviews. Acknowledging those who liked your service and understanding the grievances of those who didn’t will go a long way in establishing your brand image.

2. Analytics is the future

There is a reason why every major company is turning towards data analysis. Customer reactions, in every respect, have the potential to affect your business. Analytics help you understand this otherwise seemingly ‘foreign language’ and use it for the benefit of your business.

Analytical tools target your customers and collect data regarding everything they do. Your customer might not have mentioned you at all, but their recent check-ins on Facebook, their searches on Zomato and their shopping history can tell you a lot about their preferences.

Knowledge is power. What is good today may not be good enough the next month. Even the smallest change in a seemingly unrelated factor can have a drastic impact on your business. For example, a hoax message regarding flu in pigs may look trivial to you, but it might make the customers avoid any pork-related dishes at your place, leading to your loss in the form of unutilized food.

3. Digitize or die

Quick Service Restaurants may have stood the test of time, but it could not have been possible without their ability to adapt. Much like our lives, our economy is turning digital too, and QSR has to again adapt to it.

Digital Wallets and cards are fast becoming the norm rather than an exception, and it has been predicted that by 2020, 90% of the transactions would be digital. So, a digital payment gateway is one of the necessary tools to manage a QSR.

Adapting to the digital economy would not only make things easier for your customers but would also send out the message that you are one of those businesses that like to “keep up the pace with progress”.

4. A reliable restaurant software

Restaurants are a tough business to handle. Despite the popular notion, QSR is even tougher, because everything is too fast and too quick. There is only so much that humans can handle, no matter how skilled and efficient they are.

This is why good restaurant software is one of the best tools to manage a QSR. It facilitates in making the operations more seamless and hassle-free. As a QSR owner, you need something that is efficient, fast, and above all, reliable to depend on and truly benefit from it.

If the world is turning to automation, why should you be any different?

5. One app to rule them all

Think about anything you might want to do on your phone, and there would probably be an app for that. Mobile apps are one of the most popular tools to manage a QSR, and let me tell you why.

As technology progresses, people are inclining towards more efficient ways to do things; ways that do not involve wasting time. Because let’s face it – time is a scarce resource. This is why your need to have a functional app that provides most of the basic utilities that your restaurant requires. One-tap delivery, customer support, pop-up notifications – the choice is yours.
But what cannot be denied is that an app is a must-have for your restaurant.

6. Understanding Supply Chain management

Supply Chain management (SCM) is a prerequisite for almost any business today. There are so many phases involved, right from the order of raw materials to the formation of finished goods, that SCM becomes a necessity.

It should not be a surprise then that SCM is one of the keys tools to manage a QSR business. The reasoning is simple. Food wastage and shortage, both are very undesirable conditions for a restaurant. But they often involve factors that are sudden and do not leave much time to plan an alternative route.

However, with the help of SCM tools, you could both plan the flow of your raw materials, and navigate it according to your current circumstances.

Quick Service Restaurants have always been a lucrative business, despite all the obstacles. However, nothing is permanent in the world, much less in business. The popularity of QSR depends upon its adaptability to newer technologies.

As a QSR owner, it is both your responsibility and opportunity to make use of tools that would make your business and life much easier. Not only would it allow you to expand your business, but also make things far smoother and efficient at a lower cost.