Best Gadgets for Running Your Restaurant

When it comes to running a restaurant, there are a lot of things to keep in mind when considering what gadgets should be implemented.

As anyone who has ever worked in a restaurant can testify, they are extremely fast-paced. You need gear and gadgets that are going to not only be able to handle the wear and tear, but optimize your business to help your employees work as quickly and efficiently as possible while still maintaining high standards for your customers.

Considering the fast-paced nature of the business, you will need to focus on being efficient for example incorporating a vendor management system, to manage your vendors that you source ingredients from

Here are some of the best gadgets that will help your restaurant run as smoothly as possible.

1. A Reliable POS System

A reliable POS system is going to be your best asset in the restaurant business. This piece of equipment impacts every employee in the building; the servers, the kitchen, the managers. You need a system that is going to be user friendly and quick for the servers, easy to add modifiers and timely for the kitchen, and have easy access for managers. If the bus pulls in on a busy Saturday night and you do not have a reliable POS system, everyone in the restaurant is going to have a much harder job.

2. A Reliable Seating System

In addition to a good POS system, you will also need a reliable seating system. Running a restaurant is all about providing a great customer experience, and that starts the minute the customer walks through the door. The host/hostess needs to have a clear idea of what tables are open and clean, how many tables are seated, what servers have been seated recently, and an accurate wait time to tell the customer, if applicable. If a customer walks in to a front door and the host/hostess doesn’t know if any tables are clean or where to take them, their experience is already going to be soured.

3. Kitchen Prep Equipment

While kitchen gadgets and equipment may seem like an obvious necessity, it is important to think of the smaller kitchen prep equipment that will maximize the efficiency of your prep staff. Having dicers and slicers already set to the dimensions that you want your vegetables to be cut will save time while guaranteeing consistency and accuracy among all of your kitchen staff. These utensils save your employees’ time, which ultimately saves money on the backend when it comes to hours worked, or it can free up an employee to start working on another task.

4. Kitchen Cooking Equipment

While again this may seem obvious, it is imperative to keep in mind the volume of food your restaurant will be cooking on its busiest night. If you run a busy restaurant, it might not work to only have one fryer vat if you sell a lot of French fries. You also may want to consider a back-up microwave if you only have one. There is nothing worse than a piece of equipment malfunctioning during a busy shift, so it is important to have a back-up if at all possible, especially if it is a smaller piece of equipment.

5. A High Capacity Commercial Dishwasher

This is such an essential component to running a restaurant smoothly. Busy restaurants go through so many loads of dishes each night. It is vital that your dishwasher can keep up with the demand, but along with that, it needs to work quickly and efficiently. A single load cannot take more than a few minutes, if that, and it needs to leave your dishes clean and sparkling on the first wash. It also needs to meet your state standards of chemical limits or whatever the mandated cleaning agent might be. This is especially important because if it does not meet these standards, you run the risk of the health department shutting you down if they make a surprise visit. That risks your restaurant even staying in business, as well as your reputation among customers.

As you can see, there is a lot to take into consideration when considering what gadgets are the best to help you run your successful restaurant. There are many small details that go into making a restaurant successful. With so many working parts and employees, it is so important for their to be working equipment and easy to use systems. Having all of these in place can lead to a long term, successful restaurant.