There are sectors of the economy that adapt more slowly than others to new technologies and digital transformation. It's a matter of survival in most cases, including this one from the restaurant business. Let's see how technology has changed the way of running a restaurant.
Pandemic
Let's go back a bit, when the pandemic hit us hard in March 2020 and dining rooms were forced to close. They were left with takeout and delivery.
To avoid long lines, gatherings at the counter and cash payments, restaurateurs have quickly embraced digital options like online ordering and contactless payments.
No choice, you might say, if the restaurants wanted to survive.
But remember when we learned that the health network was still using fax to share case and death results…
As of today, are there other technological advances that could strongly influence restaurants?
robots
We have talked about it a few times, robots are gradually making their way into restaurants.
Some are used in the kitchen while others are beginning to take care of table service. These advances are largely a response to the current labor shortage.
A Parisian restaurant opened in 2020 offers pasta dishes entirely prepared by a robot. The only human intervention is to load the food into the robot. Otherwise, the machine has replaced the human for all that concerns extremely repetitive tasks.
The Cala restaurant thus offers a quality menu for a very respectable price. This is in fact the mission of the company which hopes to open other branches in the coming months.
Screens
It is increasingly normal to arrive at a fast food chain and order directly on a touch screen instead of going to the checkout.
Now a major player in the technology world, Samsung, in collaboration with iNUI Studio, is launching a similar product in collaboration with St-Hubert restaurants.
These screens offer real remote and contactless interaction. You can hold your finger 5 cm from the screen and still manage to click, double-click, drag, move or zoom.
Metavers
Finally, a new technology that is still in its infancy but which is causing a lot of talk convinced McDonald's to move on.
The American chain has in fact made a dozen trademark applications in the Metavers virtual world, among others for McMetavers.
Rumors indicate that, in the near future, there could be a virtual restaurant that would offer both real and virtual products. You could order from this restaurant operated virtually and receive home delivery, in real life.
It would be possible to be able to attend virtual concerts online which would be added to real concerts offered by McDo.
So restaurateurs always seem to want more from technology.
No question of staying at the fax for decades!
