The restaurant business is one of the constantly developing areas, and in many directions at once. However, it should be noted that only recently cafes and canteens have begun to actively introduce innovative technologies in order to modernize their production. The most important impetus and event for this was the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which introduced new norms and principles for the interaction of citizens. It is necessary to analyze exactly how the pandemic has affected the restaurant business, as well as consider several of the most important new technologies.
As for the automation and robotization of public catering, it can be stated that not only retail chains are successfully implementing innovative solutions. With the help of automation and new technologies, many cafes, restaurants, pizzerias, and bars greatly simplify their operation. “One of the fast-food leaders, the KFC company, announced in June 2020 the opening of an experimental format restaurant without cash desks and sellers” (Reis et al. 107). Instead of cash desks, self-service terminals with a biometric identification system have been installed. The system digitizes the buyer’s face and generates a unique “digital fingerprint” that can be used for payment (Reis et al. 111). At the same time, all previous orders of the visitor will be remembered through a digital imprint so that they can be offered again during a new visit to KFC.
Orders from the kitchen are moved to the issuing area through a special conveyor, then the robotic arm distributes food and drinks to special cells. To form an order, visitors can use the mobile application, and in the restaurant pick it up in the storage cell after scanning the face (Silveira 56). This technology resonates with novelties for grocery retail and resembles automated points of issue of purchases outside stores.
Biometric payment technology is being tested by a number of cafe chains. The implementation of the technology will take place with the direct participation of investors, as well as the VISA payment system (Silveira 99). To make a payment, the visitor of the institution will just need to look into the terminal’s camera. To use this form of payment, you will need to first register your face biometrics in the application and then link to the VISA card in any of the cafes where the biometric terminal is installed. Robotization does not bypass coffee shops either, institutions appear on the market where the work of preparing coffee is performed by a robot barista. According to the developers, he does this with mathematical precision (Silveira 31). The new format of the coffee shop solves the problem of increased pressure on the barista during peak hours, when there are long queues and the quality of coffee is reduced due to the rush (Silveira 27). The system additionally includes the possibility of ordering through a mobile application and preparing coffee according to an individual recipe from the client.
However, in some areas, the adoption of technology is slower and less successful. California-based startup Zume Pizza was trying to bring automatic pizza-making technology to market. The innovation is based on the use of a pizza maker robot that can roll out the dough, fill it with toppings, and bake it. The plan was to cook the pizza on the move while the car was delivering the order to the customer, bringing a still-smoking “piping hot” product to the door, cooked less than five minutes ago (Silveira 61). Cooking on wheels was the main marketing feature of the project, which looked like some hybrid of Uber and Starbucks (Silveira 61). The benefit of using such a robot is obvious – high speed of preparation and delivery, however, such technologies have not yet been widely used.
In general, the digitalization of the fast-food industry is not only about robots and artificial intelligence. This is a complex alloy of a whole galaxy of innovative technologies, which includes, in addition to robots and AI, programming, and Internet services. For corporate b2b clients, this can be implemented in the form of joint ordering services, when office employees can place an order for themselves and their other colleagues through a mobile application (Sergi and Popkova 37). Another promising area is replenishable corporate food cards, which, at the choice of the employer, can be used in restaurants and cafes near the office. It can also be various options for the transformation and use of vending machines installed in office canteens, with payment by QR code, and free access to products. “It is worth noting that the COVID-19 pandemic has most strongly influenced the development of such technologies” (Sergi and Popkova 90). The fact is that the virus is extremely contagious, so society and entrepreneurs were faced with the task of minimizing the interaction of living people as much as possible.
This is explained by the fact that such protective procedures have significantly reduced the spread of the disease, as well as the number of sick people in general. Based on this, the most developed system was the use of QR codes in the restaurant business (Silveira 57). In some states that have digital databases on public health, vaccinated and healthy citizens were given their personal codes. Thanks to them, people could visit the establishments, presenting the code to the employees for scanning. In addition, in order to avoid unnecessary contact with waiters and items that are used by many people, an electronic menu was introduced (Fedorova and Zaramenskikh 89). This technology functions in such a way that citizens scan a QR code in an institution through a phone and view the offered dishes, as well as order them there. Such technologies have made it possible to protect the restaurant business from becoming one of the hotspots for the spread of coronavirus.
When analyzing the other technologies listed above, it can be seen that they are also aimed at speeding up contact between citizens to one degree or another. Although such measures are most relevant only during a pandemic, in the long term they will help prevent an increase in the incidence and the emergence of a serious pandemic of another disease (Fedorova and Zaramenskikh 54). Among other things, in such technologies, there is a benefit for the restaurants themselves, since management reduces the level of costs for employees, stabilizes production, and gains competitive advantages (Fedorova and Zaramenskikh 56). Based on this, it is necessary to identify that the technological development of the restaurant business affects the sphere extremely positively.
In conclusion, it should be noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has become the most powerful and influential incident that has affected the restaurant business. Due to the danger of coronavirus, the management of organizations had to develop strategies and technologies to reduce the risk of illness by reducing contact between people. In turn, this has led to an active integration of new technologies related to robotics, programming, and Internet services. The advantage of such technologies is that they are not temporary, but, on the contrary, have great prospects.
Works Cited
Fedorova, A. and Zaramenskikh, E. (Eds.). Digital transformation and new challenges. Changes in business and society in the digital era. Springer International Publishing, 2021.
Reis, J. L., Peter, M. K., Cayolla, R., Loureiro, S., Bogdanović, Z. and Rocha, Á. (Eds.). Marketing and smart technologies. Proceedings of ICMarkTech 2020. Springer Nature Singapore, 2021.
Sergi, B. S. and Popkova, E. G. (Eds.). Economic issues of social entrepreneurship. Springer International Publishing, 2021.
Silveira, C., Reis, L. and Carvalho, L. C. (Eds.). Handbook of research on entrepreneurship, innovation, sustainability, and ICTs in the post-COVID-19 Era. Business Science Reference, 2021.