Contactless Dining On The Menu

From a digital menu to an operational system that enables restaurant management to work from home to additional features that promote personalised service, here’s looking at how the innovative products from restaurant automation startup system Devourin will help restaurants turn around in a post lockdown world

With the food and beverage industry badly hit by the Covid-19 crisis, restaurants and diners across the board will have to make fundamental changes in their service. After all, with anywhere between 7 to 8 million people employed by the hospitality industry in mind, INR 4 lakh crores the sector brings in by way of annual turnover, are at stake.

Easier said than done because even post lockdown it’s going to take some doing to win back the customers

To that end, Pune-based restaurant automation technology startup Devourin is offering products to make contactless dining a ground reality. This will, hopefully, go the distance in eliminating the need for diners to touch valet receipts, menus and bill copies, when they start eating out again.

As things stand, Devourin’s USP is that it provides multiple products on a single platform, so that restaurants have all their technological needs met at one point. “Our range of products include a QR code-based digital menu, POS, Inventory and Recipe Management, Self-Ordering Kiosk, Interactive Digital Signages, mobile/tab apps for the staff and owners to run efficient operations and stay ahead in the game,” says Sivanandan Chettiyar, Founder and CEO, Devourin. What’s more, the technology covers the vast ground: from fine-day restaurants, pubs and lounges to fast food chains, it suits them all.

Devourin and contactless dining

First things first. It allows senior management to work from home. Here’s how: Its unique hybrid cloud model that works offline, independent of geography. Thus while the operations have no dependency on the net, they are nevertheless, connected to all outlets at the backend.

The software essentially offers you three modes of operations:

• A Centralised mode for a centralised management to manage everything from a single point: be it adding/subtracting items from the menu or tailoring portion sizes to local tastes or creating invoices and inventories.
• A distributed mode allows branches or franchises to run operations autonomously.
• A hybrid mode that facilitates both centralised and distributed management, allowing some aspects to be looked after by a single point, even as others may be handled at diverse points.

In short, seamless and continuous customer engagement through actionable real time insights.

“If simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication, Devourin makes it simple for owners to view all data in real-time for all outlets, right up to the know-how on what’s happening at a particular table,” says Chettiyar. “The software analyses customer preferences in a particular market-so you can alter recipes, cut back on waste and give them exactly what they want. “Its best in class cloud technology provides 100 per cent data back up, seamless data flow across outlets, close monitoring and efficient management. Given that personalised service will make the cut even in the Post-Covid world, Devourin’s range of mobile and tab-based tools will enable the hostess, captain and manager of the restaurant to keep abreast of guest preferences including tastes, allergies, preferred dishes, birthdays and so on

“If simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication, Devourin makes it simple for owners to view all data in real time for all outlets, right up to the know-how on what’s happening”

Digital Menu

“There’s little doubt that Covid-19 has had an unprecedented impact on the restaurant industry. The fear factor has set in every customer’s mind and will stay longer. Post lockdown, gaining patron’s confidence will be a herculean task for every restaurateur along with coping with new operational challenges – staff shortage, uncertain supplier commitments for produce, high training costs and lower sales. Here’s where Spark the Contactless Digital Menu will have the maximum impact,” says Chettiyar. Here are the ways that Spark can help the average restaurateur:

• Contactless digital menu – whether a customer is dining-in, ordering from home or anywhere. Replace your paper-menu with digital. Change your menu as often as you want with ease.
• Contactless ordering without the need for customers to install any mobile app or go to a website.
• No food delivery services in your city/town – no problem. Enable online with no investment in website or app.
• Increase hygiene, no-touch payments – take payments without touching a card reader from the comfort of customer’s own mobile device.
• Contactless staff operations – taking orders from customers whether dining-in or take away or online, go touch-free. Enable staff to take payments without any contact.
• Seamlessly integrates social media platforms. Bring back your patrons and entice new customers.
• Increase efficiency, reduce operational costs by reducing staff.

The software, says Chettiyar, is affordably priced and cost-effective, even as it targets a varied customer base: from top of the line fine dines to fast food chains. Best of all, it allows quick on-boarding, meaning the time taken for your staff to acquaint themselves with the intuitive interface, is minimal. The Devourin team, he says, is on hand to assist restaurants in seamlessly upgrading to their platform, without a loss of time or productivity.

From strength to strength

On his part, noted entrepreneur Deepak Nathani, chief promoter and MD for Devourin believes the customer-centric and intelligent product will find takers across the board. “While Devourin already enjoys a steady client base in cities like Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, the contactless dining features shall be important in the days to come. Soon we plan to enter the Middle East too,” he shares.