Restaurant automation in 2022
The catering market is highly competitive. Therefore, the quality of service plays a fundamental role in the restaurant business. Professional software simplifies the work of the staff, the employees of the institution will be able to pay more attention to the guest. Automation will save time and money, and work will become more efficient. Thanks to automation, the training of new employees will be faster. Payment, menu, warehouse, marketing – everything will be at hand

In addition, automation significantly reduces errors due to the human factor: all algorithms have been worked out, and the system impartially takes everything into account. What automation programs are worth paying attention to? The editors of Healthy Food Near Me studied the automation systems and software on the market and compiled their own rating.

Editor’s Choice

iiko

This system was developed by a domestic manufacturer, which took into account all the specifics of the work of restaurants. iiko is used by professional restaurateurs who need advanced reports, well-defined processes, and maintaining company standards. 

Editor’s Choice
iiko system
Restaurant automation software
Save yourself the trouble of overselling, inventory discrepancies, and product write-offs due to overdue
Ask for a priceAll system features

The iiko system allows you to simultaneously connect several establishments, which is convenient for restaurant chain owners. In addition, the system is convenient to use, as it allows you to quickly scale from one institution to several, provides centralized reporting for all enterprises and separately for each, and has advanced management reports.

It is also suitable for enterprises delivering ready meals, the system allows you to quickly deploy your website, take orders and control couriers. In addition, iiko can use canteens in a business center or at an enterprise, fast food restaurants, coffee houses, and other catering establishments.

Connection to the system occurs without stopping the activity of the institution, and the software is configured remotely. At the same time, equipment adjustment is carried out on site if necessary. 

Thanks to the program, it becomes possible to automate purchases and forecast sales, increase labor productivity, create and manage loyalty programs, accelerate the receipt of inventory results, as well as analyze sales and marketing activity results.

Aiko allows you to plan the seating of guests, control table reservations and manage large banquets.

In addition, the functionality involves constant monitoring of personnel: All actions of employees are visible in real time, notifications about suspicious transactions are received, any reports are available.

The built-in personnel motivation module helps to facilitate payroll calculation: automatically reward for good sales and impose fines for violations. An event-based video surveillance system will help to deal with conflicts that have arisen and punish those responsible. 

Professional online reporting allows you to control profit and loss, plan expenses and respond to deviations in time.

Flexible pricing makes it possible to get basic functionality not only for large enterprises, but also for small ones, and investments pay off quickly enough.

The cloud version costs from 1 rubles per month, depending on the functionality. You can also buy a local version for your server at a price of 490 rubles. 

The system also has a lot of integrations with third-party services, which allows you to expand the basic functionality of the system: a guest mobile application, a delivery site, third-party loyalty programs, a waiter’s mobile application, and many others. 

The cost of local extensions and add-ons starts from 2 rubles, when using the cloud version it starts from 400 rubles per month. 

Poster

This system is convenient, cloud-based, and runs on regular laptops and tablets. The owner can check the report on the work of the last shift, see the stock balance and so on.

Part of the software is an application for the employees of the hall. The system is quite easy to learn, after installing it, you can immediately start working, and all its functionality is available even when the Internet is turned off. The program will save all orders and receipts on the device until the Internet appears.

Works in accordance with 54-FZ and EGAIS, which allows you to sell alcoholic products. It has round-the-clock technical support, and developers are constantly adding new features.

The cost of the program for restaurants starts from 1520 rubles per month.

There is a free trial period for the first 15 days.

Top 8 best systems for restaurant automation in 2022.

1. Rest

Easy to connect and easy to use restaurant automation system.

With its help you can:

  • take orders,
  • keep inventory records,
  • get sales statistics,
  • keep a record of regular guests,
  • implement loyalty programs,
  • print checks,
  • connect online checkout
  • leave a tip by qr code.

The cost of the automation program is 990 rubles.

There is a trial period of 14 days. 

2. Quick rest 

The program is perfect for complex restaurant automation. 

It is easy to set up and can be used in the hall, when working on pre-order or in a restaurant delivery service.

It is possible to keep inventory records, control stocks and replenish stocks on time. The weight and cost of dishes are calculated automatically in it.

The mobile application allows you to pre-order or order delivery. Guests can independently choose the sauce, additives and the degree of roasting of the ordered dishes. 

The cost of the program starts from 990 rubles per month.

Trial period 14 days.

3. BIT.APPETITE.RESTAURANT

BIT.APPETIT.RESTAURANT is a modern solution in the software market for restaurant automation. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it adapts to the business processes of the institution.

The program is designed for: waiters, bartenders, cashiers and administrators in restaurants in order to simplify their tasks. The program implements the interfaces of the waiter, bartender/cashier and administrator.  

The cost of the program is 16, in the future you do not need to pay anything extra.

4. Tillypad

This is a single automation system for a restaurant. According to the developer, Tillypad is the fastest POS system that can work stably with a large flow of guests. The program is easy to learn and has rich functionality.

With its help, you can take orders, pay guests, interact with the kitchen, implement loyalty programs, reduce costs, and thereby increase profits.

Tillypad is distributed both by subscription for 2 rubles a month, and by a lifetime license for 500 (lifetime is a metric, translated as user lifetime). That is, you can buy a lifetime license and use the program until the restaurant closes, you won’t have to pay extra in the future. 

5. Contour 

This is a program for a restaurant that automates accounting, restaurant menus and ordering supplies. It is possible to work EGAIS and “Mercury” in one window. The functionality involves the creation of technological maps of dishes. The program itself counts stock balances, keeps records of products, thereby increasing profitability, reducing costs, simplifying the control of the activities of staff and the restaurant, and reducing the number of employee errors. 

The cost of the service is from 6 rubles per year.

Free trial period of 14 days.

6. Dry

This is a complex system for automating the activities of the restaurant. It includes a back office that can be accessed from any device and at any time see up-to-date information about stock balances, discounts, generate the necessary report, as well as an online checkout.

Employees of the institution will be able to independently receive information about orders in real time. Judging by the reviews of restaurant owners, when using this system, labor productivity increases, and it also simplifies the analysis of the restaurant’s activities.

The cost of the software is 24 rubles, in the future you do not need to pay anything extra.

7. Paloma 365

Completely secure restaurant automation system. This is possible due to the fact that all information is stored in the cloud, and synchronization occurs every 2 minutes. The program can work without Internet access for two weeks and save all the data during this time. Thanks to the system, you can establish convenient control over the activities of the institution, managing all processes in one application.

The cost starts from 1 rubles per month.

Free trial period of 15 days.

8. R_keeper

It is quickly installed, there are basic tools for work: a cash station, a warehouse, sales analytics, reporting, it is possible to connect to a delivery club. The developer provides users with a free hotline that works 24/7. It is possible to work with EGAIS and Mercury, as well as integration with 1C. 

The cost of the basic solution for restaurants is 2 rubles per month.

It is also possible to purchase a perpetual license for 82 rubles. 

Popular questions and answers

Healthy Food Near Me asked an expert to answer the most frequent questions of users Anton Alekseev.

How long does it take on average to automate a restaurant?
Restaurant automation systems necessarily contain two main blocks: sales accounting and warehouse accounting. The block responsible for sales allows you to organize and optimize the work in the hall. It can be integrated into the work quite quickly, at the existing facility this work can be done literally in 2-3 days. In fact, you need to enter menus, prices, information about dishes and a table layout in the hall into the system, connect the system to cash registers and a payment terminal. 

In 9 cases out of 10, the most difficult task at this stage is the training of employees, noted Anton Alekseev. Modern software products have many functions that are convenient to use. You can merge and split guest accounts, move tables, and do other useful things, but it takes some learning. Setting up the warehouse block of the program is somewhat more difficult, and to be more precise, you need to do more work and enter more information, although this work cannot be called difficult. In order for the system to work correctly and keep records, it is necessary to attach a calculation card to each dish in the menu, that is, enter into the database information about how much of which product is used to prepare each particular dish.

How effective is the introduction of automation systems in restaurants?
By itself, a restaurant automation system will not improve service or the quality of food preparation, the expert believes. But when used correctly, it will greatly facilitate the work of accounting for sales and raw materials. At the same time, the system will not completely eliminate the inventory and reconciliation of balances – this will be done by employees. Some restaurant automation systems allow you to see the balance for each type of product or raw material in real time, which is very convenient when conducting express checks of a certain type of dish or individual ingredients.
Is it possible to create a restaurant automation program yourself?
At its core, restaurant automation systems are several databases that have certain relationships with each other. Therefore, it is unlikely that it will be possible to recreate it on your own without certain programming skills. But depending on the task to be solved, some software blocks can be replaced with quite standard programs. For example, Anton Alekseev believes that the calculation of raw materials for cooking can be decomposed in Excel and get a table that is quite acceptable for work, which will be similar to the “Layout” – this is a document that was used to account for raw materials in catering establishments before the advent of computer technology. In addition, many types of restaurant software can provide various types of sales analytics that will be useful for marketing, but they cannot be reproduced on their own or replaced by other programs.

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