Even in the face of the pandemic, the food and beverage sector in this country has come a long way in recent years, and there are a number of technologies driving those advances through digital transformation.
These include solutions within guest experience, kitchen operations (including food safety), business intelligence, HR and staffing, and inventory and procurement management. Furthermore, there are systems that can combine all these data points to collectively help improve operations as a whole.
As one example of digitalisation within guest experience, it’s already hard to imagine a world without the option of online ordering and food delivery. Of the total number of meals consumed by Filipinos in 2021, one-third were ordered from restaurants. In 2020, subscriptions to food delivery aggregators increased by 61 per cent.
A more holistic digital approach
The sector has embraced and adopted new technology offerings to help improve operations and profit margins, driven by new solutions related to contactless ordering and payment, automated inventory replenishment and depletion, software used to schedule staff, improvements to loyalty programmes, and even food safety.
To streamline their offering and indeed save time and money for their businesses, food and beverage groups are now recognising the need for a full-suite solution to keep track of multiple vendors and apps via one platform.
Having worked with restaurant groups, as well as with the technology companies servicing these groups for many years across multiple geographies, I have long been a believer in the need for a fully-centralised restaurant management system.
The correct use of data, readily available to both management and employees alike, can help businesses make more informed decisions and thus maximise profits. Moreover, ask anybody in the industry, and they will agree that anything that makes restaurant operations simpler (and more profitable) is definitely a big step in the right direction.
Platforms like that of Mosaic Solutions help streamline both front and back-of-house operations by bringing together POS (Point of Sale), purchasing and inventory management capabilities, while reporting and analytics dashboards bring it all together.
As the central nervous system of operations, we are able to create an ecosystem of other related products and apps around our core “operating system” and bring clients’ data together in one holistic view. By using the software as the central hub for other restaurant technologies and apps, the inevitable end result is improvements in efficiency, a simplification of operations and better margins.
For example, imagine having an accurate dashboard of a customer’s preferences, favoured table, a popular dish, which dishes typically get ordered together, etc., and that this data is tied to the restaurant POS. The server and kitchen can cater specifically to that customer quickly and efficiently to make a more memorable experience and build a loyal relationship while also helping to drive increased check size.
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This customised customer experience will heavily influence future return visits, an invaluable boost in an ultra-competitive marketplace. It is well-known that margins within the food and beverage sector can be tight, while operations also can be pretty complicated. This next wave of restaurant technologies can help improve both.
Driving significant economic improvement
All across the globe, many industries were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the food and beverage industry was no different. Revenue from the food service sector in the Philippines totalled just over US$8.5 billion in 2020, a significant decrease on 2019’s figure of more than US$15 billion.
Rapid adaptation to an omnichannel sales model was vital during this period, and a variety of revenue streams, from delivery to pick-up to ready-to-eat, were the keys to survival. Food and beverage companies adopted technologies to support this omnichannel approach as well as to optimise operations and improve margins, which had become particularly tight due to the pandemic.
I believe the adoption of these technologies will continue as the industry recovers from the unforeseen and unprecedented losses of recent years. This already can be seen in the rebound of the industry within the Philippines in 2021 to US$10.3 billion and its projected annual growth of 7.8 per cent from 2021 to 2026, which should outpace the growth of the overall Philippine economy during those years (projected to grow at six per cent per year by the Asian Development Bank).
The relative value and importance of the Filipino food service market to the overall economy are simply staggering. The Philippines is set to experience the highest consumption growth in ASEAN by 2030. At the centre of this consumer spending is food and beverage (F&B), which will account for up to 40 per cent of consumption, according to the WEF.
If the food and beverage sector is to achieve such lofty rates of growth, continued investment in technology and internet infrastructure must play a significant role. This will enable efficiency-driving, cloud-based solutions such as mobile point of sale and contactless payments to thrive while also supporting the ability to provide insights and data anywhere, anytime.
By embracing more advanced cloud technology and supporting improved connectivity, as the country continues to recover post-COVID-19, the Philippine food and beverage market can undoubtedly reach its full potential in the months and years ahead.
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