Staff taking orders remains relevant to the experience

Technomic reports that a large proportion of customers at all restaurant types in Canada still prefer to interact with staff instead of placing orders through other means such as apps, computers, kiosks and tablets.

The company uses its proprietary Ignite Consumer data to capture unique occasion metrics for all orders/visits profiled and evaluated by recent guests at top restaurant chains.

They looked at the proportion of orders from chains that Technomic tracks, organized by segment, that were made inside the restaurant with an employee.

% of orders made inside the restaurant (with an employee) for __ segment:

• Upscale casual dining – 77.4%
• Midscale dining – 72.3%
• Traditional casual dining – 67.8%
• Fast casual – 67.6%
• Quick service – 48.7%

Unsurprisingly, full-service restaurants receive more orders from inside the restaurant with a staff member than limited service. That’s because consumers are more apt to dine in at a full-service restaurant, whereas quick-service and fast-casual restaurants typically offer a larger array of off-premise services such as drive-thru and carryout, as well as in-store kiosks that allow guests to avoid staff interaction.

According to Technomic, overall, this data shows the important role in-store restaurant employees still play for capturing food-service orders.

A large proportion of guests across all segments still prefer to interact with staff instead of placing orders through other means such as apps, computers, kiosks and tablets.

For more information, visit technomic.com.

Editor’s analysis: While many customers embraced technology during the pandemic, nearly half (48.7 per cent) of quick-service orders were made inside the restaurant with an employee. This is at top restaurant chains who have access to advanced and proprietary ordering technology.