With many tech investments even replacing the need to over-hire, the difference between making a profit or a loss can often be made by automated computerised work. Here are two investments that restaurant and hospitality industry businesses can think about investing in to make the most of the post-pandemic pound:

Online Takeaway Ordering System

With almost the entire world forced to close its doors to the public in 2020 and 2021, the hospitality industry was one of the many industries that took a huge hit in revenue and saw many closures across the planet. Once kitchens were allowed to fire back up the ovens however, it was often in the form of a takeaway only situation.

With many companies still relying on the old school system of someone waiting on the end of a telephone for orders to come in and then passing these orders through to a kitchen, many companies suffered through the lack of manpower or through human mistake.

The companies that thrived, were the ones with a online takeaway ordering system in place. These allowed people to log on to a restaurant's website or app and place their order which was transported straight to the kitchens. No more human error, no more engaged phonelines, no more waiting in the cold.

Many hospitality industry companies were forced to adapt and invest in one of these systems to be able to compete.

With the majority of the world now back open for business with very few restrictions, these takeaway systems are here to stay. With many restaurants now offering takeaway service permanently where they didn't before, both the restaurant itself and the consumer at home wins.

Instead of setting up a takeaway system at a later date and having to often reinvent the way your whole business works, any new hospitality industry should consider investing in a system like this from the day they open their doors.

Contactless Payment Systems

Contactless payments offer a number of huge advantages for all businesses in the hospitality industry, which is why this has been among the main technology investments from businesses in and outside of the restaurant world. Aside from speeding up payments and improving customer turnaround times, contactless tech can also easily marry up with various loyalty cards and programs, giving your clients more of a reason to shop with you.

Mobile contactless payments are possible even if customers do not have their wallets or cards on their person through mobile payments such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. Additionally, in a post pandemic world where people are now much more concerned with their interactions and hand and face hygiene, hospitality customers can use contactless payments to avoid transferring physical cash or face to face transactions.

Many hotels now even have the capacity to put a room key on a mobile device, meaning you can check in, receive your room key remotely without any contact with anyone else and use your phone as a way of entering and exiting your room.

Any business starting up now should vitally look at investing in contactless payment systems before they open their doors. Being left behind from the start by your competitors is one way to find yourself constantly on the backfoot, in the hospitality industry or elsewhere.