High-impact restaurant walkthroughs 💥

Hi!

What is it about summer that throws off your routine?

Maybe it’s a lingering effect of all those summer breaks as a kid – once the sun really starts to beat down, the schedules and habits that kept you going during the school year go out the window.

Even as an adult, things aren’t too different. You may have a long to-do list, many responsibilities, but still, it’s summer – part of you just wants to get L-I-V-I-N, man…

Of course, as a restaurateur, you know the necessity of routine, regardless of the season. It’s the only way to maintain order amid the chaos of a busy kitchen. 

Which brings us to our first, routine-themed tip of the month:

Tip 1: Take time for ‘Moment of Truth’ walkthroughs

“Moment of truth” (MOT) began as a marketing term. Says TechTarget, it’s

MOTs apply to facilities management, too. Amid the day-to-day hustle, it’s easy to overlook issues like a burned-out lightbulb or scuffed-up wall, but by adding a MOT Walkthrough to your routine, you take time to notice those lingering problems. 

This can significantly improve the look of your restaurant – as well as the customer experience. 

Beginning outside the restaurant, try to look at everything as if you’re a first-time customer. Here’s a sample list of prompts to consider adding to your checklist:

• Begin in the parking lot. Is it free from litter? Are there holes in the asphalt? Is the landscaping well-kept?

• Is the gate to your dumpster corral working? f you have an outdoor sound system, is the music clear? Are outdoor lights turned on, and is your sign bright and well-lit?

• Is your outside structure painted and in good repair? Is the glass clean, and is the sidewalk in front of the store free of buildup?

• Walk inside the store. Do the doors open and close without issues? Are the floors clean and/or waxed? Is the AC flowing?

• Walk through to the bathroom. Are the walls in good repair? Do the “facilities” work?

• Head back into the dining room and touch each table. Are the seats and chair pads clean? Are any tables wobbly? Are the lights all in good working order?

• Enter the kitchen. Does each piece of equipment start up correctly? Is there water on the floor (and, if so, is anything leaking?) Are all refrigerators and freezers at temp? Quiz your staff – is there anything they’re currently “working around” that can be added to the fix list?

Remember: With Prefix, you can create a checklist that includes all your MOTs. 

The best part: the checklist auto-generates a handyman wishlist, which batches out a list of small repairs to be made. There's no need to let lingering issues stick around!

Mental Health Break

2. Keep tabs on technological progress 

You may have heard a few things about AI in the past few months. A small chip manufacturer went on an historic stock market run; there’s been some buzz about a pretty smart chatbot.

A fascinating Restaurant Business article about AI really drove home for us how quickly we can expect its adaptation to come. Despite McDonald’s ending its drive-thru voice AI test, there seems to be a building consensus that voice AI will be ubiquitous very soon:

There are sales benefits, but more so, AI – both in the drive-thru and elsewhere in the restaurants’ tech stack – promises to make restaurant staff happier and more productive:

On top of that, there is also the labor-savings piece, which, though harder to pin down, holds plenty of promise. Ideally, voice AI will allow restaurants to shift workers out of the drive-thru and into jobs that are less stressful and more rewarding. “The qualitative benefits of making restaurant crew members' jobs easier to reduce turnover is invaluable,” the Cowen analysts wrote.

We’re not a voice AI company, but we built Prefix with AI at the core of our product. It’s partly why it’s so easy to document asset-level issues on Prefix – AI recognizes patterns between issues and equipment, and does a lot of the cognitive heavy-lifting for managers and staff.

We think technology is a force-multiplier for the restaurant industry. It promises to reduce turnover and boost your restaurant productivity.

Watch this space!

Thanks for reading UPTIME #5!

We’ll be back next month with more tips and details on what’s new at Prefix.

Have something you’d like to see covered in a future newsletter? Shoot us a reply!

All the best,
Jared