As the weather warms up and the summer finally approaches, hospitality business owners have plenty on their plate to prepare for the expected increase in footfall. To make the most of opportunities for increased revenue this summer season, it’s important to get ready with the right tools in place. We’re all looking forward to busy beer gardens, speciality cocktail orders, later nights and new menu items. So now is the time to ensure your pub, bar, hotel, restaurant, coffee shop or cafe is ready.

1. Update your menu and images

One of the quickest and easiest wins is to ensure your menu presentation is on point. When utilising the intuitive Order at Table solution, it’s important to ensure that your menu is working as hard as it can. 

That means making sure that your product and category images are updated with bright, engaging, summer-themed images that showcase your offerings in the best possible light. Your customers will be looking for food and drink that reflects the sunny days and warm weather, so make sure your Order to Table solution is making those options easy to find. You’ll be helping customers envisage themselves enjoying a cold beer or a refreshing cocktail in your sunny garden or outdoor seating areas.

In addition to updating your images, consider the menu engineering and make sure you’re featuring top summer sellers and specials prominently. By highlighting these items, you can encourage customers to try something new and boost your revenue.

Top Tip: Don’t forget to run your 'PLU Sales by Dept' report via our business management software which ranks best sellers in the last column 'sales ratio'.

2. Check your till screens

Whether it’s rearranging your staff-facing till screen to ensure the most popular products are easy to find, or making use of customer-facing screens for advertising and promotions, now’s the time to start planning your changes. 

You may need to add new items or move best-sellers around so that your staff can easily access the buttons they need regularly. This will not only help reduce errors but also speed up service, too. 

If you’re implementing new cocktails, consider turning on the walk-through functionality within your till system which will provide a step-by-step recipe tutorial for your team and help ensure that your cocktails are consistently made to your specifications.

3. Make sure your table plans are up to date

When utilising an online table reservation system, it’s vital that your table plans are updated regularly, particularly when you’re opening up outdoor seating areas for the summer rush. 

Double-check your plans to ensure accuracy which will mean your customers are able to make accurate online table bookings. Our reservation solution will automate the allocation and confirmation of bookings, saving you and your team heaps of time.

4. Consider whether you’re serving outdoor seating areas efficiently

Implement solutions such as our Order at Table or Digital Order Taking solutions to quickly serve customers outside. Order at Table enables customers to place their own orders from their own devices whilst at the table. Available either as an online webshop or via a downloadable app, this allows customers to easily and quickly view your menu in their own time, place multiple orders during their time at your venue, and even manage their customer loyalty account. 

Digital Order Taking helps reduce mistakes and save time by reducing the need for staff to make trips back and forth to the till. Enabling faster service and improved customer experience, the integration with Dojo Chip & Pin even allows staff to take orders and payments from a single device, meaning they don’t ever have to return to a till during service.

5. Engage customers with loyalty schemes

Running an effective loyalty scheme to encourage repeat customers throughout the summer, is a great way to boost business engagement and revenue as a result. Increasing customer loyalty and retention can have a huge impact on revenue, whether it’s extra points on iced coffee purchases or something to help increase cocktail orders, ensuring your loyalty schemes are up and running via our Loyalty solution, is essential over the summer months.

With the help of an intelligent, intuitive EPoS system, it’s easy to take advantage of the summer’s opportunity for increased revenue. Let the Epos Ready hospitality ecosystem of products help you work smarter, not harder, this summer.

6. Add a waiter pad to your Dojo chip & pin unit

We now integrate with Dojo chip & pin units to have a waiter pad on a chip & pin, allowing orders to be both taken and paid for from a single device.

Find out more about how ByTable, TouchTakeaway, Online Reservation, Loyalty Software and other ICRTouch EPoS software products can help your hospitality business improve efficiency and streamline operations. Get in touch 0115 882 8852 or here.