Rise of the Food Service Market in APAC | Top Restaurant Technology Trends for 2023
The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the way we dine. Since the outbreak, many people facing severe lockdowns at home have used food delivery apps for convenient and quick delivery. Unsurprisingly, the restaurant industry has also dealt with many challenges, which include staff shortages and inflation.
Restrictions have eased, and international travel is gradually reopening, which enables people with minimal or no quarantine requirements to travel within APAC. According to flight data analytics firm Cirium (2022), Southeast Asia is seeing a return to 2019 levels of travel, with flights to Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia being the most popular destinations this year.
Technavio’s latest market research report (2022) claims that the global foodservice market is expected to grow by over USD ten billion between 2021–2026, with APAC taking 43 percent of the market growth. In addition, the Statista 2022 survey of Food Consumer Markets in Southeast Asia (2022) predicts that the food market in this region will grow by 6.6% in 2023. During this growth period, the hospitality industry will still face the problem of increasing food costs and staff shortages, and restaurant owners must develop new safety protocols, such as sanitation measures and physical distancing.
As societies return to normal, some of these changes will be permanent, and technology, such as restaurant management software, will be at the forefront.
According to a study published in Healthline (2019), the time it takes for an activity to become a habit is 66 days. The pandemic has had circa two years to impact consumer dining habits globally, and as a result, some of these practices have become standard procedures for both restaurants and diners.
Here are three restaurant technology trends that may help you and your restaurant prepare for the future:
Choosing a Restaurant POS system that can facilitate Daily Operations
Recent restaurant trend data indicates that almost 75% of owners believe that smart technology is part of the solution to the labor problem (Square, 2021).
Oracle MICROS Simphony provides point-of-sale (POS) and back-office functionality on mounted and mobile devices that support a wide range of F&B operations when used as an enterprise hospitality management platform. It also has guest engagement capabilities, standardized reporting, and advanced central management controls, which leads to greater operational efficiency. Oracle MICROS Simphony can be used stand-alone on-premise or as a cloud version.
Adopting Contactless Ordering and Digital Payment for Restaurants is the New Normal.
Whether through an app, your website, or a digital menu linked from a QR code, contactless dining and payment processing will be a significant trend in 2023 and beyond, as stated in the Restaurant Technology News (2022).
TNG GO! is a mobile application that helps manage restaurant activities, extends operations to any mobile device (iOS and Android), such as real-time ordering, and remains fully operational even when the network is offline. It pairs with Oracle MICROS Simphony Cloud to deliver a much more efficient and reliable service and a better guest experience. TNG GO! allows mobile order management without dependency on any specific hardware, the support of room charges, check closure and payment at table option via a mobile device, and more. It is designed to streamline the work of restaurant service staff, optimize processes, and increase revenue.
Provide Better Customer Service even on the Busiest Days by using the QR System
PYMNTS’ latest research (The 2022 Restaurant Digital Divides, October 2022) shows the shift in the digital landscape as global consumers are more willing to order meals through restaurant apps or QR menus. Moreover, the QR menu is a “smart” addition to meet growing customer demands and shrinking budgets. The QR menu’s constant improvement helps reduce costs, is environmentally friendly, and allows real-time menu updates, which meet the market’s ever-changing demands.
With an online interface, we can integrate the QR code menu with Oracle MICROS Simphony POS — making it available for restaurants of any size. All other business operations, such as billing and reporting, run as usual, so there is no need to change existing systems.
In 2023, new developments will address these growing demands. While predicting the future is difficult, preparing for it is within our capabilities.
Author: Anshu Shrivastava
Area Sales Director of Southeast Asia
