The food and beverage industry is worth over $5650 billion and has many different sub-categories. Entrepreneurs who have chosen this industry through passion, opportunity or both, are faced with daily challenges. Many restaurant owners are actively involved in the day-to-day operations of the business and have little time to spare for much else.
Today, there are hundreds of apps, programs and solutions to help manage all aspects of a food and beverage business. The trick is finding the right solution for your business. Since many restaurant owners face similar challenges, we have created the Top Tech Tools and Apps for Better Business guide. Below is our list for the food and beverage industry. For more detail about each solution and expert advice, download the full-length, free guide today.
Inventory Management Tools and Apps
Crunch Time
5-Star Rating: 3.9
Crunch Time can help with data management in your restaurant. This app provides information on food cost, restaurant inventory and employee cost. By using this solution, you can reduce food and beverage expenses, make employee hours more efficient and focus on the quality of food and customer service in your business.
Bevspot
5-Star Rating: 3.9
Bevspot is a popular tool for restaurant owners. This app is cloud-based and allows you to take inventory, track orders and price new dishes from anywhere. It is compatible with any hand-held device, and there are separate programs for restaurant sub-category businesses as well.
Table Reservation and Customer Experience Tools and Apps
OpenTable
5-Star Rating: 4.5
This app enables your customers to reserve their tables on their own. The restaurant can connect with guests, better understand feedback and set up a loyalty program. OpenTable can provide customer data to help you manage customer experience.
Rooam
5-Star Rating: 4.5
Rooam can also help you improve customer experience, especially for bar and brewery businesses. Your guests can pay their bar tab or bill from their phones. Customers can also instantly see what they have ordered and customize the tip amount. With this app, the staff can focus on customer service.
Recording Sales
Toast
5-Star Rating: 4.3
Toast is a popular point-of-sale software that provides a complete technology suite to modern restaurants. The hardware, software and payment methods in this tool are tailored for the food and beverage industry. This app has table-side service functions as well as reporting and analytics.
Touch Bistro
5-Star Rating: 4.3
This tool is another popular point-of-sale solution. It has a goal of increasing your sales and allowing your staff to provide an excellent customer experience. Touch Bistro helps to fulfil and track orders as well as track inventory.
Marketing Tools and Apps
Hootsuite
5-Star Rating: 3.6
If managing social media is too time-consuming, Hootsuite may be the best answer for your business. You can schedule social posts well-in-advance, and it provides analytics on post-performance. The benefit lies in having insight into your customer’s social interaction with your business to make improvements.
BuzzStream
5-Star Rating: 4.3
BuzzStream is a communication tool that can help your business connect with local influencers, food-bloggers and more. You can work on personalized outreach to communicate with these well-followed individuals and see your restaurant get the boost it might need. You can also use BuzzStream for team communication.
Staff and Restaurant Management Tools and Apps
7Shifts
5-Star Rating: 4.6
7Shifts is a functional employee scheduling app. With it, you can create and edit work schedules and communicate with staff members. It tracks, in real-time, the labor involved for specific job functions. Your staff can also request time off and trade shifts with other employees through the app.
FreshBooks
5-Star Rating: 4.5
FreshBooks is an invoicing and accounting solution for small businesses. It helps with invoice automation, organizing expenses and tracking staff time. FreshBooks also integrates with other apps, which makes accounting easy and accurate.
