r/restaurateur

I was reading about how GeekyAnts builds software for restaurants and hospitality businesses and it got me thinking about where technology actually makes the biggest difference.

Most customers only notice the front end- online ordering, reservations, or payments- but I'm guessing the real headaches happen behind the scenes. Inventory, scheduling, event management, reporting, kitchen coordination and all the admin work probably take up way more time than people realize.

If you own or manage a restaurant, what's the one process you'd automate tomorrow if you knew it would work reliably?

I'm curious because every restaurant seems to have different bottlenecks and it's interesting to see which operational problems are actually worth solving versus the ones that just sound good on paper.

I used to spend hours every Sunday with different colored highlighters and a calculator checking multiple bid sheets to make sure come Monday morning I was only ordering from the companies offering the best price that week. It was a tedious, manual process, and I still haven't been able to replicate this at scale now with this many locations.

Do you guys actually compare prices weekly, and how long does it take you? I haven't been able to keep up with so many vendors and SKU's across all my different concepts.

launched catering off the restaurant this year and the tri fold brochures do real work, people grab one off the host stand and call a week later.

scaling up to mail local offices so qty jumps to 500-1000, full color both sides, 100lb so it doesnt feel like a flyer. local shop quoted high. whats your source and roughly what per piece.

we’ve been around a while and have had this come up numerous times. a customer loves something and asks for the recipe for it….

we try to be an accommodating and approachable business. in the past i’ve given regulars a recipe (knowing it’s too complicated and that they likely won’t do the math on the batch to make it less than a 10 year supply for their house).

but i was just hit up for a recipe again. i brushed it off and thanked the person for the compliment, but they asked again for the recipe.

what do y’all do when a customer asks for a restaurant?

Two casual dining spots in Dallas. The restroom situation is genuinely the worst part of my job.
Staff won’t touch it beyond a paper towel check. so it’s me with a mop at 9pm. Staff avoids the restrooms like the plague during close, they’re all kitchen and dining room. Is there a cleaning company on-demand thing for this?Maybe a weekly deep clean on subscription for cheapish not Cintas they’re a scam artists?
What do you guys actually do for restrooms. In-house? A service? Just deal with it? Because if this existed and actually showed up I’d pay for it tomorrow, I just can’t find anyone who does it.

If your food costs get to 45% or higher, do you increase their menu prices to get your food costs more in line with the norm (30%-35%).  Most restaurants running at 45%+ food cost will not be in business very long.

The reason I ask, I’m seeing a lot of restaurants for sale and a lot of them just closing. Wanna see how you’re adjusting thank you.

What is the best way to find kitchen workers? In your opinion

I keep hearing operators say their customers "just don't like QR ordering."

Maybe some don't, but I think the bigger issue is everything that happens after the order is placed.

A QR code is just the front door. If the workflow behind it isn't solid, you've only moved the bottleneck from the server to the kitchen.

The things I'd be most worried about are:

Orders routing to the correct prep station every time.

Modifiers and allergy notes being impossible to miss.

Guests knowing their order was actually received—not just that payment went through.

FOH knowing a table has already ordered so nobody duplicates work or confuses the guest.

It seems like the menu itself is the easy part. The real challenge is making the kitchen and front of house workflow feel seamless.

For those who've implemented QR ordering, what issues caught you by surprise after launch? Was it printer routing, staff workflow, guest expectations, or something else?

Local valet company in Arizona, a restaurant that does about 1200-1500 covers on major holidays is asking how much would it be for those days so what is an acceptable rate ?

If I have to be honest, I am writing this post because I am tired of getting dumb reviews from really DUMB customers and guests. I am fascinated by the way that UBER operates while maintaining customer service but also allowing the drivers to rate their passengers.
This isn’t even about politeness, intelligence or tipping, it’s about the Karen’s of the world getting away with bullshit reviews because they didn’t get what they wanted.

Anybody got a story or a Karen in Langford or Victoria?

We just opened our 4th location this year and every time its the same drill, POS terminals, network setup, printers, someone from our small IT team has to hop on a plane and spend 2-3 days onsite getting everything running.

Its starting to feel unsustainable as we keep growing, not to mention expensive with flights and hotels every single opening. Started looking into companies that specialize in new store tech setup instead of doing it all internally

Havent pulled the trigger yet but curious if anyone else has gone this route instead of flying your own people out constantly. Did outsourcing the new store setup actually save you the headache or just add another vendor to manage?

Not sure if this is an allowed post, but I'm looking for three restaurant owners to test a new offering of mine for free (in exchange for your feedback and testimonial). DM me and I'll send you more info - not sure if I can post it here.