How To Automate Your Business Without Sacrificing Customer Service: A Guide For Food Industry Peeps

A GUIDE FOR FOOD INDUSTRY ENTREPRENEURS

What takes you the most amount of time in your business? At Wylder, it's the contracts & communication time with clients.

Contracts and menu's take hours of time and require negotiations, tastings and revisions.

The feedback we have consistently received from clients over the years is the appreciation they have for our quick response and turn around times with pricing and communication.

The busier we get, the more room for error we have in potentially missing emails, dropping the ball and taking too long to get a quote to a client.

In our busy season, it can take us up to 48 hrs (especially over a weekend) to get a quote out to potential clients. That's 48 hours that can be lost to another company if the client is shopping around.

I want Wylder to be known for service that sparkles, right out of the gate. This is how we're making that happen.

I want our clients to know that we are engaged, present and always available for them- even in the contractual process. After all, if we're efficient in our communication time, it's to be expected that we'll be efficient in our personalized customer experience at events.

Here are 2 tools that have helped us automate the communication, quote & response times with potential clients.

THE RISE OF AUTOMATION

What are the most important parts of running a business?

Efficiency and cost savings.

Automation helps streamline operations, from order taking to food prep, freeing up your staff to focus on what they do best—serving your customers.

What are the BENEFITS OF AUTOMATION?

Increased Efficiency: Automated systems can handle repetitive tasks faster and with fewer errors.

Cost Savings: Reduce labor costs and minimize waste.

Consistency: Automation ensures that every dish meets your quality standards, every time.

BALANCING AUTOMATION WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE

What are the expectations of your customers? They want efficiency but not at the cost of personal interaction.

HUMAN TOUCH IN AN AUTOMATED WORLD

No matter how advanced your automation systems are, the human touch remains irreplaceable. Train your staff to excel in areas where automation can't, like personalized service and handling complex customer inquiries.

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK LOOPS

Always keep channels open for customer feedback. Use this feedback to fine-tune your automated systems and improve service quality continually.

TIPS FOR SEAMLESS INTEGRATION OF AUTOMATION

START SMALL

Don't rush into full-scale automation. Begin with one or two processes that are easy to automate, like online ordering or inventory management.

REGULAR TRAINING

Automation tools are only as good as the people using them. Regular training sessions ensure your team is up-to-date with the latest technologies, maximizing the benefits of automation.

THE ROLE OF AI AUTOMATION

PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS

AI can analyze customer data to predict trends and preferences. This information can help you tailor your menus, reduce waste and increase positive feedback.

OVERCOMING COMMON CHALLENGES

INITIAL INVESTMENT

The cost of automation isn't super expensive. When you add up the amount of hours you save in time and negotiations, I can almost guarantee it'll be a wash. The hard part is in the set up. There is a significant amount of time for training and the front end work, but once that's complete, you're good to go.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

No system is foolproof. Regular maintenance and updates are essential to keep your automated systems running smoothly. Have a contingency plan in place for any technical glitches.

CONCLUSION

Food automation is transforming the restaurant & catering industry, offering numerous benefits without sacrificing customer service. By starting small, involving your staff, and continually gathering feedback, you can integrate automation into your operations.

If you're ready to take the plunge into food automation, consider these platforms to help kickstart your journey towards a more efficient, customer-friendly business.

It's not about removing the personal connection. It's about providing a high quality, fast, easy to navigate buying experience for your guests. You want them to buy from you, not from someone else. By being available, engaged and providing fast response times, the likelihood of them sticking with you through the purchasing experience is significantly higher.

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