A lot of industries look at Starbucks for inspiration when it comes to implementing technology. For example, this year, Starbucks added a ‘digital order manager’ to their stores. The purpose of digital manager, is to act as a traffic cop for incoming mobile orders, sequencing them for the most efficient execution.
If you have ordered off of Starbuck’s mobile app, you may have experienced this problem a time or two.
Paper tickets are no longer needed because the orders are presented electronically to the staff via touchscreen, a la a kitchen display system. There’s also a customer-facing component as well. Patrons using Starbucks’ Mobile Order and Pay app are notified when their orders are ready. This allows operators to manage expectations and create a more efficient process. All while keep in-store and mobile users happy.
Since Starbucks began to use this system, the technology like the digital manager has been implemented in almost all restaurants that employ mobile ordering.
So what’s on deck for 2018? It’s not new tech on the forefront, it is something bigger and something that affects all restaurant owners and operators.
Starbucks is going to enter into the lunch market.
Our advice: get ready.
More than a year after investing in their new high-end Italian bakery, Princi, the coffee giant has opened it’s first location. Situated in their original, home location of Seattle, the Princi bakery is serving customers that stop in to their Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room. But we all knew this was coming. Starbucks has been growing their non-drink revenue streams for years. Last month, Starbucks stated that it has seen revenue from food increase 15 percent year-over-year and now food sales account for 21 percent of sales in the U.S.
Princi bakeries will be incorporated to all of Starbucks’ future Roastery locations including the Shanghai Roastery, which is slated to open this month; the Milan Roastery, which will open in late 2018; and in the New York, Tokyo and Chicago Roasteries, which do not have official opening dates.
While Princi food will only be available at Starbucks’ Roasteries, the company plans to open standalone Princi stores starting in 2018.
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