This article was originally published in Restaurant and Catering Magazine
With wage costs continuing to put pressure on those in hospitality,creative juices start to flow about how to reduce some of those costs without losing customer service.
Awnings have always been popular with cafes and restaurants in their alfresco dining areas or larger outdoor dining areas for many hotels or yacht clubs. The awnings often need to be retracted at the end of the day,so that they are not left exposed to any severe overnight weather. They then need to be extended at the start of each trading period to make the best use of the outdoor dining area and to keep diners comfortable.
Have you calculated how much time your employees would spend each week tending to the awnings alone? Not only is there some manual handling element involved every day for your staff,but those crank handles sometimes need a bit of muscle!
What if you had the awnings automated? Would it mean savings in labour costs as your staff could come in later and leave earlier because you could take care of the awnings by the press of a button? Your once off automation costs could potentially save you many hours of wage costs not only in one financial year, but ongoing.
Have you ever seen the weather change during the course of a day when your diners are midway through meals? You didn’t bother extending the awning that morning, as the sun simply wasn’t there or no rain was to be seen anywhere.Yet,we all know that when that weather changes,it does so quickly and your staff scurry around to extend all the awnings to protect the diners and keep their dining experience comfortable and memorable for all the right reasons! Distracted diners might not bother to order dessert or coffees if you can’t get those awnings out fast enough, and some of your service staff are busy tending to awnings, meaning you have less staff to look after diners.
Imagine where you could automate your alfresco awnings and your customers keep dining seamlessly, and in comfort, with superior customer service!