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For those ISVs entering into the restaurant industry, you may not know where to begin. The food and beverage industry is always evolving and here’s all that ISVs need to know to stay in the know about their prospective market. 
Online Ordering
Offering take-out or delivery services such as UberEats, GrubHub and DoorDash assist restaurants in acquiring customers. These customers order menu items through the third party application and coordinate with the host restaurant to make sure the order is processed and cooked to the customers’ needs. This is a great way to step ahead of the competition against fellow restauranteurs in the area.
Fast Casual Dining
Move over casual dining. It’s time for fast casual dining. Servers are readily equipped with mPOS phones and tablets to take customers’ orders at both check out counters and table-side. This has proven to be efficient and even boosts customer satisfaction overall. Companies like Panera and Chick-Fil-A have developed mobile apps for ordering as well. 
Self-Serve
Countries across the globe have been implementing self-serve kiosks for ordering. For quite some time, restaurants in the states have held self-serve touchscreen Coca-Cola machines, but in coming years, that’s likely to expand into more devise menu items. For ISVs, in particular, it’s important to know your market as familiarly as possible. Opportunities will arise out of an increase in consumer demand, so it’s fair to keep your thinking cap on at all times.
ISVs Positioning in the Restaurant
The NRA, National Restaurant Association is a great organization to get involved with. There are several events and trade shows for you to attend as well. You can gather exclusive information about industry news and technology updates at this time. Build a relationship with your channel of VARs. Reach out to potential partners. Familiarize yourself with industry influencers, for they are always looking for ways to sync up with brands to create collaborative content. It’s a win-win. Stemming off of that, be sure to promote yourself.
You are able to cross-promote within your channel. Connect with previous and existing customers on social media. Stay up-to-date with the social media trends so you can create content that the people want to see, while still mentioning your product at hand. A key for success will be mastering your website’s structure, for your customers. Make your message clear, while also still clearly demonstrating the benefits and features of your service(s). This includes pop-ups that work to ask potential customers if they’d like to sign up for newsletters, software demos and more. Also be sure to have a tab for customer success stories, case studies, photos, videos and any other creative digital asset you can think of.
Looking forward, there are many trends to monitor. At the time, don’t overlook SMB markets. Yes, franchises are vast and can seem quite monopolizing, but the small business markets like farm-to-table establishments are a popular trend that isn’t going anyway, anytime soon. Stay alert and interested, for the next big idea could be your next project.
