How Digital Technology is Fuelling Growth In The Restaurant Industry During COVID 19

Introduction

As restaurants are adopting the new normal and finding methods to continue their operations and businesses, restaurant owners are finding new ways to continue running their restaurants, despite tough guidelines on indoor eating. Many restaurants are focusing on delivery and takeaways while others are changing their models and concepts. With the COVID 19 pandemic trajectory going upwards in India, people prefer delivery over dine-ins during these times.

Technologies used by restaurants to improve business

The time to be innovative in order to survive and maintain reasonable profit margins is now. Luckily, sweeping advances in digital technology have come to the rescue at this point. A combination of creativity and technology, assisted by social media is helping many restaurants tide over this crisis. Added to this is the need of people to re-experience their favourite foods from their cherished list of restaurants.

The internet has revolutionized the way people order food. “Online” is the key buzzword in every sphere of life and has taken the food industry by storm. Online orders and online payments in many forms; credit and debit cards, bank transfers, UPI and Paytm transfers, eliminate cash transactions between people making deliveries of food contactless, which is the crying need of the hour.

Added to this, creative bursts such as sharing of signature recipes, cooking contests, theme-based food festivals and promotions on attractive social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp make both for engagement with the consumer and an increase in sales. Was this possible 10 years ago? Probably not!

Current technology trends during COVID 19

During COVID 19, many restaurants are placing hygiene and quality checks as their topmost priority. Sanitization of premises using both traditional and newer technologies such as UV Sterilization of kitchens and surfaces ensure safety during these viruses ridden times. The use of hand sanitizers, gloves, masks, digital thermometers, and oximeters are now a norm with staff, chefs, and delivery boys.

During the lockdown, the cloud-kitchen players have seen a rise in orders by people between the age group of 20-40 years who mostly prefer to order online. Following their direction, other standalone restaurants have joined the digital bandwagon by enlisting themselves with the ranks of Swiggy and Zomato.

As food delivery businesses are rising, there are challenges associated with it and have mainly to do with food quality and food hygiene.

A key challenge faced by the food delivery business

Inconsistent food quality: It is a challenging task to maintain the quality of food being delivered at the customers’ door-step. Many factors are responsible for this. An erratic supply chain, fluctuating demand, and variation in raw material quality often change the taste, texture, and look of foods.

Role of Water

One major factor which determines the safety, quality and taste of prepared foods is WATER. Water plays a vital role in maintaining food quality and hygiene in restaurants. Water is used for drinking, for food preparation, for mixing of beverages, and as a feed to water dispensers, ice makers, and coffee machines.

One of the most obvious challenges faced by the food service segment is maintaining the quality of water used in the outlet.

Most restaurants are invested in a commercial RO water purification system, which they believe will deliver consistently pure water and ensure safety. However, commercial water purification systems come with a plethora of challenges. From choosing the right system to repairs and maintenance, the life of a commercial RO water purification plant is riddled with problems, wasting precious time and money of the establishment. Worst of all, these traditional water purification plants have no way of informing the user whether the water is really pure or not. In the likely scenario that a traditional RO water purification plant stops functioning, two things can happen: preparation of unhygienic food due to the absence of purified water, and lowered productivity with resultant water shortages. Customers falling sick because of impure water is a grave threat both to the health of the consumer and the reputation of the restaurant.

How does one ensure that the water used in the restaurant is reliably and consistently PURE? Here too, Internet Technology can offer fail-safe and reliable solutions.

The solution to the problem of inconsistent water quality is Cloudtap –Internet Water, which harnesses the combined power of AI (Artificial intelligence) and the Internet to help restaurants with smart water management.

What is Cloudtap – Internet Water

Cloudtap is a revolutionary approach to water purification brought to you by Alfaa UV, the pioneers and leaders in water and air disinfection solutions.

Cloudtap offers a simple but highly technical solution that combines various water purification technologies to always guarantee safe drinking water. The combination of assured purity, no downtime, easy subscriptions, no CAPEX and no additional charges for maintenance make it a unique and path-breaking idea offering financial viability and complete peace of mind to the business owner. At the heart of Cloudtap is an extensive purification process which is extensively powered by technology. It ensures that customers get the cleanest water possible without ever having to doubt its quality.

With Cloudtap, restaurants, food service outlets, and cloud kitchens can be assured of 24/7 uninterrupted supply of pure and consistent water, which will ensure optimum hygiene and clean water across all outlets. Since Cloudtap incorporates RO +UV processes along with sensor technology, it is possible to set water to pre-determined TDS levels, irrespective of the input quality so that the taste of foods and beverages is never compromised. What’s more, Cloudtap offers a unique triple-zero assurance;

• Zero Pathogens: It uses PRISM technology to remove harmful pathogens, thereby fulfilling its promise of ‘purity in every drop.’
• Zero Downtime: With the help of AI, which is based deep learning algorithms, you not only get real-time data on purity & performance but they even predict potential breakdowns before they occur. Thus, ensuring zero downtime for all Cloudtap installations.
• Zero CAPEX and maintenance: Since it is a subscription-based model, there is also no CAPEX and maintenance involved with Cloudtap installation, which is a win-win for all.

B] Conclusion

During these uncertain times, Cloudtap - Internet Water will help restaurants and cloud kitchens to maintain the consistency in food by providing 24/7 pathogen-free, clean and pure water so that restaurants and Cloud kitchens can deliver the best quality food to their consumers.

So ride the technology wave to be a winner in these unprecedented times. Adopt internet technology in water treatment along with other digital initiatives!

To know more about Cloudtap please give us a call on: +91-9321005309 or write to us: crm@cloudtap.in