As most of the hotels in Ireland have now re-opened and the restaurants have not yet opened for in-door dining, the food and beverage departments in hotels are a lot busier than they may be normally.

Hotels are now servicing almost all of their resident guests in the F&B outlets every evening for dinner and many of these rooms are filled with "staycationing" families so the sleeper ratio is a lot higher.

Coupling this with additional non-resident “outdoor dining” this is putting the teams in some F&B operations under a lot of pressure particularly if they have lots of new team members who are still getting up to speed.

What typically happens is that the server takes the order at the table on a handwritten pad then they enter the order into the computer system, this generates a check in the kitchen and the kitchen starts to prepare the starters and starters are collected from the kitchen and served. When the server is ready for the main course they return to the computer and “call away” the main courses, sending another check to the kitchen and the main meal collected and served.

Because of the additional volume at mealtimes there are a few things going wrong with this process. These can be resolved with an investment in a handheld ordering system. Many of the POS providers offer this as an add on to their desk mounted terminals and it really helps to save some time and streamline the process.

The problem with the old handwritten system is you are doubling up on the work when taking an order from the guest then entering it in the system, this can all be done in a single process with a handheld system effectively halving the time.

Also, in some cases there may not be enough desk mounted terminals and the servers need to wait for their turn to use one and this also delays getting the order to the kitchen before it can be prepared.

Don’t forget, when it comes to calling away the main course this could also require a wait for a free terminal causing further delay.

If you are having similar challenges, you should research this handheld terminal option with your current provider to see if it is something they offer, if you’re not sure if you have this problem then conduct some observations in your Bar or restaurant to find out or give me a call and I will be delighted to help you with that as part of our LEAN Opportunity Assessment.

I’m confident the investment in handheld terminals will pay for itself in more efficient operations, faster service with happier staff and customers.