Overview of Digitalization in the HoReCa Business

Our team has been working on the digitalization of restaurants, bars, and hotels for the past three years, focusing on payments, tips, reviews, and menus. We’ve gained enough expertise to start systematizing it and sharing our insights publicly.

The broad concept of "HoReCa digitalization" encompasses many areas. Here are 11 key ones, though this list is not exhaustive.

Guest Interaction:

- Digital interactive QR menus

- Ordering, payments, and tipping directly from tables

- Review and reputation management

- Loyalty systems and guest retention enhancement

- Table reservations and prepayments

- Delivery

Internal Processes:

- POS and order management

- Inventory, stock management, and supplier relations

- Tools for staff management

- Kitchen automation and IoT

- Analytics and big data

There are even more deep-tech topics like robotics, VR/AR, and others, but this is still at the early adopters stage, so it's better to stick to the list above when talking about technologies that are already widely adopted.

Being the best in all these areas is unrealistic and, I would say, not the right approach. We at GlobalTips specialize in "on-site operations and guest Interaction", and our mission is to become leaders in these areas in the European market:

Digital Interactive QR Menus - This is a replacement for physical menus that is much more convenient and functional for guests. It's a broad topic, considering the various settings: languages and preferences, allergens and modifiers, categories with different timings, discounts, and so on.

Insights: By switching to digital menus, you can save several thousand euros a year on expensive physical menus and be eco-friendly :) Additionally, you can’t print menus in five-seven major tourist languages, and having an English menu solves the problem only 30% of the time. Learn more about it here: https://global.tips/en/qr-code-menu

Ordering, Payments, and Tipping Directly from Tables – This is a current trend, an alternative to the old models of ordering and paying through waitstaff and payment terminals. It saves time for both guests and staff.

Insights: If a restaurant wants to maintain guest interaction and doesn't want orders to be placed directly through the QR menu (prefers orders to be taken by a waiter), the best solution is what we call "Menu + Pay and Go." This means an interactive QR menu with tipping and review features, plus the ability to pay the open bill at any time and leave without waiting for the server or payment terminal. More details here: https://global.tips/en/pay-with-qr-code

Review and Reputation Management – Through systems like ours, guests frequently and willingly leave reviews, as this isn’t the same as posting a review on Google or TripAdvisor after visiting an establishment.

Insights: Our system allows you to handle negative feedback and improve your establishment’s ratings on Google and TripAdvisor. You can route guest reviews so that isolated negative comments, related to non-systemic issues, don’t damage your ratings. More info here: https://global.tips/en/qr-code-reviews

To begin diving into these three essential aspects of "on-site" digitalization for restaurants is sufficient for now, but we are also expanding our expertise and moving towards:

- Loyalty systems and guest retention enhancement

- Table reservations and prepayments

We’ll be happy to share our experience in these areas when the time comes :)

If you need consultation on the on-site digitalization of HoReCa in the areas described above, feel free to reach out to me or my colleagues – we’d be happy to assist.