The assumption last summer (2021) was that when extended benefits ended, the restaurant and hospitality work force would return in droves. Perhaps it was the emergence of the Delta and Omicron variants or attractive career opportunities in other industries such as healthcare or construction, but these workers never returned, and the labor shortage shows no sign of letting up.
With that in mind, an enterprising South Florida based company, GRUBBRR, has sensed that the good old days are exactly that and will not return. As such, CEO Sam Zietz and his team have set out to develop creative new solutions to innovate restaurant operations, believing that the implementation of technology is vital in creating the “New Normal” for restaurants—what GRUBBRR calls the “Restaurant of the Future.”
GRUBBRR satisfies this industry need with their ecosystem of self-ordering solutions including kiosks, online and mobile ordering, in which a cashier may no longer be necessary. “Our core belief at GUBBRR is that the cashier is obsolete,” said Zietz.
“When we were starting up, we were looking at other POS (Point of Sale) or kiosk systems and we asked ourselves: do we want to build one iteration better than everybody else, or could we build a ‘better mousetrap’? What we did was look to see where the world is going, where our society will be in 10 to years 20 from now regarding restaurants and ordering. The analogy I like to use is to think of the banking industry. You used to go into a bank and walk up to a teller, eventually that teller was replaced by a combination of ATMs and online banking. Now that didn’t happen overnight, but it happened over a 5-to-15-year period. Gradually bank tellers disappeared.” Zietz continued, “Well, we looked at that progression and said the same thing is going to happen to restaurants. Instead of building one iteration better on a Point-of-Sale technology, let’s go ahead to where the future is and take visionary operators with us.”
GRUBBRR also realizes that safe and sanitary touch screens are a priority for both a restaurant customers and staff. They have partnered with Samsung to create an FDA approved antimicrobial surface for the new Samsung kiosk powered by GRUBBRR.
“Pieces of our system are based on touch,” said Zietz. “A kiosk is something that you generally touch, but even when you do touch our kiosks, they are safe. The FDA approval means that customers cannot contract viruses such as COVID or the flu by touching the kiosk. In addition to providing a sanitary surface our kiosks also help to solve the bigger concern of contracting COVID through person-to-person interaction, by eliminating the need for a cashier.”
For those who are questioning the costs and benefits of investing in kiosks and POS technology, Zietz has the answer. “I think that restaurants have to come to the conclusion that both scarcity of workers and increased minimum wage means that cashier jobs aren’t coming back, and if they aren’t coming back, the only solution to this problem is automation,” said Zietz.
Zietz understands the economics of a restaurant’s potential investment in kiosks. “The biggest issue we have come across with restaurant owners is that they know kiosks exist, they know kiosks reduce labor, increase revenue, increase customer service, increase average cost per ticket and eliminate wrong orders, but they don’t know the reality of the cost of a kiosk,” he explained. “Now that we’ve partnered with Samsung, we’ve completely democratized the cost of kiosks making them both accessible and affordable. For less than $2,500 a unit and less than $200 a month you can have your own.”
The secret sauce with the GRUBBRR kiosk is that it truly pays for itself with its AI (Artifical Intelligence). “Before automation as a restaurant owner, you would train the cashier to ask ‘Would you like fries with that?,” said Zietz. “With those limitations came a whole platform of missed opportunities from a slice of tomato 10 to 25 cents a piece, extra meat on a sandwich and multiple bundles with everything from soft drinks to chips and soup. Our device customizes upselling to what the customer is ordering and allows for a perfectly curated client journey, no different from ordering online.”
GRUBBRR also understands the importance of operational compatibility in making the move to kiosks. “We are not a rip-and-replace technology. A lot of new technologies require you to rip out your existing infrastructure and replace it with their system. We are complimentary, meaning we have integrated to all of the largest POS companies out there from Toast to Micros, in addition to integrating with all of the major loyalty programs.” In other words, GRUBBRR can be seamlessly added to a restaurant owner’s preexisting tech stack.
With the challenges of increased labor costs, a labor shortage and customers’ post-pandemic fears, GRUBBRR offers an innovative solution for restaurant operators that is both affordable and available and can be up and running within any business within a matter of days.
Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, GRUBBRR is the leader in self-ordering technologies that are revolutionizing the way commerce is transacted. GRUBBRR’s award-winning ecosystem, which includes kiosks, smart lockers, kitchen display systems, order progress boards, digital menu signage, mobile ordering, POS, online ordering, and more, are proven to help businesses maximize revenue, decrease labor costs, and improve the consumer experience. With solutions that are adaptable and beneficial to a multitude of businesses, GRUBBRR powers both enterprise-level and small and medium businesses across verticals such as quick-service restaurants, fast casual restaurants, stadiums, movie theatres, casinos, micro-markets, retail, and more. To learn more about GRUBBRR and its products, visit their website, or connect with them on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
