MRM EXCLUSIVE: Can Technology Help Solve the Restaurant Labor Shortage?

The closure and restriction of dine-in operations has had a devastating impact on the industry. Despite facing the pressure to stay open and operational over the last year, restaurants have gone above and beyond the “new normal” to rethink their operations, including seating arrangements and menu offerings, and in many cases reducing their staff to just the barebones. Restaurants that once employed full front of house operations, quickly turned into crews of kitchen and expeditor staff only, employing sometimes 25-50 percent of their original staff.  Roles shifted too. As dining turned to off premise, remaining staff were focused on packaging and expediting to-go and delivery orders. Managers, servers, kitchen staff all filled in on roles to handle the increasing volume of online orders as the country embraced digital dining. 

As COVID-19 restrictions begin to loosen throughout the United States, many Americans are now eagerly returning to dining rooms. Undoubtedly, this is…