Starting with the story of Artificial Intelligence (AI), a few decades ago, nobody could have imagined its evolution the way it is happening today. Back in 1956, the term “artificial intelligence” was coined by a Dartmouth professor John McCarthy. He asked some computer scientists and mathematicians to come together and test using trial and error methodology if machines could mimic the behavior of a young child. Since then, AI was present mostly in theory until a few decades ago when big data became a real thing. Around 90% of the world’s data has been generated in the last couple of years. With such a vast amount of data being generated every minute and also being able to be processed, AI has finally become a reality.
The Jetsons show seemed a far-fetched dream, but now, how every day, a piece of that dream is coming true, it has become an enigma that is hard to fathom. The speed with which technology is advancing is only setting new standards for every next generation.
(Source: thestartupgrind.com)
In simple words, AI is an area of computer science that makes machines feel like they have human intelligence. AI finds its uses in many industries like healthcare, financial, automobile industry, and now the food industry is also not far behind. The automatic cars are proof of how a robot can do the entire driving.
Understanding how restaurants can leverage AI below are few ways how they can come together.
Taste Profile
Every person has their unique tastes and preferences, and if restaurants can personalize that experience for their customers, then that indeed would be revolutionary. How would it feel if whenever you go to a restaurant, you don’t have to exhaust your brain deciding what to order? What if there is a robot doing this for you, which has a lot of previous data about the dishes you love and suggests a new one which is just the right one for you. Wouldn’t it just make your day? That is the kind of experience that AI can bring into the food industry.
AI can also suggest new restaurants based on your taste profile. The restaurants can also boost their sales by providing better services to the customers and enhancing their experience.
Ordering with Chatbots
These days virtual assistant technologies like Siri and Alexa have become very popular with customers. People feel very engaged and connected with these technology tools. A lot of these chatbots have also been adopted by food ordering apps. Customers prefer taking assistance with the help of these chatbots over calling the helpline and waiting for long till their call is finally connected. These AI enabled chatbots to create a very personalized experience for the user. The user feels that due time has been given to catering to their request with the help of these AI enabled chatbots. With the help of machine learning these chatbots keep learning from the user and keep getting better. For the restaurants also using chatbots would reduce a lot of manual work and bring down to the cost.
Making Reservations
At a time when eating in your favorite restaurant can be dependent on a lot of factors like heavy traffic or too much rush in the festive season, the use of AI can make a lot of difference. The customers can make online reservations from food ordering apps on their mobiles anywhere anytime. They can avoid waiting for their turn in the restaurant. The food ordering apps can also make suggestions about lesser crowded routes or other restaurants. Even in the dine-in restaurants’ smart kiosks can be used to place the order. This can minimize errors that happen when placing orders. The customers can also review and change their orders much more conveniently.
(Source: blog.vsoftconsulting.com)
Following up on Feedback
Every business needs to take feedback and work on it to grow it. AI makes following up on feedback easy. Firstly, adding feedback is easy from mobile phones. Secondly, chatbots can send customers reminders to the customers to fill the feedback. Lastly, it is easy to analyze and generate insights from data using AI. It can also help in coming up with suggestions for new trends based on customer feedback. Without AI taking feedback and drawing insights from it becomes a very tedious and expensive task for the employer. For the customer, it increases customer satisfaction and would like to revisit the restaurant.
A lot of big food chains have already adopted many of the above AI technologies in their services. For example, McDonald’s has introduced smart kiosks as part of their initiative called experience of the future. These smart kiosks make recommendations for the product according to the preferences of the customer or even preferences based on the weather. Customers are also able to personalize their burger or the French fries with the help of options like extra salt on the fries or more cheese in the burger.
KFC China has developed AI technology that uses facial recognition to predict customers’ orders.
These are just some of how AI and restaurant can function together and prove beneficial to both the customers as well as the restaurants. The dining experience for the customers can ultimately go to another level by incorporating AI in their services. Restaurants can equally benefit by enhancing the experience for the customers and thus boosting their business. So, AI and Restaurant is a happy love story.
Do you have any queries? Drop us a message at info@restroapp.com and our team of experts can make it a cakewalk for you.
