Last week’s EU referendum result sent shockwaves across the country with the market reacting badly. However, the show must go for all of us involved in the hospitality sector writes GS Systems managing director Niels Nielsen.
While at time of writing we can only speculate on the full impact of our decision to leave the European community, experts are already predicting costs rising in the future.
For example, procurement and supply chain consultancy Prestige Purchasing has predicted major rises in the cost of food and drink as a result of the UK’s decision to leave the EU.
Prestige’s chief executive David Read said some effects, such as import tariffs and rising labour costs, would only have an impact on prices once the UK actually left the EU, but he added that if recent significant falls in the value of sterling continued, we would “see prices increasing by the end of the summer”.
Although the value of sterling and labour costs are out of our hands, the hospitality sector should focus on areas we do control such as implementing and building watertight procedures around EPOS-based technology.
From our perspective, as EPOS specialists. I would recommend using Brexit as a timely catalyst to review how your technology is being used to tighten costs and boosts margins.
Ask yourself if you can do it better?
Certainly we’re doing it ourselves as a business to make sure every pound we invest in ourselves brings the optimum return. We would encourage others to do the same.
It would be silly not to this opportunity as Brexit is a wake up call to us all that there are no certainties in life or business.
The starting point for a review is looking at your current status and where you want to be short, mid and long term.
A GS Needs Analysis Audit (NAA) is carried out by EPOS specialists with their own first-hand hospitality experience so they fully understand the challenges you face.
An audit is designed to interrogate all aspects of your business.
This will highlight where you are either missing out on maximising margins or wasting cash, stock and resources unnecessarily.
A Needs Analysis Audit can take between 90 minutes to half a day depending upon the size and scale of your operation.
Once completed, you can introduce and implement technology-led activity to dramatically improve the way your business performs and maximise your margins.
Usually this involves three steps.
Step 1:
Start by protecting your margins with watertight stock controls and intuitive labour management technology.
Your two biggest variable operating costs will be exposed by any rising costs result from the EU exist.
Having the right technology safeguards in place will lessen the impact of rises if you are able to track these costs in real-time and receive alerts when costs step outside of pre-set cost parameters.
Step 2:
While you should protect your costs, you should also look to increase existing customer spend per head.
Smart up-selling prompts and loyalty reward campaigns run through your EPOS solution add value to the guest experience and drive up your margins.
Step 3:
Boost footfall in your sites by encouraging and rewarding new customers to try out your concept – and incentivise them to visit again.
We have found, for example, that a gift card programme run via EPOS can increase sales with new and current customers by 30% versus existing paper card solutions while mature programmes can deliver between 3-5% of a total company’s revenue.
From my perspective as a business owner and entrepreneur, the EU campaign involved a lot of unnecessary scaremongering.
Technology can induce similar fears, all of which are totally unfounded if together experts integrate technology and watertight procedures alongside business growth measures.
As I wrote earlier, the starting point is a review. If you are interested as an existing client or an operator looking for a new solution, give us a call on 0800 655 6264 to book your FREE Needs Analysis Audit!
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