Adapting To The Changing Consumer Behavior

Dillard Westmoreland, Director of IT, Nemacolin

Dillard Westmoreland, Director of IT, Nemacolin

Dillard Westmoreland, is having extensive experience in retail systems development and support for Fortune 100 Company. Compassionate yet challenging leader who manages large highperforming teams. He offer a unique combination of strategic vision, business acumen and tactical leadership and have consistently delivered to plan.

1. In Dillard’s opinion, how has the Restaurant POS System and landscape evolved over the years? What are some of the advantages of the current technological evolution?

Restaurant POS systems have been moving from the payment terminals that are staffed to self-serve ordering and payment terminals. Also seen are mobilePOS terminals that are restaurant-provided andpersonal payment device options utilizing cloud transaction services.

Fast food is moving to more orders on the go and then picking up orders on the inside or by way of the drive-through. Fast-casual dining is migrating to more self-serve ordering options and mobile ordering for pickup orders. Sit-down dining is migrating toward options to pay at the table. While all these options help with the speed of service and labor shortages, they also keep the payment with the consumer. There is a movement away from the consumer ever handing their credit card over to someone else for payment.

Utilizing mobile and self-service technologies shows an increase in the average order. When people don’t feel that they are being judged by either the restaurant employee or the other patrons, they feel freer to order anything they’d like.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the evolution of payment interactions to minimize or remove touchpoints for the consumer. The interactions with the consumers are moving to fewer and fewer interactions where something must be passed between the consumer and the restaurant employee—even down to the menu itself. Even with sit-down dining, a QR code or restaurant app is commonplace now instead of a physical menu.

When you move into luxury-dining experiences like those provided by Nemacolin, a premium experience is being provided to the consumer. Technology moves from the foreground to the background to support the restaurants by providing wonderful guest experiences.

2. What, according to you, are some of the challenges plaguing the Restaurant POS System and landscape, and how can they be effectively mitigated?

Changing consumer behaviors are having a large impact on restaurant POS systems. It is becoming common for the consumer to wish to pay with an e-wallet on a mobile device that could have gift cards, credit cards, or even cryptocurrencies for payment. A POS system must keep up with the ever-changing way people will be paying for things.

With the changing payment methods, protecting the consumer’s payment method is a top priority. A POS system will need to provide the latest security to prevent theft of the payment method.

While technology changes are creating issues on the landscape, simply finding people for the roles needed in the restaurant has become a challenge. With high turnover, the technology used must be simple to use so employees can become productive quickly with minimal-to-no learning curves.

Another disruptor in the landscape is the pop-up restaurant. This can be a food truck or it can be a unique restaurant experience for a very limited time during an event or holiday. Your POS systems need to be able to handle these scenarios. While this can be easy to do for a single food truck, when you are managing restaurants and multiple mobile food and beverage locations, you need your POS system to not only just take payment,it must connect with your inventory systems to ensure back-end ordering processes are running smoothly. With all the supply chain issues, not placing orders promptly can creates a real impact on the restaurant.

Turning to the luxury experiences like The Peak at Nemacolin, poolside cabanas, ski slopes, and the ability to indulge in delicious drinks and dining are all options that involve consideration of POS and pay systems. To support keeping guests in a vibrant atmosphere,Nemacolin is moving toward allowing guests to order and pay their way with traditional dining, bar options,and poolside chair services. To enhance the experience, POS systems are moving toward the guest ordering from their cabana with payment being directed to their in-house account, the guest ordering from a relaxing spot in their lounge chair by the pool, and a guest utilizing a payment via their e-wallet.

The interactions with the consumers are moving to fewer and fewer interactions where something must be passed between the consumer and the restaurant employee even down to the menu itself.

To reinforce unique experiences, POS systems for food and beverage operations need to be part of the flow and be effortless to the guest. Traditional ordering and payment processing keeps the consumer in their daily lives. At Nemacolin, we provide magical experiences that take our guests away from their daily lives, and technology is just one part of making that happen.

3. Which are a few technological trends influencing Restaurant POS Systems‚ today? What are some of the best practices businesses should adopt today to steer ahead of competitors?

A few key areas are online ordering and pickup with low to no-touch for pickup and payment, mobile devices for sit-down dining payments, cloud-based POS software for agile changes, and the latest security updates. Moving toward monitor displays to eliminate printed tickets in the kitchen is just one way of doing this. With all of this, you can’t forget about upgrading your kitchen technology with POS, as well.

4. Do you have any advice for industry veterans or budding entrepreneurs from the Restaurant POS System‚ space?

Whether one has been at this for years or is just starting out, keep looking for ways to provide a better experience for the customer. Technology, wonderful food, and great experiences will win over customers and guests, but you can lose them quickly if your competition is adapting to what they want faster than you are. Just remember:You are never done.You must keep improving every day by incorporating technology with your restaurant POS system to help speed up the transaction and enhance the experience while also protecting the payment and creating ease of use. It’s a piece of cake…just like how we make magic happen every day at Nemacolin.