How to Enable Quick Service at Your Restaurant?

Customers want rapid service from businesses, and this is especially true for quick food service at restaurants. Humans are losing their patience and want things instantly, so it is wise to incorporate quick service at your restaurant. 

That’s why Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) are gaining popularity in this competitive market. Quick Service Restaurants are casual dining restaurants that emphasize quick food delivery and customer service without long waiting times.  

The global fast-food and quick-service restaurant market size will reach US$370.8 billion by 2032, according to Global News Wire Reports. However, what exactly are quick-service restaurants? How are they different from fast-casual restaurants? Let’s understand what QSRs are and how they are different from other restaurants. 

Understanding Quick Service Restaurants

The quick-service restaurant industry is a subset of the larger food-service space. A QSR is typically defined by its competitive price, quick service, and convenient location. As the name suggests, QSRs differ from full-service restaurants because they don’t provide table service or an extended menu. 

Some of the most notable quick-service restaurants around the world are McDonald’s, Subway, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Domino’s Pizza, KFC, and more. 

Here are the key reasons that make a restaurant’s quick service possible:

• Fast Service: These restaurants mainly focus on speed of service over the quality of food.

1. 1. No Table Service: QSRs usually let customers order and pick up their food quickly at the counter. Unlike sit-down restaurants, there’s no table service or waitstaff to take orders.
   2. Low Price Points: These restaurants’ menu items are mostly more affordable than full-service restaurants.

• A Limited Menu: Most QSRs offer fewer items on their menu than full-service restaurants.

QSRs offer pre-made foods that only require last-minute preparation before serving. These restaurants usually function in chains or franchises as they gain profit from the number of visitors they attract. Moreover, they often cater to complementary food items or just a single class of food. For instance, Domino’s offers fast food services along with light beverages.

What are the Types of Quick Service Restaurants?

The following are three main types of quick-service restaurants. 

• Self-Service Restaurants

In this type of QSR, the diners serve themselves food or drinks and make payments before dining. They need to go to the counter to place their order and collect it.

• Assisted Self-Service Restaurants

These are QSRs, where either you may need to place an order at a counter and collect it when it’s ready, or a staff member brings your food to your table. For instance, a buffet system, where the fast food is displayed at the counter, and the staff will serve it at your table, or you can get extras when you need them.

• Full-Service Restaurants

These are the places where the staff will take care of the customers from start to end. In these restaurants, both the order placing and the food delivery are done by the staff at the table, and they need to pay after they have eaten their meal.

There are three main categories that explain the difference between the services offered by three different types of QSR restaurants. 

How to Set Up Your Quick Service Restaurant?

If you want to set up your quick-service restaurant, follow these 6 easy steps. 

Step 1: Decide the Type of QSR

Consider these pointers to set up QSR at your restaurant.

• Whether you want to start a window counter for only takeaways or you also want to incorporate a sitting arrangement.
• Whether you want to make it a self-service restaurant, an assisted self-service restaurant, or a full-service restaurant.
• What is your total budget for this venture, depending on the offerings? 
• Next, where do you want to open your QSRs? Choose wisely! Try to choose a location near the city and surrounded by a young crowd.

All these questions will help you plan and implementation the strategy of QSR in your restaurant. Proper navigation or idea is essential to ensure seamless set-p. 

Step 2: Decide a Unique Menu

In this step, you need to choose a menu that is unique to the customers and low in cost. For instance, Domino’s and McDonald’s are both renowned QSRs. McDonald’s is known for the unique flavor of its burgers, French fries, brownies, and wraps. On the other hand, Domino’s is well-known for its delicious pizza with a convenient home delivery option. 

The most prominent QSR restaurants have something unique on their menus, which helps them create their unique brand identity. Likewise, you should also think of something new for your restaurant that will be refreshing to your city’s people. 

Step 3: Licenses

To begin a QSR, you must have a few licenses, such as a food license, tax registration, local municipal corporation health license, fire license, and more. These licenses may vary from country to country. So, research well before starting your QSR to avoid future complications. It’s best to have all the licenses before opening the QSR; it only requires your time and little charge. 

Step 4: Hire the Best Staff

Once your QSR is established, there’s no doubt you need to hire a staff to manage it. That’s why you should focus on hiring the best staff for your QSR, including chefs, helpers, and other staff members. 

These all should be professionals and have years of experience in fast-food restaurants. The team might struggle to complete the orders in time if they don’t have significant experience. If you haven’t any idea how to choose the best staff for your QSR, then you can contact staff-providing agencies where you can find the professionals. 

Step 5: Restaurant Equipment

As highlighted above, OSR serves unique fast foods, so it’s better to follow the authentic ways of preparing and delivering food as it used to be in their countries. Your QSR must be equipped with suitable utensils and tools, along with professional staff. Don’t forget to purchase all the equipment with ample storage capacity.

Step 6: Branding & Marketing

You should have a registered name, logo, and a catchy tagline that expresses the purpose of your business accounts on social media to improve your brand visibility. You can also print them on your packaging bags, coffee mugs, and even the staff uniform. These all help your QSR’s promotion and branding. Moreover, you need a good marketing team that will help you to get more customers with less effort. 

What Technology Can Help in Improving Restaurant Operations?

QSRs operate at a quick speed, and manually handling things can lead to unnecessary delays and problems. Hence, investing in technology is the only way to automate some of the processes and reduce the mistakes, and improve the delivery timelines. Let’s understand the different types of technology that can help to streamline restaurant processes. 

• Self-Service Kiosks:

The Self-Service Kiosks, which can be normally found at McDonald’s, empower the customers to order without staff assistance. These kiosks have a user-friendly interface, which makes it easy for customers to navigate the product and select the food items they want to order. After ordering, the customers can complete the payment process as well for their order. 

• Mobile Ordering and Payment: 

Mobiles can facilitate quick payment and processing through QR codes and digital payment. Besides, there are tap-and-pay payment methods (contactless payment), which can be used for small payments. The new payment technologies reduce the overall time compared to traditional payment methods with debit cards or cash. 

• Digital Signage: 

Digital signage enforces sustainability in restaurant operations. It allows restaurants to display menu information on a digital screen. The content is updated in real time, so customers can quickly review the ongoing offers and make decisions without staff assistance. 

• Kitchen Automation: 

Enabling quick service in restaurants means improving the overall operations, including the kitchen. Automated fryers and ovens can increase accuracy and deliver high-quality food service. 

• Data Analytics:

Invest in a platform that provides accurate data analysis so you can understand how to improvise your strategy to bring in more new customers and retain the old ones. With insights, you can improve your menu offerings, boost your marketing strategy, improvise the virtual merchandizing, and more. 

The Bottom Line, 

The future of QSR will continue to grow, offering more tech-friendly and even more convenient for picking up food on the go. Restaurant owners will focus on minimal contact delivery and fast delivery that will allow users to get their orders anytime, anywhere. To achieve this, owners are now looking for new ways to connect with their customers, like self-service kiosks, digital menu boards, screens showcasing products, and even drone delivery to enhance the customer experience. 

As technology advances, automation has the significant potential to increase efficiency and reduce costs in the QSR industry. In the coming years, we might see AI-driven services like automated ordering systems or robotic kitchen assistants. Plus, user-friendly mobile ordering has already spiked over the past few years, and this trend is expected to continue.

Soumyajit