Restaurants Are Embracing the Future of Technology with Low Voltage and PoE Systems
- Restaurants quickly pivoted to a business model that was not reliant on dine-in by leveraging new technologies
- Low voltage and PoE systems elevate the customer experience, help control inventories, and improve security
- Customers have quickly grown accustomed to alternative dining options and there is no going back
The restaurant industry has traditionally been a low-tech oasis. Even though digital POS systems have been in place for some time and online ordering has gained popularity in recent years, the pressures of finding ways to survive during COVID has forced the restaurant industry to adapt quickly to achieve service continuity and stay afloat financially. All this while grappling with the stressors of skeleton crews or no staff at all, touchless service, and security and supply chain issues.
The level of adaptation has been challenging, and perhaps forced some businesses to engage in technology solutions that might otherwise have been avoided, including QR code menu access; online ordering and customized downloadable apps; and self-ordering kiosks. The creative problem-solving skills the industry demonstrated has, without question, changed the restaurant business forever and prompted unprecedented adoption of technology to support new ways of serving customers.
Restaurants have adapted with new technology, including QR code menu access; online ordering and customized downloadable apps; and self-ordering kiosks.
Incorporating new technologies in the wake of COVID has been a matter of survival, especially when you consider that casual and fine dining restaurants operate at a 3% - 5% profit margin and QSRs achieve a slightly higher profit at between 6% -9%1, so finding any way possible to protect and even increase those margins would be considered a good investment.
Designing or upgrading restaurants to incorporate low voltage/PoE systems has come to the forefront. The systems support everything from VoIP, POS ordering, hand-held ordering devices, lighting and security controls, QR code menus, inventory control, and even automated window shades that can be programmed to raise and lower depending on climate and energy signals. It is a brave new world, and the restaurant industry is embracing it. From system design to installation, Core States Group’s expertise in low voltage/PoE technology helps owners implement systems and upgrade their current platforms.
Restaurants can capture volumes of data that enables more informed business management and marketing decisions, as well as open the possibility of networking multiple locations to integrate data and increase efficiencies. For example, integrated security systems enhance employee and customer safety and improve loss prevention of inventory. According to Loss Prevention Media, “Security cameras, alarm systems, and access control systems that traditionally secured physical locations in a silo are now expected to serve as intelligent, integrated systems that heavily rely on the underlying network infrastructure.”2
For an industry that was not too long ago behind the curve when it comes to implementing integrated technologies, restaurants are actively embracing the future. Core Sates Group has the expertise and national reach to apply low voltage/PoE systems to single projects and efficient rollout of multiple locations in a region or across North America. When implementing low voltage/PoE systems, four key recommendations to consider include:
Designing or upgrading restaurants to incorporate low voltage/PoE systems has become crucial to support the industry's implementation of new technologies.
- Early Engagement: Engaging professional engineers with experience designing low voltage/PoE systems for today, and for future needs, early in the building design phase to ensure critical infrastructure is in place from the outset and not treated as an afterthought, which drives up costs and negatively impacts the schedule.
- Long-Term Value Analysis: Ensure your low voltage/PoE engineers and installation team can conduct an in-depth analysis of your needs to make certain equipment specifications and selections are appropriate to deliver expected functionality and easily integrate additional applications to support where your business is headed. Your system should accommodate upgrades and include space to house additional equipment needs and expanding applications.
- Experience Supporting New and Emerging Applications: Selecting a partner with proven experience designing and installing systems that keep pace with a rapidly evolving marketplace is critical. As security, VoIP, automated building systems, and online and customized downloadable apps, and QR code options become more prevalent, engaging a team with the expertise to implement integrated systems quickly and to the high standards that achieve accurate functionality is essential.
- Ability to Scale Up and Grow with You: Speed to market is becoming more intense and having a low voltage/PoE partner that is nimble and able to deliver one project or can quickly scale up to deliver hundreds of sites in a program rollout, is foundational to delivering quality, supporting business goals, and providing an exceptional customer experience.
Our Core States Group engineers are client-focused and understand that low voltage/PoE systems are the lifeblood of supporting your data, communications, and commerce needs 24/7. Accuracy and operational excellence is always essential in the rapidly changing marketplace that demands a complex system to be nimble and flexible to ensure customer satisfaction
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