How Tech Can Help Alleviate Supply Chain Issues and Boost Consumer Confidence

Over the past few years, restaurant operators have faced many challenges surrounding day-to-day operations. These challenges have included dining room closures to staffing shortages, sustainability initiatives being put on the back burner, supply chain issues and more—and they’ve all required restaurant operators to continually rethink the management of operations.

Additionally, as consumers and the world at large place a higher priority on diversity initiatives within the restaurant world, there’s no question that restaurant owners have had their work cut out for them. However, some operators may not be aware of the help that’s available. Some of the biggest concerns for restaurant operations can be helped with technology solutions to navigate supply chain issues and incorporate diversity and sustainability into daily operations.

Tech solutions for modern challenges

Supply chain issues are linked with sustainability and diversity efforts. When an operator takes the time and makes the effort to seek suppliers who align with their values, only to find that certain products are not available, the results are often the operator purchasing from whatever supplier has the needed product available—regardless of whether that supplier is in alignment or ideal for the restaurant operations.

Researching new suppliers can take a lot of time for restaurant operators—time that could be better spent focusing on other things, such as ensuring DEI initiatives within the company are being met, ensuring customers have a great experience and ensuring menu items are made to standards. Using tech tools from Amazon Business helps pinpoint appropriate resources and opportunities where time savings is available.

Procurement help means more time for workplace values

Amazon Business is proud to be a resource for restaurant operators who need help with procurement. Operators can find needed products and a specific brand that is ideal for their operation while using tech solutions for procurement. As consumers place higher priority on partnering with businesses that align with values surrounding diversity and sustainability, choosing brands to work with that align with similar values helps operators reflect the shared importance of these topics to restaurant customers.

Decreasing waste while increasing efficiency

Using data to track pricing and inventory is another way using technology can help with procurement and supply chain. Operators with multiple locations need details about where money is being spent, and on what—and ideally, restaurant operators need to be able to see this in one place—and with Amazon Business solutions, operators can not only see this data, but use it to gain insights on their company’s spending patterns overall—which locations are spending more, which locations may be ordering too much or too little of a product, etc. By using data to inform purchasing decisions, operators can limit waste while increasing efficiency within their restaurants.

Effect on the consumer

As operators turn to tech solutions to solve more granular problems, such as supply chain issues, they will be able to focus more on issues that consumers care about more, too. Hiring a diverse staff and providing support for that staff, for instance, as well as planning forward movement for sustainability issues are all things operators will have more time for when they organize the day-to-day procurement work into a one-stop tech solution. By prioritizing consumer-centric issues that affect where diners choose to dine, operators set themselves up for future success.

This article was originally published on Restaurant Business.