QSR Automations, a provider of in-store, online, and mobile connected technology solutions for hospitality businesses worldwide, is showcasing its newest product innovations at the 2010 National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show (NRA), held May 22-25 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

In addition to demonstrations of QSR's revolutionary seating, wait list, reservations, and kitchen software and hardware products available from QSR's ConnectSmart Hospitality Automation Solution, the exhibit features QSR's new fully integrated ConnectSmart TeamAssist software.

TeamAssist is an easy-to-use solution for creating, maintaining, and presenting key information for in-store team members – making information available in the store when, where, and how it is needed. TeamAssist offers a recipe viewer as well as a repository for maintenance tasks and training information. With the recipe viewer functionality, TeamAssist provides customizable recipe information within a restaurant, which ensures that operators can eliminate costly printing and shipping of menu cards or recipe books that serve to clutter restaurants.

To make certain that maintenance tasks are completed properly, operators can build a group of maintenance "recipes" — such as for shutting down a grill or cleaning restrooms. And with complete support for photos and videos, hospitality operators can rely on TeamAssist to make available extensive training information for use within the store.

Often used in a restaurant environment along with other applications that are part of QSR's comprehensive ConnectSmart solution — such as the ConnectSmart Kitchen (CSK) graphical software for sophisticated kitchen automation — TeamAssist can also be used completely stand-alone in any kitchen, or anywhere in any part of any restaurant. Additionally, TeamAssist provides improved efficiencies and significant cost savings within such environments as bars, buffets, bakeries, and grocery stores.

The wizard driven builder tool for inputting all TeamAssist information keeps the data segmented, so that it is not only easy to add data, but the data can also be used and reused in different formats within TeamAssist and by any other ConnectSmart applications in use in the store.

The data can also be presented in the specific manner that is most useful for that specific team member. As an example, when using the recipe viewer, an assembler in a restaurant kitchen will see the Expo View for a menu card, where key information about presentation of the menu item is provided. At the same time, a prep chef will see the Prep View for that same menu item, where information about ingredients and cooking procedures is most important.

TeamAssist can be used along with QSR's CSK. As the heart of QSR's comprehensive ConnectSmart solution, the sophisticated CSK ensures operators can effectively route and intuitively display menu items and orders in a specific manner at each kitchen station to meet exact operational requirements. With the CSK's tabbed views functionality, a single physical kitchen monitor at a specific kitchen station can be transformed into eight virtual kitchen stations with easy-to-navigate tabs configured at the top of the customizable CSK kitchen station screen. When running TeamAssist in a CSK tabbed view, the solution can be configured so that expo stations automatically use the Expo View for menu items, and prep stations automatically use the Prep View for the same menu items.

Capitalizing on QSR's long-standing philosophy of providing highly flexible solutions, TeamAssist can be managed and run locally within each store or can be managed and run at an enterprise level. TeamAssist also supports multiple languages, ensuring that each specific station can be assigned a default language and each in-store team member can select a different language for display on his or her screen during a specific shift.

"QSR is helping thousands of hospitality businesses improve operational efficiencies and guest service with our innovative, powerful, and reliable technology solutions — and our new ConnectSmart TeamAssist is a natural extension of our comprehensive product lines," says Andrew Sonntag, chief operating officer for QSR Automations. "We are excited to debut TeamAssist at NRA, which is designed to alleviate stress and drive efficiencies with in-store team members while reducing costs at the corporate level."

Also showcased within the NRA exhibit are QSR's ConnectSmart WebReserve and ConnectSmart WebAhead solutions for enabling guests to make a reservation or join the wait list through the Web, rather than tying up guest and store personnel time with phone calls to the restaurant.

With ConnectSmart WebReserve Mobile and ConnectSmart WebAhead Mobile, guests have the added convenience of using their mobile phone for these activities. These connected online solutions are fully integrated with QSR's ConnectSmart Reservations for making reservations from within the store and ConnectSmart Hostess for in-store seating and wait list management.

Operators who rely on QSR's Hostess software are pleasing guests with efficient seating as well as accurate wait times that can take into account a powerful and unique connection to the dining room as well as QSR's CSK. Highlighted at NRA, the CSK will be running with QSR's new highly reliable xCeed kitchen controllers. With a powerful processor and running the Microsoft Windows CE operating system, the xCeed controller supports graphical capabilities, browser-based access, international character sets, and targeted applications as well as numerous display options — including portrait or landscape mode, 1024×768 resolution, wide screen display, and rotated video.

"Hospitality operators of all sizes and concepts can put any or all of QSR's innovative solutions to work for them in order to maximize productivity and the guest experience," Sonntag says.