Now more than ever, efficiency is a crucial ingredient for restaurant success. Not only have labor costs risen, but restaurants are also operating at lower capacity amid the COVID-19 pandemic, reducing staff headcount and table numbers. Meanwhile, these smaller teams must manage ever-growing lists of tasks to keep employees and guests safe. As a result, owners are seeking tools that can help their teams communicate more effectively to boost productivity, yet not all traditional communication methods can meet these changing needs.
To remedy these challenges, JTECH created a new wearable smart band called LinkWear, designed to help restaurants with staff-to-staff, guest-to-staff, and device-to-staff communications and task management. LinkWear also allows staff to tailor custom messages and send them to the whole team or to the right person at the right time.
“While two-way radios and traditional staff pagers are effective, wearable smartbands are less distracting, more comfortable to wear, and provide more detailed information,” says Christine Banks-Senkiewicz, director of marketing at JTECH.
With LinkWear, kitchen staff can tell servers when orders are ready, eliminating the need for runners. Managers can receive reminders when critical tasks should be done, assign those tasks to individuals through the device, and be alerted when they are completed. LinkWear also tracks who completed the tasks, enabling cleaning and maintenance tracking and logs. A host could also tell a server that a VIP is sitting at a specific table or if guests are celebrating a special occasion—all part of providing a great guest experience.
Yet LinkWear does more than just facilitate two-way communication between staff members, it also connects them to critical data, which boosts efficiency.
“We are looking for new data partners, because many companies have critical data and information that restaurant employees need, but accessibility is limited to emails or text messages,” says Sal Veni, vice president of operations at JTECH. “Restaurant staff members don’t usually have phones with them or access to computers. LinkWear allows data partners to discreetly send staff critical alerts while they are on the floor and when they need them.”
LinkWear can integrate with devices and applications and deliver data to the right person at the right time; such as, scheduling tools that send overtime alerts to managers or curbside pickup and delivery applications that alert staff when guests or drivers arrive for orders. And, if a restaurant has a unique need, LinkWear is designed with a flexible open architecture enabling customized solutions.
“LinkWear is exactly what it sounds like—a wearable link to your data so that you don’t have to wait two hours to pull a report and take action after the fact,” says Paul Meggers, president of JTECH. “With LinkWear, you can take action right away, and in these difficult times, what could be more valuable than that?”
To learn more about how restaurants and data providers can work with LinkWear, visit JTECH.com/LinkWear
