Restaurant Industry Benefits from Paperless Document Management

Restaurateurs have been plagued with a vast overload of hard paper documents for years. Whether it’s the resources used for scheduling, inventory, sales, correspondence or one of many more roles, many eateries are pressed for space and effective organization.

Paperless document management has been the key to getting out of stress and hassle for many of these businesses and stands to improve the electronic workflow and space management of the restaurant industry as a whole.

With an efficient system in place, it can be endlessly beneficial for an organization to make the switch, and remain ahead of the curve while doing so.

Different uses of electronic document imaging

Once a business has invested in document management software, the customizable digital cloud space can be used in any number of ways to maximize efficiency within a restaurant.

Once documents can be shared and generated in a paperless environment, space within the building is immediately saved. According to a report from industry blog Duncan, this was demonstrated by the experience of Emile Haddad, an owner of ten McDonald’s locations in New Hampshire.

“He had to manage boxes, rent places and label everything correctly. He stated that it was becoming a real headache until he tried the paperless office route,” reporter Josh Christy explained.

Singular locations and corporate offices can be rid of the file cabinets and copy machines of old and save the 20% to 30% of the day the average office worker spends rifling through documents by going paperless. Invoice automation saves a great deal of filing time and completely eliminates inter-office mailing.

These simple changes completely transform the electronic workflow of the office side of the restaurant, and can extend into the day-to-day customer transactions, as well.

For some restaurants, paperless menus have become a popular way of utilizing document management software to make an impression on customers. Automating deliveries by employing online ordering systems has been a common move for larger businesses, and menus on iPads instead of the typical folded laminate have been used by a few smaller eateries as detailed by a report shared by industry blog Paperless Kitchen.

Positive marketing angle can be used

Once these new, forward-thinking systems are put into place, a restaurant can use this to generate positive buzz marketing. According to a report from the Sustainable Business Forum, potential customers respond well to a “go green” initiative in any industry and a paperless workspace can benefit both electronic workflow and a restaurant’s reputation on the whole.

From a marketing perspective, it can be helpful to target and draw attention to areas of the company that are eliminating paper to both maximize the positive impact a business is making on the environment and to dissuade potential customers from choosing competing eateries that don’t market the advantages of their document management software.

Without doubt, there are a number of creative and effective ways to implement electronic document imaging to improve the efficiency of a restaurant’s day-to-day management. From space saved to customers wowed, there’s nothing but benefit to be gotten from a well-organized paperless office.