The Menu – the latest insights on restaurant technology trends, customer successes, and best practices.

Restaurant technology is advancing with a strong focus on guest experience. Learn about mobile POS systems and other trends leading the way.

Restaurant technology is advancing with a strong focus on guest experience. Learn about mobile POS systems and other trends leading the way.

62% of customers want to hear from their favorite restaurants, bars & coffee shops via email. Here are 5 tips on making email marketing work for you.

62% of customers want to hear from their favorite restaurants, bars & coffee shops via email. Here are 5 tips on making email marketing work for you.

Increasing restaurant sales often involves 3 key efforts. Get tips on menu management, restaurant analytics, & conversational ordering on mobile POS systems.

Increasing restaurant sales often involves 3 key efforts. Get tips on menu management, restaurant analytics, & conversational ordering on mobile POS systems.

Learn how cutting-edge POS systems are helping to reduce long concession stand lines at concerts and other large-venue events.

Learn how cutting-edge POS systems are helping to reduce long concession stand lines at concerts and other large-venue events.

Table-service restaurants with mobile pay are turning tables faster and making customers happier. Is mobile pay-at-table technology right for your restaurant?

Table-service restaurants with mobile pay are turning tables faster and making customers happier. Is mobile pay-at-table technology right for your restaurant?

Kitchen Display Systems do more than replace paper tickets & kitchen printers. These digital order viewers improve coordination, costs, and guest experience.

Kitchen Display Systems do more than replace paper tickets & kitchen printers. These digital order viewers improve coordination, costs, and guest experience.

Restaurant table turnover rates can have massive impact on your bottom line. Here are four tips on maximizing turnover rates without impacting guest experience.

Restaurant table turnover rates can have massive impact on your bottom line. Here are four tips on maximizing turnover rates without impacting guest experience.

Pop-up Restaurants are paying big dividends for operators who run them on the right mobile restaurant POS systems.

Pop-up Restaurants are paying big dividends for operators who run them on the right mobile restaurant POS systems.

Five reasons why the cloud is right for your restaurant POS system You’ve chosen your restaurant name. You’ve found the ideal location. You’ve devised the perfect menu. The fixtures and fittings are all on order. What next? Your mind turns to technology. You are going to need a point-of-sale system for your restaurant. So where do you begin? The answer is simple: In the cloud. Every modern restaurant needs a cloud point-of-sale system, and here are just a few reasons why: Cloud lowers IT costs No onsite servers needed. No call out charges when the server goes down. No consultants visiting to install the latest versions of software. All these scenarios are taken care of in the cloud. This allows money to be reallocated elsewhere. This might be opening more locations, refurbishing existing premises, branding, marketing, staff training – whatever makes your business more competitive. Cloud minimizes complexity Cloud-based restaurant POS systems are designed to be plugged in, switched on and connected at the touch of a button. By removing the need for servers on each site, you’re not only saving money on the hardware itself – you’re reducing the cost of maintenance. With traditional on-premise systems, upgrades involve sending a consultant to each location, which explains why roll-out programs often take weeks or months. With cloud, a system upgrade can be done centrally, once. Less money is needed upfront for hardware, and less money is needed for ongoing support, freeing funds to be reallocated to support other business priorities. Cloud enhances speed and agility The food and beverage industry moves fast. You need to be able to bring new ideas to market within days, not weeks or months. It’s also important to identify and remedy underperformers, whether it’s an item on the menu or a promotion. Cloud technology allows you to execute your ideas much faster and more effectively. Cloud opens new revenue streams If you’re looking to broaden your customer base and increase revenues without expanding the size of your premises, then there is huge potential in off-premises ordering. With the power of the cloud, orders that are placed through mobile POS devices or desktop PCs can be sent directly into your existing systems for fulfilment. There’s no need for separate channels for web or mobile orders, which means fewer headaches for your IT team or onsite staff as systems remain simple and streamlined. Cloud-based restaurant POS solutions also maximize the profit potential and help ensure that customers receive a consistent brand experience. Cloud POS analytics helps glean insights from data for better decision making   How much revenue did your newest location make this lunchtime compared to forecast? How many of your guests are using discounts or promotions? Which locations have the best sales per employee? All this information and more should be available to help you make better business decisions. But if you’re running different systems in different locations or countries, it becomes difficult to pull such data together. But with a cloud-based restaurant POS reporting service, data from every location is instantly available in real time, allowing you to see exactly what is happening across the enterprise at any given moment. Weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports can be delivered accurately within seconds rather than days. Cloud also ensures that this data is accessible whenever and however you need it, whether from a desktop PC or a mobile app on a smartphone. If you’re looking for a cloud solution to take your food and beverage enterprise forward, then look no further than Oracle MICROS Simphony Cloud. To discover the many other reasons why a cloud point-of-sale system is right for your restaurant, please view  The Power of Cloud for Food and Beverage Operators: What Every F&B Executive Needs to know now.

Five reasons why the cloud is right for your restaurant POS system You’ve chosen your restaurant name. You’ve found the ideal location. You’ve devised the perfect menu. The fixtures and fittings are...

Every industry needs role models, and the food and beverage business is no exception. They’re vital to represent what’s possible in shaping careers – especially for women and minorities. That’s why we’re proud to announce that one of our very own – Adriana Torres, senior vice president, global head of Oracle Hospitality and Food & Beverage Support – has been named to the Hispanic Information Technology Executive Council (HITEC) 2020 Top 100 list, honoring the most influential and notable Hispanic professionals in the technology field. The HITEC Top 100 list recognizes the top Hispanic professionals in the technology industry in the U.S. and celebrates their leadership and achievements in all sectors of the industry. Honorees are evaluated on their accomplishments in the ever-changing global landscape of technology and for their mentoring and professional development activities. Diversity’s Role In Forming Better Global Partnerships Regarding the recognition, Torres used it as an opportunity to talk about the importance of diversity and its essential role in helping Oracle be a better partner for its many unique customers across retail, hospitality, restaurants, stadiums, and other large venues. “Diversity of thoughts, mind, gender, culture and races are attributes that make us unique and special as human beings,” Torres said. “If you are able to recognize these differences and leverage them to learn and to grow personally and professionally, then you are able to accomplish greater successes. In my field, understanding and promoting diversity is key to providing better services to our diverse customer base.” Said HITEC Chairman Guillermo Diaz, Jr.: “HITEC is proud to recognize the top 100 technology executive leaders that happen to be Hispanic. Not only do they represent the top tier talent that is making a positive impact on the technology industry, they also serve as role models to the next generation of leaders that are accelerating their respective businesses and communities.” Nominations were solicited from HITEC members and the general public, and the organization’s 2019 Awards Committee selected the honorees. For more than a decade, HITEC – a global IT executive leadership organization – has recognized Hispanic professionals on the Top 100 list as part of its mission to increase Hispanic representation and build stronger technology and executive leaders in the diversity-challenged technology industry. The group’s mission perfectly parallels Oracle’s belief that diversity strengthens business performance and defines our culture and identity. By valuing diverse leadership, Oracle can better share great ideas and, just as importantly, better understand the specific needs of our varied F&B customers.

Every industry needs role models, and the food and beverage business is no exception. They’re vital to represent what’s possible in shaping careers – especially for women and minorities. That’s why...

POS integrations are crucial as restaurants adapt to the explosive growth of third-party food delivery services. Get tips on choosing the right restaurant POS.

POS integrations are crucial as restaurants adapt to the explosive growth of third-party food delivery services. Get tips on choosing the right restaurant POS.

Gone are the days when stadiums just hosted sports teams. They’ve evolved to become multi-event venues – even destinations themselves. But through their evolution, one thing has remained a constant: the stadium POS hardware, the unsung hero of stadium operations, working quietly backstage – until it doesn’t and all hell breaks loose. Certainly, rugged dependability is an essential trait for a point-of-sale system. But with the array of events that stadiums now host – from concerts to festivals to corporate events and others – it’s essential for a POS system to be flexible enough to cater to a spectrum of events and their unique menu offerings. Keeping that principle in mind, here are my “Top-5 Tips” to help select the best point of sale for your stadium. Your POS needs to be: Portable You want to take your menu offerings to the crowds, rather than wait for them to come to you. A great system enables the quick and easy setup of pop-up shops, concessions and stands – wherever and whenever needed. The Oracle MICROS Compact Workstation 310 takes this one step farther by removing the need for either power or network cables. Such flexibility increases upsell opportunities and shortens lines, meaning more revenue and happier customers. Weather and environment resistant Withstanding stadium environments, from tough kitchen conditions to harsh weather, is a must for POS to serve customers 24/7. Hardware needs to be able to endure anything Mother Nature, fans or employees can throw at it. Performance tests that I always used to gauge hardware: Does it work in my walk-in freezer? Will the touch screen operate even when beer is spilled all over it? Durable Tablets get dropped with alarming regularity, which makes it critical to select devices that are built to last. Purchase decisions need to be made based on the real cost over time; what may seem like a bargain at first can quickly become incredibly expensive if you need to replace 10% to 20% of your devices every six months. Unfortunately, that’s not an uncommon scenario, considering few consumer-designed devices can survive the rigors of stadium life. Compact Serving hundreds or thousands of people, whether during intermission or half time, makes counter space a premium, especially at mobile concession stands. That’s why POS size is a big deal. It’s key to install a system with the necessary functionality but also one that takes up less counter space. Such a combination affords a greater service window, meaning lines move as efficiently as possibility and customers enjoy hassle-free experiences. Innovative Increasing footfall. Accelerating speed of service. Gaining greater share of wallet. Capitalizing on these benefits requires technology that embraces innovation, enabling fast and easy integration of “best-of-breed” pos solutions from wherever they emerge.   Oracle Food and Beverage supports leading stadiums, arenas, convention centers and theme parks around the world with integrated point-of-sale (POS) solutions that help deliver exceptional guest experiences. To learn more about our offerings visit our website and learn who Oracle Food and Beverage POS Integrates with.  

Gone are the days when stadiums just hosted sports teams. They’ve evolved to become multi-event venues – even destinations themselves. But through their evolution, one thing has remained a constant:...

The restaurant industry always is evolving to adapt to the ever-changing palate of consumers. Thousands of different restaurants crowd the marketplace, and they’re constantly concocting new dishes and cuisines to excite our eyes and our stomachs. Although this is amazing for consumers, it means competition is fierce. Escalating operational costs keep a constant strain on the bottom line. That’s why it’s critical to stay on top of daily reports from your restaurant POS system to ensure that any losses can be recorded, analyzed and controlled. Here are the five, most-important restaurant POS reports to better assess performance: Employee Sales Performance – helps recognize and reward high achievers while also identifying employees who are underperforming. At first glance, you might think that your employee with the highest net sales is your best employee, but that may not always be the case. Any good reporting package should let you easily cross check net sales, percentage of sales and amount of checks. Then you can identify who just landed the big spending table and who worked across multiple tables, keeping large numbers of customers happy and spending. Menu Item Report – helps provide information on items that are selling well and others that may need to be placed on the chopping block! This report can revolutionize how you hold stock, placing the focus on not only the best sellers but also the items with the highest profit margin. This can help ensure that you never run out of best-selling or highest-profit items, and that you never over order your underperformers. This simple report easily helps you maximize shelf space throughout your restaurant and bar. Employee Control Report – shows how many error corrects, voids and discounts each employee is making. Managers need to be aware of “normal” levels of each activity in their locations and what should spark concern. Error corrects should be marginal in comparison to net sales, and anyone showing above a 5% threshold needs a deeper dive. All Checks Report – provides a break-down of all the checks an employee puts through the system during a shift. This report is a quick way to check that employees do not have big differences compared with their colleagues – for example, abnormal levels of discount use, error corrects or sales percentage. Any patterns quickly stand out, and I always found that patterns in something like a low-value transaction needed further investigation as it could indicate an employee is selling a high-value item but recording a low-value one.  No Sale Report - in today’s market there should be little need for the use of the “no sale” function on a point of sale; management should closely consider who really needs accessibility to this function. As society lessens its dependence on cash, the necessity of the no sale function should follow suit. If an employee needs to retrieve change, which may happen once a shift, the time taken from the till to the safe and back again should coincide with the time taken between the uses of no sale. Any odd no sales or frequent no sales need investigation. All of these reports can be run on individual sites or across multiple sites from your point-of-sale system. Staying on top of POS analytics every day makes trends easy to spot, issues easy to highlight and concerns easy to eradicate. These simple reports can boost performance and ensure you are receiving the best from your employees.

The restaurant industry always is evolving to adapt to the ever-changing palate of consumers. Thousands of different restaurants crowd the marketplace, and they’re constantly concocting new dishes...

If you’re leading a growing restaurant operation, then the Restaurant Directions show taking place in Los Angeles is a great place to pick up new ideas and make useful new contacts.

If you’re leading a growing restaurant operation, then the Restaurant Directions show taking place in Los Angeles is a great place to pick up new ideas and make useful new contacts.

For restaurateurs, payment security is an important topic. To help protect merchants, North American Bancard is offering an EMV upgrade to users of Oracle’s MICROS POS solution.

For restaurateurs, payment security is an important topic. To help protect merchants, North American Bancard is offering an EMV upgrade to users of Oracle’s MICROS POS solution.

How to Build a Fast Casual Restaurant Brand: Cherryh Cansler on The FastCasual Top 100

How to Build a Fast Casual Restaurant Brand: Cherryh Cansler on The FastCasual Top 100

Join Oracle at the 10th annual Stadium Business Summit trade show and event in Manchester, UK June 4th-5th, 2019 to learn more about stadium point of sale solutions.

Join Oracle at the 10th annual Stadium Business Summit trade show and event in Manchester, UK June 4th-5th, 2019 to learn more about stadium point of sale solutions.

The 2019 Edition of Fast Casual's Top 100 Movers & Shakers is here! Check out how experts are using technology, restaurant POS, and leading the industry with innovation.

The 2019 Edition of Fast Casual's Top 100 Movers & Shakers is here! Check out how experts are using technology, restaurant POS, and leading the industry with innovation.

Addressing negative restaurant reviews on sites like Yelp and OpenTable can be tough. Here are some tips on how NOT to handle them, and a few tips on how you can turn 1 star into 5.

Addressing negative restaurant reviews on sites like Yelp and OpenTable can be tough. Here are some tips on how NOT to handle them, and a few tips on how you can turn 1 star into 5.

Competing in the National ProStart Invitational? Go behind the scenes with management judge, David Galante, to learn what judges love, hate, and want to see more of.

Competing in the National ProStart Invitational? Go behind the scenes with management judge, David Galante, to learn what judges love, hate, and want to see more of.

We chatted with Generation Z culinary competitors at NPSI (National ProStart Invitational) 2019, about taking initiative, staying clam under fire, and becoming the future of the restaurant industry.

We chatted with Generation Z culinary competitors at NPSI (National ProStart Invitational) 2019, about taking initiative, staying clam under fire, and becoming the future of the restaurant industry.

NPSI brings together the best and brightest of the hospitality world to learn, compete, and become the future of the restaurant industry.

NPSI brings together the best and brightest of the hospitality world to learn, compete, and become the future of the restaurant industry.

There are few things that fans of rival sports teams can agree on, but one is certain – when attending sporting events, fans want to enjoy food and drink without missing any of the action of the game. Long lines and excessive wait times affect a fan’s game day experience, as well as stadium’s concession revenue. But new technology can have a positive impact, and streamline operations for faster, more efficient service. Oracle Food & Beverage recently conducted a research study in conjunction with Turnkey Intelligence to see what fans value most in their stadium experience, and what new technologies they would find most helpful in stadiums. Overall, 94% of global sports fan surveyed say that they buy food and drink at a game at least occasionally, making it a critical source of revenue generation for teams and an indication of fan satisfaction. An average US fan spends a whopping $42 per game on concessions. 10 minutes was the average waiting time that fans were willing to wait in line for food and drink, and 58% of fans would spend more if their wait time were cut in half. According to research, accessing food and drink while staying in their seats would be the best way to improve their stadium experience, with 76% of global fans selecting it as their top choice. Overall, fans across the globe are very eager to use new technology that would improve their food and beverage experience – 68% of all fans surveyed were highly interested in using a mobile application to order food and drink, and 63% were also interested in self-service kiosk ordering. Fan loyalty programs present a huge opportunity for stadiums; in every country we surveyed, over half of the fans expressed an interest in joining a loyalty program, with Germany and the US leading the way on 70% and 69% respectively. But what's interesting is that only a tiny portion of fans have actually joined a loyalty program for their team — just 1% of Canadian fans participate. Interested in learning more about what fans want on game day? Download our report, Stadium of the Future: The Next Generation of Game Day Technology to learn more about the findings and how Oracle Food & Beverage stadium point of sale can improve the fan experience.

There are few things that fans of rival sports teams can agree on, but one is certain – when attending sporting events, fans want to enjoy food and drink without missing any of the action of the game....

Dark kitchens are nothing new. But with their growing influence in the restaurant industry, how will they effect your restaurant business?

Dark kitchens are nothing new. But with their growing influence in the restaurant industry, how will they effect your restaurant business?

Deploying mobile POS tablets in your restaurant? You’ll want to take a holistic approach to your food and beverage technology.

Deploying mobile POS tablets in your restaurant? You’ll want to take a holistic approach to your food and beverage technology.

In 60 seconds: how restaurants can save money with Oracle MICROS fanless point of sale workstations.

In 60 seconds: how restaurants can save money with Oracle MICROS fanless point of sale workstations.

What should restaurateurs be looking for in a restaurant POS system? In their recent analyst report on the restaurant sector, the IDC MarketScape explored this very subject.

What should restaurateurs be looking for in a restaurant POS system? In their recent analyst report on the restaurant sector, the IDC MarketScape explored this very subject.

Delivery it isn’t a trend to be ignored by restaurants, but how often are consumers ordering it?

Delivery it isn’t a trend to be ignored by restaurants, but how often are consumers ordering it?

5 reasons why we love our resell partners and how you can become one

5 reasons why we love our resell partners and how you can become one

How much do baseball fans spend on food and drink?

How much do baseball fans spend on food and drink?

For your guests, there would be no more fumbling for a loyalty card or punching in a membership number. And for you, the F&B operator, there would be an unprecedented opportunity to study customers’ spending habits – and create tailored rewards that truly entice them.

For your guests, there would be no more fumbling for a loyalty card or punching in a membership number. And for you, the F&B operator, there would be an unprecedented opportunity to study customers’...

If you’re responsible for the POS system in your operation and want to know what the future holds for the restaurant POS market, then you'll want to read this.

If you’re responsible for the POS system in your operation and want to know what the future holds for the restaurant POS market, then you'll want to read this.

The Lucky Shag Spreads its Wings and Soars to Success with Simphony Cloud POS

The Lucky Shag Spreads its Wings and Soars to Success with Simphony Cloud POS

The final day of Oracle F&B Connect – our first-ever customer conference – wrapped up today, with probably more than a few attendees taking one, last, wistful glance at Ft. Lauderdale’s beautiful beaches and a glistening Atlantic.

The final day of Oracle F&B Connect – our first-ever customer conference – wrapped up today, with probably more than a few attendees taking one, last, wistful glance at Ft. Lauderdale’s beautiful...

On Day 2 of our first-ever customer conference, we blitzed through nearly a dozen of the hottest technology topics by moving from one lively roundtable discussion to another led by our top experts – consider it a sort of technology speed-dating – to help keep attendees ahead of the innovation curve.

On Day 2 of our first-ever customer conference, we blitzed through nearly a dozen of the hottest technology topics by moving from one lively roundtable discussion to another led by our top experts...

In Case You Missed It – Day 1 Recap of F&B Connect

In Case You Missed It – Day 1 Recap of F&B Connect

Oracle Food and Beverage has released a new version of Simphony Point of Sale, its premiere cloud point-of-sale (POS) and back-office restaurant management solution, empowering restaurant operators to further expedite and personalize guest services and improve kitchen operations, while arming its partner ecosystem with APIs to deliver more innovative solutions to customers.

Oracle Food and Beverage has released a new version of Simphony Point of Sale, its premiere cloud point-of-sale (POS) and back-office restaurant management solution, empowering restaurant operators to...

Over the past few years, digital restaurant technology has exploded for the back of house, front of house and out of house. Certain categories including online ordering, reservations, 3rd party delivery, loyalty programs and kiosks have all evolved the landscape and are shaping both consumer demand and the way restaurants approach their guest experience and operations.

Over the past few years, digital restaurant technology has exploded for the back of house, front of house and out of house. Certain categories including online ordering, reservations, 3rd...

We’re headed to the glorious beaches of Fort Lauderdale for the first-ever Oracle Food and Beverage Connect – a three-day customer conference focused on innovating technology to help you grow your food and beverage operations and give guests the experiences they want.

We’re headed to the glorious beaches of Fort Lauderdale for the first-ever Oracle Food and Beverage Connect – a three-day customer conference focused on innovating technology to help you grow...

Oracle Simphony Cloud restaurant point of sale enables the Mina Group to deliver exceptional experiences and tat The Street Food Hall in Waikiki.

Oracle Simphony Cloud restaurant point of sale enables the Mina Group to deliver exceptional experiences and tat The Street Food Hall in Waikiki.

Simphony Point of Sale Platform and Oracle MICROS Hardware Power Leading Restaurant Group’s New The Street Food Hall Concept in Hawaii

Simphony Point of Sale Platform and Oracle MICROS Hardware Power Leading Restaurant Group’s New The Street Food Hall Concept in Hawaii

How to Minimize Voids and Queue Times and Serve Restaurant Customers Faster with Conversational Ordering

How to Minimize Voids and Queue Times and Serve Restaurant Customers Faster with Conversational Ordering

The Oracle Food and Beverage team is getting ready for Oracle Food and Beverage Connect, coming up February 4-6, 2019. Filled with sessions about industry trends, breakthrough innovations, and much more, Oracle Food and Beverage Connect will provide our foodservice customers with the opportunity to network with our executive leadership team, key partners, and peers.

The Oracle Food and Beverage team is getting ready for Oracle Food and Beverage Connect, coming up February 4-6, 2019. Filled with sessions about industry trends, breakthrough innovations, and...

Oracle Food and Beverage Simphony Cloud Increases Speed of Service and Enhances Visibility Across Restaurants

Oracle Food and Beverage Simphony Cloud Increases Speed of Service and Enhances Visibility Across Restaurants

Oracle’s deep industry knowledge, expertise, investments in R&D, new energy, plus their position as a leader were recognized in the restaurant POS report.

Oracle’s deep industry knowledge, expertise, investments in R&D, new energy, plus their position as a leader were recognized in the restaurant POS report.

The numbers don’t lie. Need proof? Watch our video. POS environments are already harsh enough that they can put even the most rugged hardware through its paces. But in today’s world of mobility and total integration of the POS into the property, POS hardware today is expected live in environments and deal with conditions yesterday’s POS equipment didn’t have to. Think about fixed terminals located outdoors, in kitchens or mobile terminals used for food trucks or pop-up venues. You need more than just a battery or screen protector for these locations, you need real protection against impacts, dirt and liquids. So how do you know that your point of sale hardware is up to the task of surviving these more difficult environments? In short, it’s all about the numbers; the IP numbers, also known as Ingress Protection Code. IP is broken down into two mandatory number: The first number being the protection against solids and the second being the protection against liquids. The third number is optional and describes to the impact protection. In general the higher the number the more protection offered. Oracle’s 310R has earned an impressive IP rating of 454. This means that the 310R can handle the debris, and more importantly, the large amounts of water that you may find in the harsh outdoor or in-kitchen POS environments. Couple the high IP rating with other smart features like: An aluminum chassis, not only for rigidity but heat dissipation. Carefully selected chipsets to compliment Oracle software demands while controlling heat by not having wasted cycles. Optically bonded touch screens to keep out water, debris and UV energy (extreme heat when used outdoors), but also to allow all of the panels brightness to be transmitted to the user instead of being diffused through multiple material transitions – which wastes energy and generates more heat. And you have a product that can not only survive in a difficult environment, but it can thrive in it. So, go ahead install your Point of Sale outside. Go ahead put your Point of Sale in an environment where things may impact it. Go ahead and get your point of sale dirty… At Oracle the numbers don’t lie and our 310R can take it and we have the video proof.

The numbers don’t lie. Need proof? Watch our video. POS environments are already harsh enough that they can put even the most rugged hardware through its paces. But in today’s world of mobility and...

From managing orders to keeping track of menus, promotions, labor, and inventory, a point-of-sale system is a critical tool in any restaurant. Therefore, it’s incredibly important that restaurant owners and managers choose the right POS for your operation. But, making that selection can be a daunting task, especially when there are so many options in the market today. In partnership with Starfleet Research, Oracle Food and Beverage just released the 2019 Smart Decision Guide to Restaurant Management and POS Systems, a resource to help operators make the best decision when it comes to a POS system. So what should you be looking for when you choose a POS? What should your POS be doing for your business?  According to the Smart Decision Guide, respondents said that a new POS had helped them: 96% - Improve guest satisfaction / quality of the guest experience 92% - Improve staff productivity / efficiency in business operations 84% - Meet new payment processing and security compliancy requirements 74% - Improve data analysis / business intelligence / performance reporting 71% - Improve inventory and/or employee scheduling and management With cloud and advanced mobile devices changing the way that consumers and operators use technology, upgrading to a next-gen POS system is an essential step in delivering the enhanced guest experience that consumers demand today. In fact, 84 percent of full-service restaurants and 72 percent of quick-service and fast-casual restaurants reported in the Smart Decision Guide that they achieved “significant” or “dramatic” improvement in revenue performance after deploying next-generation restaurant management and POS systems. For anyone managing a restaurant, the Smart Decision Guide is a must read. It includes insights for evaluating different restaurant technology and practical guidance for the selection process. It also includes pointers for maximizing the value of the investment over time and driving continuous performance improvement.  Download your copy today at www.oracle.com/pos-guide!

From managing orders to keeping track of menus, promotions, labor, and inventory, a point-of-sale system is a critical tool in any restaurant. Therefore, it’s incredibly important that...

Located in Frisco, Texas, just north of Dallas, Toyota Stadium is a state-of-the-art venue with over 20,000 seats that is always bustling with excitement. The stadium is primarily kept busy as the home of Major League Soccer team FC Dallas, hosting 17 home games annually. But on top of that, the stadium also hosts a variety of concerts, Frisco Independent School District high school football games, and special events, such as the opening of the new National Soccer Hall of Fame. There are times that the stadium hosts multiple events in the same week, drawing different crowds with thousands of different fans. Kendal Kitchens, Senior Operations and Purchasing Manager at Toyota Stadium, knows that to keep guests happy, her team must provide the best experience possible to each different audiences that attends these events – and a major part of this is providing the right food and beverage offers. Loyal FC Dallas fans may have a go-to order they get at each home game, but certain items might not sell as well at a high school football game. Similarly, pricing changes might need to be made in order to accommodate fans at a concert. As Kendal explains, “Our main goal is to give all guests at our venue an amazing experience. Having the ability to change up our menu definitely helps with this.” So how does Toyota Stadium keep up with their jam-packed schedule, and the menu changes that go along with it? By fully utilizing Oracle Food & Beverage’s Event Based Pricing functionality. “With Oracle, making changes is much faster than doing it manually for every individual event,” explains Kendal. “We have a template for soccer, a template for football – templates for each event type that we host – and it’s really easy to switch them out. We’re able to offer combo meals, and add or remove menu items on certain nights. It’s great to be able to give guests exactly what they want.” Multiple times throughout the year, venues can host games or events on back-to-back days, forcing staff to change food and beverage items and prices on hundreds of menus throughout the stadium. This is not only a challenge for employees, but the hours spent on these changes is a huge waste of labor costs for venue operators. If venues aren’t able to make menu changes in time, they aren’t able to create a unique fan experience, and ultimately miss out on profits. Oracle Food & Beverage offers the most feature-rich technology platform for stadiums and arenas, backed on Oracle’s secure and reliable Cloud. Learn more about event based pricing, and all of the other features available with Oracle Simphony, by submitting a product inquiry to set up a meeting with one of our representatives and visiting the Oracle website to learn more about Oracle Hospitality Point of Sale Systems.

Located in Frisco, Texas, just north of Dallas, Toyota Stadium is a state-of-the-art venue with over 20,000 seats that is always bustling with excitement. The stadium is primarily kept busy as the home...

Simphony Restaurant Management Platform and Oracle MICROS Hardware Help Caractère Deliver Seamless Customer Service Caractère, the first restaurant from husband and wife team Emily Roux and Diego Ferrari, has debuted with the support of Oracle Food and Beverage technology. Based in one of London’s most fashionable neighborhood’s, Notting Hill, Caractere serves up contemporary Italian cuisine, with French culinary inspiration. To ensure the experience is as memorable as the food, Caractère is using a combination of the Simphony Cloud Point of Sale Platform the Oracle MICROS workstation 6 family and the Compact Workstation 310. New restaurant concepts have a variety of obstacles they must overcome as they create a signature menu that customers want to return to. With Oracle Food and Beverage solutions operators can take comfort in the reliability of the time-tested restaurant management and point-of-sale workstations and focus on expressing their creativity and differentiating their offering. “With Oracle, the ordering process is seamless. The order is taken and sent straight down to the kitchen. If our guests have any dietary requirements or allergies the system makes it very clear to the kitchen, so there’s no slip ups or confusion which is essential,” said Emily Roux, Owner, Caractère. “The system saves time and energy, enabling our front of the house staff to spend more time on the floor engaging with guests and ensuring they have a positive experience.” Oracle Food and Beverage Simphony restaurant management platform empowers restaurateurs to streamline operations, increase customer loyalty and elevate profitability with the ability to orchestrate their entire operations on one platform. Combined with the reliability of the Oracle MICROS workstations, both independent restaurants and chains have the trusted system they need to support the business they have today and scale to support their future aspirations. “Technology plays a crucial role in enabling new restaurants to scale and deliver the consistent service that guests expect,” said Chris Adams, vice president of strategy, Oracle Food and Beverage. “Consistency of experience can define the trajectory for new restaurants and restaurant management technology is critical to ensuring that service and kitchen operations are in sync. Caractère has been an out of the gate success and we look forward to continuing to work with its talented founders to support their growth.” Caractère purchased Oracle Food and Beverage in August before opening in October 2018.

Simphony Restaurant Management Platform and Oracle MICROS Hardware Help Caractère Deliver Seamless Customer Service Caractère, the first restaurant from husband and wife team Emily Roux and Diego...

Oracle Food and Beverage is continuing its commitment to the success of independent restauranteurs and large established food and beverage players with the appointment of Simon de Montfort Walker as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Oracle Food and Beverage Global Business Unit. Simon’s deep experience in hospitality technology will establish a renewed focus on delivering innovation for customers and continue the momentum of Simphony and MICROS in the marketplace. “Oracle Food and Beverage has a rich history of serving as a trusted partner and provider of critical technology that streamlines operations, personalizes the guest experience and drives long term loyalty for restaurants of all sizes” said Simon de Montfort Walker, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Oracle Food and Beverage. “I look forward to leading Oracle Food and Beverage with a commitment to hardware and cloud innovation, encouraging a rich partner ecosystem and arming our customers with the tools they need to grow their businesses, innovate and lead their markets. The industry is being challenged by intensifying competition, increasing guest expectations, rising costs, growing staff needs and disruptive technology. Oracle is uniquely positioned to bring class leading tools and innovation to this industry.  To underline our commitment to helping operators navigate these challenges we will be hosting a customer forum in February to hear directly from our customers, share customer success stories and offer hands-on demos of our latest solutions.” “The food and beverage industry is in the midst of a unique transformation, where food alone is no longer the star of the show. Consumers are looking for an unforgettable experience and technology is critical to enabling the kind of personalized service that helps brands differentiate amongst an evolving sea of competitors,” said Bob Weiler, executive vice president, Oracle Global Business Units. “Simon’s deep hospitality and operations experience will be an invaluable asset to our newest global business unit. His leadership, combined with our technology and years of experience being at the center of thousands of successful F&B businesses, uniquely positions Oracle to help customers navigate this transformation.” Simon has over 15 years of experience in technology with a proven track record in software sales, strategy and execution in both public and private companies. Most recently he served as the Chief Technology Officer and President of eGate solutions at gategroup with a focus on hospitality, supply chain and end customer servicing solutions. He has also served as EVP Operations at Blue Cod Technologies and General Manager for Octavian Inc. Simon has held leadership roles in multiple technology firms as well as led the operational turnaround efforts for technology companies in travel, banking, insurance and hospitality as an operator and previously as a management consultant with Sapient Corp. “Recent customer implementations from MASH, TGI Friday’s and Foodation have underlined the opportunity for innovation with Simphony & Simphony cloud and I am excited to expand our efforts bringing more of the best of Oracle to our F&B clients,” added Simon. Simon will be presenting at Oracle Food and Beverage Connect, from 4-6 February 2019, in Florida. Customers are invited to join us for strategic updates and product insights, with topics including Mobility, Payments, Integration, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and more. Find out more about the event

Oracle Food and Beverage is continuing its commitment to the success of independent restauranteurs and large established food and beverage players with the appointment of Simon de Montfort Walker as...

What matters most to a consumer when they visit a restaurant? Free wifi? Trained and knowledgeable staff? Rewards? We asked 15,000 consumers around the world to tell us what is most important to them when they eat out – read the whole report. What made the Top 3? Quick and Efficient Service 84% of consumers around the world ranked fast, efficient service as their number one priority when visiting a restaurant. To deliver that quick and efficient service, operators need a technology solution that allows everyone in the business to perform; handheld tablets for taking orders, high performing point of sale software to process transactions quickly and accurately, kitchen management systems that deliver food on time, and mobile and digital solutions that allow guests to pre-order, or order for speedy off-premises delivery. Order accuracy An order delivered quickly will only make the customer happy if it’s what they actually ordered. Order accuracy was a close second in the list of priorities, with 83% of consumers saying that it was very important to them. Here again, handheld tablets are your friend, ensuring that servers can submit orders to the kitchen from tableside without relying on memory or handwriting. Integrated kitchen management systems ensure that cooks are not having to decipher written tickets, thus avoiding errors. Enough staff to provide a good service Patience might be a virtue but it’s not something that consumers bring to restaurants; 82% of the 15,000 consumers said that restaurants having enough staff was important to them. It’s easy to see why; a short-staffed restaurant can mean queues, waiting to order, waiting for food, waiting to pay…every aspect of the experience can be negatively affected. Labor management technology can ensure that restaurants have the optimum number of staff at any time – enough to provide a great service but not too many to impact on profits. What else was on the priority list? Read more… Tell us what your guests care about - keep the conversation going using #RestaurantExpectations - we’d love to hear your thoughts!

What matters most to a consumer when they visit a restaurant? Free wifi? Trained and knowledgeable staff? Rewards? We asked 15,000 consumers around the world to tell us what is most important to them...

For over 37 years, Quiznos, known as the “pioneer of the premium toasted sub”, has been serving up fresh, delicious meals to customers across the globe. And with over 500 North American locations, and an additional 245 locations in Europe, Asia and Latin America, Quiznos needs a strong technology platform for their continued global expansion efforts. That’s why the team at Quiznos corporate has selected Oracle Food & Beverage as the recommended technology provider for all master franchisees around the world. Vice President of International, Arnaud Reilhac, explains that Quiznos chose Oracle because of, “the simplicity, the finesse and the practicality. It provides us results upon results in each and every market”. Watch the video to learn how Oracle provides: Improved speed of service – sandwiches come out freshly toasted in less than 3 minutes! Great reporting capabilities, especially on mobile Integrated inventory and labor functionality Support for global expansion Ability to continue digital and omnichannel plans in the future  

For over 37 years, Quiznos, known as the “pioneer of the premium toasted sub”, has been serving up fresh, delicious meals to customers across the globe. And with over 500 North American locations, and...

From dining in total darkness to three-course meals in abandoned subway stations, creating unique experiences is a hot topic in the world of food and beverage. Oracle’s The Loyalty Divide report, which examines consumer loyalty behavior, reveals that as many as 48% of consumers regularly share images of their food and their dining experiences on social media. So, how can quick-service and fast-casual businesses create experiences that generate such buzz? Oracle Food and Beverage recently asked three, diverse, global food and beverage businesses to share their insights on using technology to enhance experiences for guests – and keep them coming back again and again. Put the customer at the center of the business Geoff Holton, general manager, information systems at Restaurant Brands International, stressed that the customer is at the center of their business and is at the heart of every decision they make. Whether it’s store design, digital systems or staff interaction with customers, every facet of the business is geared to ensuring guest expectations are met. As an example, Holton cited their KFC stores in New Zealand where customers no longer have to stand in line for their food; they can now order and have the food delivered to their table. The KFC stores also installed kiosks to decrease the time spent in line to place an order. These initiatives were all driven by Restaurant Brands’ desire to redefine their customer experience. Get your staff involved TGI Fridays UK has innovated guest experiences by simplifying the transaction element of staff/guest interactions. Its BarTab app enables customers to order and pay directly through the app. Head of Business Solutions, Jeremey Dunderdale, insists that their key to success was involving the staff from the very outset. By having staff engaged, stores saw a marked increase in customer uptake of the app and in customer satisfaction. Keep it consistent Consistency is key for Cedar Fair, which manages hundreds of different outlets across its theme park estate. Whilst each one has a different flavor, Todd Sasala, vice president of information technology, emphasized that every customer interaction and every touch point should be consistent in the experience they offer. Sasala relies on technology to deliver such consistency and provide him a single vision of his estate, which also helps maintain performance standards by quickly identifying and fixing problem areas. The Businesses: Geoff Holton General Manager Information Systems, Restaurant Brands International Todd Sasala Vice President of Information Technology, Cedar Fair L.P. Jeremy Dunderdale Head of Business Solutions, TGI Fridays UK

From dining in total darkness to three-course meals in abandoned subway stations, creating unique experiences is a hot topic in the world of food and beverage. Oracle’s The Loyalty Dividereport, which...

Oracle F&B Connect will be the most important event of the year for restaurateurs looking for insight on integration, mobile, POS Systems, and other info.

Oracle F&B Connect will be the most important event of the year for restaurateurs looking for insight on integration, mobile, POS Systems, and other info.

Ordering, consumer delivery, supply delivery. Oracle Food and Beverage research explores how drones be used with restaurant POS by 2025.

Ordering, consumer delivery, supply delivery. Oracle Food and Beverage research explores how drones be used with restaurant POS by 2025.

Biometrics are part of everyday life today. But how far will consumers want to go for the sake of convenience? Oracle research reveals interesting restaurant POS insights.

Biometrics are part of everyday life today. But how far will consumers want to go for the sake of convenience? Oracle research reveals interesting restaurant POS insights.

Easy Integrations Allow Restaurant Operators to Extend Value of Point-of-Sale Investment with Third Party Solutions Redwood Shores, Calif.—Oct 1, 2018 Oracle Food and Beverage has collaborated with Omnivore, a universal point of sale (POS) connection for restaurant app development and a Gold level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), to encourage restaurant operators to develop differentiated customer experiences and further streamline operations with their Oracle Food and Beverage investment. With this Omnivore connection, restaurant operators can easily take advantage of an ecosystem of third party solutions through a single point of integration into the Oracle Food and Beverage Simphony restaurant management platform.  “Guests are demanding engaging and personalized experiences from dining establishments and we believe continuous implementation of technology is essential to helping restaurant operators keep pace,” said Chris Adams, vice president of strategy, Oracle Food and Beverage. “Through our collaboration with Omnivore, Oracle Food and Beverage is accelerating innovation in the restaurant community by making it easier than ever for operators to take advantage of the latest third party solutions.” Omnivore connects restaurant point of sale to over 150 restaurant technologies, aligning brands with consumer, staff and support center needs in order to grow transactions while minimizing expenses. "Together, Omnivore and Oracle Food and Beverage bring merchants a true open, best-of-breed POS technology platform, giving restaurants access to the best available technologies to meet even the most creative brands' digital needs," said Mike Wior, CEO, Omnivore.  “We’re proud to help Oracle customers navigate innovative third party solutions within a rapidly evolving digital landscape.” Together Oracle and Omnivore are enabling operators to create a unique technology footprint that will enable restaurants to establish a competitive differentiation that reflects their guest experience. By creating a single source of integration into Oracle Food and Beverage restaurant management software and POS hardware, operators can leverage Omnivore to further streamline operations and quickly deploy new technologies faster than ever.   Contact Info Matt Torres Oracle 415.595.1584 matt.torres@oracle.com   About Oracle The Oracle Cloud offers complete SaaS application suites for ERP, HCM and CX, plus best-in-class database Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) from data centers throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information about Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), please visit us at www.oracle.com. About Oracle Food and Beverage Oracle Food and Beverage, formerly MICROS, brings 40 years of experience in providing software and hardware solutions to restaurants, bars, pubs, clubs, coffee shops, cafes, stadiums, and theme parks. Thousands of operators, both large and small, around the world are using Oracle technology to deliver exceptional guest experiences, maximize sales, and reduce running costs. For more information about Oracle Food and Beverage, please visit www.Oracle.com/Food-Beverage. Trademarks Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. About Omnivore Revolutionizing the worlds of hospitality and retail, Omnivore connects a retailer’s point-of-sale (POS) with new technologies, driving engagement through the full lifecycle of the consumer experience. Omnivore’s cloud-based platform enables a single integration through their API, seamlessly facilitating the connections to POS systems now and into the future. The platform helps restaurants discover apps for payment, reservations, delivery, loyalty, analytics and more to connect with millions of consumers around the world. Omnivore enables access to real-time, quality consumer level point of purchase intelligence. Located in the San Francisco Bay area, Omnivore is a privately held company. Visit omnivore.io.

Easy Integrations Allow Restaurant Operators to Extend Value of Point-of-Sale Investment with Third Party Solutions Redwood Shores, Calif.—Oct 1, 2018 Oracle Food and Beverage has collaborated with...

The average American drives 29.2 miles a day, with a total duration of 46 minutes spent on the road. That’s 5.5 hours per week, per American, spent focused on the road and getting from A to B. So what would happen if all of those hours suddenly became leisure time? If driverless cars become the norm, drivers will have more time on their hands to do what most of them do during their downtime: look at their phones. This was the point made by Nick Low, our POS Solutions Director, during his Future of POS presentation at FSTEC. The restaurant industry often looks at the potential of driverless cars to facilitate deliveries but the true opportunity could lie in being able to target passengers who are moving from A to B and need a place to stop for coffee or lunch or dinner. Watch the video. He talks about how restaurant point of sale has evolved enormously from its original intent of removing the complexity out of ‘adding’. Its ability now to manage kitchens, run reservations, track wait lists and integrate into all sorts of systems takes its functionality far beyond where we have ever seen it go before. As a result, POS accumulates countless amounts of data; knowing the relationships, rules, serving periods, buying behaviours, and addresses linking back to years of transaction history. Being able to access this data will be critically important to restaurant operators who can use it to advance and develop their businesses to provide a more guest-centric experience in future. Hear Nick Low talk more on this topic watch the video. Keep the conversation going using #OpenForInnovation we’d love to hear your thoughts! Where do you see the Future of Restaurants? Interested in learning more on this topic? Check out our Restaurant 2025 report - http://ora.cl/hR4ga For more information of how Oracle Food and Beverage help your business grow visit www.Oracle.com/Foodbev or email oracle-foodandbev_ww@oracle.com   References: AAA (2015) New Study Reveals When, Where and How Much Motorists Drive. Available at: https://newsroom.aaa.com/2015/04/new-study-reveals-much-motorists-drive/ Date Accessed: 13/09/2018

The average American drives 29.2 miles a day, with a total duration of 46 minutes spent on the road. That’s 5.5 hours per week, per American, spent focused on the road and getting from A to B. So what...

Food and drink is the biggest expense for any restaurant operator, along with labor. With restaurant inventory management, save time and money.

Food and drink is the biggest expense for any restaurant operator, along with labor. With restaurant inventory management, save time and money.

A few quick tips on how to uplevel your social media game for your independent restaurant business - not just restaurant POS information.

A few quick tips on how to uplevel your social media game for your independent restaurant business - not just restaurant POS information.

No one in business intentionally wants to be wasteful. After all, it’s the surest way of draining profits. But reducing waste – especially in a trouble spot like a restaurant kitchen – isn’t easy. By taking a holistic approach to tackling the problem and sticking with it, however, you can control one of the major factors of restaurant success. And waste management is more important than ever, especially considering the growing consumer backlash against businesses, in general, that are considered wasteful. According to our research, 50% of restaurant operators are not tracking prepared waste. Using an Inventory Management system with waste tracking, like Oracle’s, is vital. It can help lower your food cost by identifying problems, such as staff using incorrect portions, yield issues and even theft. Here are some other helpful tips for managing waste (and preserving profits!): Only buy the food you need: Don’t buy food in bulk just to save money up front. Chances are, you will waste money in the long run when the food that you do not use in time goes bad. An Inventory Management software solution can help determine when and how much to buy. Control portions: Monitor staff to ensure they are using the right utensils – scoops, for example. It’s an important practice to make sure correct portions are being measured per dish. Track how much food you throw away: A good way to do this is by using clear bins. This helps determine how much less of an item to buy, but also raises staff awareness of the amount of food that is being wasted. Clear bins, unlike black trash bags, enables them to actually see the waste. Store food properly: Using air tight containers and putting items in the refrigerator, when necessary, delays spoiling. Provide proper training: Educate staff about food preparation and confirm that they can properly make the dishes on your restaurant’s menu. Taking such proactive steps reduces the likelihood of customers sending dishes back, which is key to curbing waste. Remember, it’s essential to regularly evaluate your waste management efforts because circumstances change: dishes can fall out of fashion, and staff members move on leaving you with new employees to train. Consistent monitoring is the key to spotting inefficiencies and making necessary changes! For more information, feel free to reach out to us at oracle-foodandbev_ww@oracle.com.

No one in business intentionally wants to be wasteful. After all, it’s the surest way of draining profits. But reducing waste – especially in a trouble spot like a restaurant kitchen – isn’t easy. By...

In 1996, I had a holiday job in an office working for the government. A woman called Julie had somehow managed to get her hands on a whizzy new gadget that allowed her to talk into a microphone and, through the power of voice recognition, the words would appear on her computer. This was massive news - there was no e-mail in those days of yore, so a huge amount of letters had to be written and posted every day. To cut a very, very long story short, I spent an afternoon listening to poor old Julie. “Dear <long pause> Mrs. <long pause> Peters. No. Delete. Peters. PETERS. No, not potatoes. Why is it writing potatoes?” and so on, for four long hours. She could have typed 50 letters in the time it took to dictate one paragraph. It certainly put me off. And for years voice recognition seemed to struggle to find its way – the pain of trying to call up for train times or other information and having to use voice recognition remains all too clear to me. But then Google voice search arrived – the hassle of typing on a mobile phone meant that it was easier for people to try and search for things using their voices – and then Siri, Alexa, Google Home. Today voice recognition is everywhere. So how will it be used in the restaurant industry with restaurant POS? In our Restaurant 2025 research, we asked operators and consumers to tell us which uses of voice recognition and activation they would most like to see. Download the full Restaurant 2025 report. Voice recognition for gathering guest feedback? The most popular use of voice recognition among our restaurant operator survey participants was for gathering guest feedback via restaurant POS. 50% of operators liked the idea. However, a fifth were not so convinced about it. Voice recognition to allow guests to ask questions about the menu? The second most popular use of voice recognition/activation was for allowing guests to ask questions about the menu; 49% of operators liked this idea, while only 17% though it was unappealing. Voice recognition to allow guests to order? 45% of operators were keen on allowing guests to place their orders using voice recognition. I suspect that the growth of kiosk technology in quick-service restaurants has paved the way for this in many ways, as it proves that personal service is not always necessary to a portion of your customer base.  However, 25% of operators thought it was an unappealing idea. Voice recognition to allow guests to pay? 39% of operators liked the idea of allowing guests to pay using voice recognition/activation. However, 32% were not keen, which is quite surprising - speeding up the payment process is an area of focus for many operators and I’d have expected more of them to be willing to try it. Voice recognition for guests controlling heat and light – the operator view: 38% of operators liked the idea of allowing guests to control heat and light with their voices. However, 36% didn’t like the idea. Voice recognition for guests controlling heat and light – the consumer view: 22% of consumers said they would visit a restaurant more often if they could change heat and light using voice activation. 13% said it would put them off visiting. Voice recognition to allow restaurant staff to recognise guests? 39% of operators liked the idea of recognising guests by their voices. 32% were not keen. Download the Restaurant 2025 report if you would like to read more about other emerging technologies that will impact on the food and beverage industry: robotics, wearable technology, artificial intelligence, biometrics, facial recognition, 3D imaging, virtual reality, drones, and 3D printing. Learn more about Oracle Food and Beverage and Oracle Simphony Restaurant POS on our website!

In 1996, I had a holiday job in an office working for the government. A woman called Julie had somehow managed to get her hands on a whizzy new gadget that allowed her to talk into a microphone and,...

Two-thirds of people check their phones within 15 minutes of waking up in the morning. It’s an eye-opening finding from a recent Google survey that shows how indispensable mobile devices have become. Which raises the question: Are you taking advantage of all they have to offer to boost your restaurant’s success? Our on-demand webcast highlights the array of services and benefits Oracle Food and Beverage’s mobile solutions can deliver to restaurant businesses. Among them: Customize reports for mobile viewing Manage labor from anywhere at anytime Check and track inventory with paperless efficiency Improve guest experience and staff productivity with the Oracle MICROS 700 Series Tablet Now’s your chance to really take your restaurant mobile. Watch our on-demand webcast to learn how!

Two-thirds of people check their phones within 15 minutes of waking up in the morning. It’s an eye-opening finding from a recent Google survey that shows how indispensable mobile devices have become. Whi...

I got a Fitbit in 2014. It was my first experience of a wearable device – before that I’d seen fashion shows featuring outlandish spacesuits or t-shirts that would one day allow you to walk through the London Underground system like some sort of wizard, with ticket gates flying open as you approached. Much as I loved the idea, it didn’t seem very likely. But the Fitbit changed everything for me. Along with the Apple Watch, it proved that a device on your wrist could do more than tell the time – it could let you know that you hadn’t had enough exercise, or that you’d hadn’t slept properly. In fact, the restaurant industry was quick to give the Apple Watch a purpose – in 2016, Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group announced that they intended to use Apple Watches for alerting managers that a customer had arrived or that a sommelier was required. But when we did our Restaurant 2025 research, the appetite for using wearables was relatively muted in some areas. It would be interesting to see if this has changed as wearables have become more mainstream. Download the Restaurant 2025 report Wearable technology for ordering and payment via restaurant POS – the operator view: Surprisingly, considering that the Apple Watch was readily available when the research for this report was done, only half (51%) of operators liked the idea of being able to accept orders and/or payment from guests using their wearable devices in conjunction with the restaurant POS: Wearable technology for ordering and payment – the guest view: Consumers were slightly more enthusiastic about ordering and paying using a wearable device. 18% said they’d definitely use wearable technology to order or pay for food and drink and 41% said they’d like the option, but 41% said it would not improve their experience and they’d find it invasive. However, this is in line with other research we have carried out – (for example Is Cash Dead in Hospitality?) – which suggests that while half of consumers would readily embrace mobile payment, half tend to want to stick to traditional cards and cash. Wearable technology for marketing to guests? The most popular use of wearable technology among restaurants operators was being able to send promotions or other marketing messages to guests on their wearable devices. 58% of restaurant operators found this appealing. Whether consumers would welcome this, however, needs to be explored. Wearable technology for staff check-in? Also popular was the use of wearable technology for allowing staff to clock in to their shifts/to the restaurant POS. 53% of operators thought this was appealing: Wearable technology for monitoring staff activity? 48% of operators liked the idea of monitoring staff activity using wearable technology. However, 30% of operators found this idea unappealing, making it the least popular use of wearables among restaurants. Wearable technology for tailoring menus to customers? Personally, I quite like the idea of setting my wearable device to say “nothing over 400 calories for me today, thank you” – admittedly I’d probably just override it 99% of the time but I like the idea of it. Only 46% of operators thought it was an appealing idea, however: 7. Wearable technology for recognising guests? The most significant finding in our Restaurant 2025 report was that consumers liked the idea of technology allowing them to be recognised in a restaurant without having to show a loyalty card. 51% of operators liked the idea of using wearables to do this – for example a device buzzing to let the manager know that the party of 10 celebrating a birthday had arrived, or alerting a server to let them know that this customer was a regular, or the host being able to tell that a guest was approaching thanks to the guest’s wearable. These are just some of the ideas for how wearables could be used with the restaurant POS to improve guests service and efficiency. Let us know if you’ve seen any others. It will be very interesting to see if uptake and desire increase as wearables become more mainstream. Download the Restaurant 2025 report if you would like to read more about other emerging technologies that will impact on the food and beverage industry: robotics, artificial intelligence, biometrics, facial recognition, 3D imaging, voice activation, virtual reality, drones, and 3D printing. Learn more about Oracle Food and Beverage and Oracle Simphony Restaurant POS on our website!

I got a Fitbit in 2014. It was my first experience of a wearable device – before that I’d seen fashion shows featuring outlandish spacesuits or t-shirts that would one day allow you to walk...

Oracle surveyed consumers and operators to find out whether they have an appetite for robots integrated with restaurant POS and we they expect them to go mainstream.

Oracle surveyed consumers and operators to find out whether they have an appetite for robots integrated with restaurant POS and we they expect them to go mainstream.

Oracle Food and Beverage announced that Modern American Steak House (MASH), a high-end Danish restaurant chain, has chosen Oracle Simphony Cloud to power its steak house restaurants across Europe. With 13 restaurant locations across Denmark, Germany and the UK, and plans for additional international growth, MASH needed a technology platform that could support the strategic expansion of its business at scale. In addition, the restaurant needed a solution that would help reduce the complexity of its IT infrastructure and streamline both front and back-office operations across all of its restaurant locations. “Our biggest challenge was scalability – since opening MASH in 2009, our expansion into other countries proved to be a very difficult and complex undertaking due to obstacles around IT infrastructure, regulations, taxes, language and currency, so finding a technology solution that would help us manoeuvre around these obstacles and enable us to grow at scale was a top priority,” said Mirek Nørkjær, Assistant COO, Copenhagen Concepts, the parent company of MASH restaurants. “Implementing Oracle Simphony Cloud has enabled us to minimize IT complexity through one centralized system, streamline front and back-office operations with real-time data and localization capabilities, and support our vision for expansion, all at scale.” Oracle Simphony Cloud provides MASH with one centralized system to manage operations across all 13 of its restaurants, reducing the cost and complexity of IT, ensuring high performance scalability and allowing for more business efficiency and agility. In addition, Oracle Simphony Cloud enables MASH to maintain brand standards across its restaurants globally by enforcing brand, menu and employee management standards and allowing for localization. It also ensures menu and pricing consistency, within a country, a region, or a single location, and offers multilanguage and currency support. “Both large restaurant chains and independent restaurants need to be able to remove obstacles in their IT infrastructure that prevent them from creating a positive foundation for growth,” said Chris Adams, vice president strategy and solutions management, Oracle Food and Beverage. “MASH demonstrates the value and potential of Oracle Simphony Cloud to transform IT processes, streamline operations and drive growth at scale.”

Oracle Food and Beverage announced that Modern American Steak House (MASH), a high-end Danish restaurant chain, has chosen Oracle Simphony Cloud to power its steak house restaurants across Europe....

Artificial intelligence, biometrics, facial recognition, 3D imaging, robotics, voice activation, wearable technology, virtual reality, drones, and 3D printing - integrated with restaurant POS.

Artificial intelligence, biometrics, facial recognition, 3D imaging, robotics, voice activation, wearable technology, virtual reality, drones, and 3D printing - integrated with restaurant POS.

We live in a mobile centric world where smartphones and tablets are a part of our everyday lives. The information that we are looking for is made readily available at our fingertips anywhere, anytime. With thousands of apps for consumers to download, there really is an app for everything. Restaurant operators often ask, “should I invest in a branded app?” Creating an app can be expensive and time consuming, and with so many apps available, do restaurant guests even use them? The answer is yes, they do. 70% of consumers that have a restaurant or hotel mobile app say that they use that app at least once a week. Our latest report, Get Appy: Do Consumers Use Restaurant & Hotel Branded Apps? shows that a quarter of consumers have at least one restaurant or hotel app, and actually prefer to download a restaurant’s branded mobile app, as opposed to an online food ordering app. Mobile innovation is a great way to engage with customers and boost return visits. However, before you invest in a mobile app, you should make sure that your POS has the right integration capabilities. Integration plays an important role in food and beverage technology, and having a POS that allows for multiple integrations is key. The API interfaces offered by Simphony Cloud allow restaurants to extend their POS. From mobile apps that enable loyalty or ordering flexibility, to back office applications that facilitate smoother operational efficiencies, the open nature of the Simphony Cloud platform supports business growth and innovation. For more information, send us an email at oracle-foodandbev_ww@oracle.com.

We live in a mobile centric world where smartphones and tablets are a part of our everyday lives. The information that we are looking for is made readily available at our fingertips anywhere, anytime. W...

Foodation, an Italian company that specializes in designing and developing fast-casual restaurants across Europe, has chosen Oracle Hospitality Simphony Cloud for its restaurants, including the popular Briscola Pizza Society, Polpa Burger Trattoria and Mariù Italian Kebab. With 10 restaurants and plans for international expansion, Foodation needed a technology platform that could support the strategic growth of its business and offer a single view of operations across all of its restaurants. Additionally, the company wanted to increase operational efficiency through centralization, improve functionality and modernize the customer experience. “Over the next five years, we not only plan to expand our business internationally, but we also want to position our brands as the go-to restaurants across Europe, and Oracle Hospitality Simphony Cloud is helping us to achieve this goal,” said Riccardo Cortese, CEO of Foodation. “Oracle Simphony Cloud provides us with a reliable and trusted foundation for growth and enables us to streamline our operations with one single view of business. Before the implementation, we only had insight into business operations data on a weekly basis, but now, using the simple, easy-to-use Oracle Micros InMotion app, we have a single view of all of our restaurants that we can view as frequently as we like.” Oracle Simphony Cloud provides Foodation with one centralized system to manage operations across all six brands, allowing centralized reporting and auditing for the management team, together with drill-down capabilities to real-time order-specific information. This minute-by-minute detail enables maximized revenue and profitability. In addition, Oracle Simphony Cloud integrates all digital channels, such as mobile payment, mobile ordering and mobile applications, for one centralized view of the customer, helping to accelerate speed of service and enhance the overall customer experience. “In today’s competitive market, restaurants are challenged to operate not only faster, but smarter, in order to meet customer’s rising expectations,” said Chris Adams, vice president strategy, Oracle Food and Beverage. “Oracle Simphony Cloud enables business operations to flow more cohesively, efficiently and profitably while greatly enhancing the overall customer experience.” Watch the story from Foodation themselves here.

Foodation, an Italian company that specializes in designing and developing fast-casual restaurants across Europe, has chosen Oracle Hospitality Simphony Cloud for its restaurants, including the...

In 2014, Oracle acquired MICROS to create Oracle Hospitality, a business unit dedicated to the food and beverage and hotel industries. As we continue on this journey, we are excited today to announce the creation of Oracle Food and Beverage. Through strengthening our investment in this dynamic industry, our customers in food service will enjoy even greater focus and additional resources to help them develop their businesses and take advantage of new technology opportunities at an exciting time for the sector. Watch the video A huge amount has been achieved in the four years since the acquisition of MICROS. Customers have benefited from product developments, particularly in reporting and data science, the expansion of our hardware portfolio, and the growth of the partner network. Food and beverage customers that have been innovating with Oracle over the past four years include Indian Wells Tennis Garden, HMSHost, SticksnSushi, Outback Steakhouse, Andiamo, TGI Fridays, Barclaycard Arena, MoschMosch, Margaritas, Miami Marlins, wagamama, and MAX Burger. Oracle Food and Beverage will build on over 40 years of food service experience to provide: Commitment to the food and beverage industry and to the thousands of customers that use Oracle Food and Beverage point of sale technology Focus on the specific opportunities and challenges that exist within the food and beverage industry, whether managing labour and food costs, improving customer retention, attracting new customers, or handling competition and disruption while delivering consistently excellent guest experiences on a day to day basis Dedication to technology innovation that delivers business value Increased focus on the partner network Further development and sharing of global industry expertise Expansion of the service and delivery portfolio for independent restaurants Continued focus on technology services and products to support the sports and entertainment market Oracle Hospitality will continue to serve the hotel, casino, and cruise markets under the leadership of Greg Webb as reported in June. Chris Adams, VP of Strategy at Oracle Food and Beverage, who has himself worked at MICROS and Oracle for 18 years, said; “Oracle Food and Beverage is about our commitment to this industry and to our customers. With additional focus and resources, we can accelerate the pace of development across our products and services, from Simphony POS to hardware to our back-office suite for reporting and management. With such a strong product portfolio in place, we can continue to deliver the services that our customers and partners need. The future is very bright and we are very excited.”

In 2014, Oracle acquired MICROS to create Oracle Hospitality, a business unit dedicated to the food and beverage and hotel industries. As we continue on this journey, we are excited today to...

Follow Oracle Food and Beverage on Social Media For Exciting Content: Food POS News, industry hot topics, product knowledge, and more!

Follow Oracle Food and Beverage on Social Media For Exciting Content: Food POS News, industry hot topics, product knowledge, and more!

Oracle Food and Beverage helps stadium operators effectively use stadium POS data to their advantage.

Oracle Food and Beverage helps stadium operators effectively use stadium POS data to their advantage.

The Oracle strategy team has been hitting the road to meet with customers and hold discussions on the future of food service and restaurant POS technology.

The Oracle strategy team has been hitting the road to meet with customers and hold discussions on the future of food service and restaurant POS technology.

Food costs account for 30%+ of a restaurant’s outgoings, which means that being profitable depends on having visibility and your restaurant point of sale platform giving you control of what you’re buying, what’s on the shelves, and what you’re selling. The good news is that an inventory solution can help. By implementing Oracle Hospitality Inventory Management, you can reduce variances from 7% - 8% to under 3% within 4 weeks, giving you far better visibility of where your money is going. The even better news is that Oracle’s Enterprise Menu Management service (EMM) can run your inventory management for you. Expert analysts at Oracle will work with you to ensure overall accuracy in your stock control, allowing you as a business to make key decisions to improve your overall margins. Our stringent configuration processes mean reliable and accurate inventory data, resulting in confidence and trust in stock analysis which can lead to a reduction in site level checking. Some ways in which you can improve your inventory control: Ensure Menu Items are linked Menu Item Linking allows your menu items to deplete inventory definitions. If this module is not correctly set you might find several issues in stock depletion. A great way to deal with this is using the Menu Item Auto Link module which enables automatic synching of sales definitions to inventory definitions. Process and Structure Getting your internal communication in place is key to organising how and when your configuration updates are configured.So often, detail is missed or not completed in time due to simple lack of process.Make sure you have firm methodology in place to not allow this to have an impact on your inventory results. Keep it simple Inventory Management offers a number of approaches to achieve any goal. Choose the one that fits your business and avoid complications, especially if you are a global organization. Avoid duplicating effort Inventory Management comes with several interfaces which are standard for the industry – great news, as you don’t need to duplicate all of your manual receiving. If you would like to speak to a consultant about introducing EMM configuration into your business and taking back control of your inventory – contact oracle-foodandbev_ww@oracle.com.

Food costs account for 30%+ of a restaurant’s outgoings, which means that being profitable depends on having visibility and your restaurant point of sale platform giving you control of what you’re...

Want to know how Indian Wells Tennis Garden feeds over 400,000 fans from over 35 different food and beverage outlets during the BNP Paribas tournament? Watch this video and find out! This task seems nearly impossible given that the venue is able to do this in an only two-week long tournament period. Just ask Philippe Dore, Media and Marketing Director at Indian Wells Tennis Garden, home of the world famous BNP Paribas Open. By working with Oracle Hospitality to implement a custom solution, the immense 54-acre venue was able to serve more guests at once, cut down on wait times and improve overall efficiency. “Oracle is a key partner of ours, which allows us to serve the fans better. We can get them what they need fast,” says Dore of the partnership. One of the products that increased speed of service for Indian Wells was the new Oracle MICROS Compact Workstation 310. The sleek, compact 10-inch designs of the point-of-sale device allowed concessionaires in the stadium to serve more guests in a smaller space. By increasing the amount of fans able to order at once, queues and wait times are reduced and sales are increased. “The 310 is really a game changer for the stadium and arena market. It’s smaller form factor and easy to use and integrate, which gets the fans through and back out into the action,” explains Dan Bell, Oracle Hospitality’s Vice President of Sports & Entertainment. Another key aspect that Indian Wells focused on was creating a solution to serve players and media personnel quickly. The bustling tournament fills the venue with hundreds of thousands of fans, which can make it difficult for media and players to quickly dine between matches. The Oracle Self-Service Kiosk was the perfect solution to install in the media lounge to streamline service. “Media as you can imagine is important to us. There’s a ton of media coming from all over the world, they’re busy, they’re on a deadline and they have to move fast. So the Kiosk is key”, explains Dore. The sleek, modern Kiosks reduce order and wait times by allowing guests to easily complete an entire transaction virtually, without the need for labor. “They can go type in what they want, and the order is waiting for them at the restaurant,” says Dore. Just as serving fans quickly and efficiently is crucial to stadium experience, maintaining a fully integrated venue is equally as important. By using Oracle Hospitality Simphony Point-of-Sale, Indian Wells is able to run all operations, from concessions to suite-level service to full-service restaurants, from the Cloud. “Being on the Cloud server, we’re built to adjust as we go. If there’s a change in the menu somewhere, everything is in the Cloud so we can make the adjustment without interrupting service and efficiency,” says Dore of the solution. Not only does Simphony Cloud react to new innovations in payment and service with faster deployment, it also is totally customizable to venues of every size. Bell explains, “It’s very scalable, it can scale from two workstations up to a full-size stadium and arena like this with over 300 devices and workstations.” Managing a venue of Indian Wells’ size may seem daunting, but the easy and scalable Simphony Cloud POS greatly simplifies this for stadium operators. Ultimately, Oracle Hospitality has enabled Indian Wells to create a unique solution that keeps their amazing venue running smoothly. With new innovations focused specifically on the sports industry, venue operators don’t have to worry about the IT portion of their business, making it much easier to manage events and focus on what really matters – hosting a successful event and taking care of the fans. Submit a product inquiry to set up a meeting with one of our representatives and visit the Oracle website to learn more about Oracle Hospitality Point of Sale Systems and our thought leadership on What is POS.

Want to know how Indian Wells Tennis Garden feeds over 400,000 fans from over 35 different food and beverage outlets during the BNP Paribas tournament? Watch this video and find out! This task seems...

As a market leader in the Sports & Entertainment space, Oracle Hospitality is always looking for new ways to engage with venues and share our latest technology with the industry. We are excited to be participating in three upcoming tradeshows, and would love to see you there! National Association of Collegiate Concessionaires: The only conference and trade show exclusively for university stadium, arena and special event concessions, the NACC Conference is a great opportunity to directly engage with college venues all across the US. This year’s event will be held June 11th-14th at the University of Arizona in Tucson. We will be displaying a variety of solutions, including the newest addition to our hardware family, the Workstation 310. Perfect for smaller spaces, like college concessions stands, the 310 is our most compact, rugged and versatile solution yet. Stop by Booth #1 to check it out! Association of Luxury Suite Directors: Taking place June 24th-27th at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, the ALSD Conference and Tradeshow brings together a community of premium seating professionals for a weekend of education and networking. In addition to the trade show, ALSD’s Design & Build Forum includes tours of sports venues and exclusive professional programming on a variety of industry trends and topics. Come see our team at Booth #905 to see what Oracle Food & Beverage is doing in the suite-level space. Sports & Entertainment Alliance in Technology: One of the largest sports technology conferences, the SEAT Conference will be held from July 21st-24th at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Dallas, and will feature a tour of AT&T Stadium. With a variety of strategy sessions, networking events and more, SEAT is the perfect opportunity to see what’s new in the world of sports technology. Oracle Food & Beverage will be displaying a variety of innovative product solutions, all hosted on our cloud-based Simphony Point of Sale platform at Booth #41.

As a market leader in the Sports & Entertainment space, Oracle Hospitality is always looking for new ways to engage with venues and share our latest technology with the industry. We are excited to be...

Delivering personalized experiences to guests with ever-changing needs is one of the great challenges faced in hotels today.  You need to continuously, transform your business to keep pace with the guests’ needs, which requires a platform that enables and accelerates your business’ evolution. Oracle Hospitality’s Simphony Cloud Service, is an enterprise, point of sale platform that enables the innovations necessary to create new guest experiences.  Simphony increases operational efficiency with centralized menu management and mobile ordering while simplifying integrations to the latest technologies.  With Simphony, you can manage properties anywhere in the world from a single enterprise – ensuring that each location delivers a consist experience wherever you service a guest.  A globalized configuration eliminates the need to locally manage the system, allow the team to focus on the guest and create the best possible experience. Here are just 3 reasons why you should move to Simphony Cloud today: 1) “Always-on” Operating global enterprises mean being ready for almost any network condition imaginable.  Simphony’s architecture ensures each property’s operations run without interruption when an Internet disruption occurs.  Using locally deployed services for property operations ensure that the Simphony Point of Sale client running on our Oracle MICROS Tablet 700 Series, the Workstation Compact 310  and 310 R, or Workstation 6 Series devices never skips a beat.  The Oracle Hospitality hardware is elegant, durable, and purpose-built to withstand the environmental requirements of the hospitality industry. 2) Powerful Analytics Help You Run a Smarter Business Simphony’s Reporting and Analytics capabilities are powered by Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE), which enables you to create dashboards and visualizations that highlight your operation’s key metrics.  Using the operational insights provided by OBIEE, you can make faster, smarter decisions that improve your bottom line. Oracle MICROS InMotion Mobile app extends Simphony’s reporting capability to a manager’s mobile device, providing real-time sales information anytime, anywhere so they can always keep pace with what is happening. 3) Increased Speed of Service The Simphony POS client user interface is easy to navigate and quick to learn.  Taking orders tableside with a Tablet 700 series enables servers to quickly get drinks to the bar and food to the kitchen accurately and efficiently.  Using the Engagement feature, servers can quickly access information about specials and events going on around the property that might interest the guest.  Simphony’s Table Management and Kitchen Display System servers and hosts real-time data on table and kitchen status, ensuring orders are delivered to your customers accurately and quickly.   Now is the perfect time to make the move you’ve been thinking about – modernize your business by moving to Oracle Hospitality’s Simphony Cloud. Transforming your business will not only revolutionize the way you do business to best serve customers today, it will also anticipate their needs for tomorrow. Contact Us to learn more about Simphony Cloud.

Delivering personalized experiences to guests with ever-changing needs is one of the great challenges faced in hotels today.  You need to continuously, transform your business to keep pace with the...

The Oracle Hospitality team just wrapped up four days at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago. Day one of the show kicked off with great enthusiasm around cloud technology. Our Simphony Cloud POS solution was displayed throughout the booth, to demonstrate the greater operational efficiency that cloud technology provides to restaurant operators; such as lower IT costs, centralized management, and access to real time operational data. On day two of the show we found ourselves talking a lot about kiosk.  Self-service kiosks provide restaurant operators with significant advantages: revenue growth opportunities, lower costs, and innovation. Kiosk software powered by Oracle Hospitality’s Simphony Cloud POS platform allows operators to collect data about consumer behavior, enabling delivery of targeted promotions. Day three was all about tablets. A great way to increase speed of service, tablets have become paramount to restaurant operations. The Oracle MICROS Tablet 721 provides a ruggedized solution built to withstand harsh hospitality environments. To bring the show to a close, day four focused on the Oracle MICROS Compact Workstation 310. The newest addition to our hardware portfolio provides a perfect choice for operations with a limited menu and counter space. These all-in-one units are not only portable with a small 10-inch footprint, but are durable enough to withstand the harshest of temperatures. Submit a product inquiry to set up a meeting with one of our representatives and visit the Oracle website to learn more about Oracle Hospitality Point of Sale Systems and our thought leadership on What is POS.

The Oracle Hospitality team just wrapped up four days at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago. Day one of the show kicked off with great enthusiasm around cloud technology. Our Simphony...

Outback Steakhouse is an international restaurant chain with eight locations around Australia and through utilizing a cloud solution, it’s improving customer experience, freeing staff to spend more time interacting with guests. But the benefits of cloud hardly stop there. It has made the business more scalable and provides Outback Steakhouse’s decision makers with faster and better access to data, enabling them to react nimbly to changing market dynamics. In an industry where customer satisfaction and loyalty are paramount, such innovation and a willingness to change are what keeps Outback Steakhouse ahead of rivals. The restaurant chain approached Oracle in early 2017 because it wanted to implement a cloud solution that could help it achieve various operational objectives, from reducing labor costs at front-of-house to ensuring better customer experiences. Outback Steakhouse also was concerned about the risks associated with maintaining a physical server, considering that it was potentially more vulnerable to security issues such as data breaches. Overall, the restaurant’s management team wanted to streamline office and personnel processes given its high volume of payroll, accounting, and operations-based activities. Furthermore, a cloud-based system would make back-ups easier because it doesn’t need to run applications over a desktop; it just requires an internet connection. Since June, the implementation of Oracle Hospitality cloud solutions and mobile point-of-service has greatly reduced up-front and cash flow costs, while the Simphony platform has simplified the opening of multiple sites. The use of tablets for ordering at the table also has  accelerated service; it may be a small change, but it’s an important one as this allows the kitchen to receive tickets quicker and enables servers to handle more tables. It also addresses one of the industry’s biggest challenges: labour cost. In addition, these cloud solutions have enhanced the customer experience. The bottom line: Greater efficiency yields more time for staff to engage in more meaningful conversations with guests. The company also launched an app and delivery system with its own drivers. Online ordering is integrated into the point-of-sale, making the process almost seamless for the customer. The transition to cloud and associated technology has led to a transformation benefiting the company, its staff and its customers. But for Outback Steakhouse, the long-term impact of cloud is the true reward: With greater ability to scale faster, access data, and reduce risk, it’s ready to compete regardless of the challenges tomorrow may bring.

Outback Steakhouse is an international restaurant chain with eight locations around Australia and through utilizing a cloud solution, it’s improving customer experience, freeing staff to spend more...

Turn your data into profit with Oracle Data Science for stadium POS and sports and entertainment venues and arenas.

Turn your data into profit with Oracle Data Science for stadium POS and sports and entertainment venues and arenas.

Innovation. Innovation. Innovation. It’s the buzz word for restaurant success, and with so many new technologies to embrace there are myriad ways to pursue it. But it’s crucial to understand what should be the true impetus behind it: Enhancing the guest experience. “It’s very much about putting the customer in the center of the business – it’s your key driver for innovation,” said Geoff Holton, general manager of information systems at Restaurant Brands, which operates approximately 300 Pizza Huts, Hardees and KFCs across Australia and New Zealand. It’s easy to get caught up in the frenzy to experiment with new technologies, but food and beverage operators need to be disciplined and make sure innovation initiatives tie in directly to business goals. And few, if any, are more important than creating connections with customers. That was the driving message shared by Holton and other industry leaders, who participated as panelists in a F&B innovation discussion at Oracle Industry Connect. The session explored identifying solutions that truly improve customer service, from creating more personalized experiences to minimizing waiting. And new technologies are needed because optimizing service has never been more difficult, especially considering industry challenges such as labor shortages and the rise of “disrupters,” including delivery companies that are hurting restaurant profitability. “Delivery companies in the United Kingdom are eating market share,” said Tim Brown – Oracle Hospitality’s senior director of strategic accounts, food and beverage – who moderated the discussion. Delivery companies, which collect a significant portion of a restaurant’s check value, are impacting the industry much like the way online travel agencies disrupted the hotel sector. In the context of such a volatile market environment, panelists were asked to cite technology solutions worth pursuing. A unanimous choice? Kiosks. Todd Sasala, vice president of information technology at Cedar Fair – which has a portfolio of 11 theme parks and caters to an audience of 25 million guests – said kiosks provide a variety of benefits, including: accelerating the ordering process, increasing average ticket revenue and redeploying labor for “more productive situations.” The autonomy and empowerment that kiosks provide guests also shouldn’t be discounted, he added. Cedar Fair strives to provide customers “more utility… throughout their stay to help them navigate our properties, transact easier, minimize waiting,” Sasala said. “It’s not ideal if you have to wait in line; it’s even worse if you have to wait while you’re hungry.” Giving customers greater control of their restaurant experience also inspired TGI Fridays UK’s latest innovation: Bar Tab. Launched last year, Bar Tab is a new function within Mastercard’s Qkr! payment app that enables consumers to set up, manage and pay bar tabs using their smartphones. The application is integrated into Oracle Hospitality’s restaurant management platform and Masterpass, the digital payment service. Jeremy Dunderdale, the restaurant chain’s head of business solutions, offered sage advice for the execution of any innovation adoption, whether it’s a payment platform, drone delivery or sophisticated voice ordering. “You can be innovative as much as you like,” he said, “but unless you get buy-in from operations and the people on the shop floor – however brilliant it is, it won’t work.” And one final insight from the panelists focused on the rising importance of integration, especially as operators strive to manage their brands across multiple channels. Holton of Restaurant Brands urged operators to achieve “consistency between your different touch points to your customers – your digital menu boards, kiosks, websites and so on.” He added: “That’s actually quite powerful.”

Innovation. Innovation. Innovation. It’s the buzz word for restaurant success, and with so many new technologies to embrace there are myriad ways to pursue it. But it’s crucial to understand what...

The Oracle Hospitality team recently wrapped up spending three days in New York City for Oracle Industry Connect, Oracle’s premier event for industries. Filled with sessions about industry trends, breakthrough innovations, the journey to the cloud, and much more, Oracle Industry Connect provided attendees with the opportunity to network with Oracle executive leadership team, strategists, developers, key partners, and peers. The Connect Zone was an interactive area where attendees were able to network and make those connections. We had a display of Oracle Hospitality products including the Oracle MICROS Tablet 720 Series, Simphony Cloud Point of Sale, OPERA Hotel Property Management Solution, and the Oracle MICROS Workstation 310 Series. Attendees were welcomed to engage in product demonstrations with our staff. In addition to displaying our products in the Connect Zone, we also had stations set up for 14 of our key partners to display their innovative hospitality solutions. The partners included: Deloitte 3C Payment Epson FreedomPay Mastercard Vantiv Duetto Eigen Elavon IDeaS Merchant Link QikServe SmartHOTEL Verifone Our partners also sponsored roundtables during lunch on both days of the event. The roundtables focused on various industry topics like kiosk evolution, credit card security, and EMV. They were a great way for attendees to network with peers and our partners, as well as share ideas around key industry subjects. At Oracle Hospitality, we take pride in our partnerships. Our partner portfolio is very diverse and includes companies that offer solutions for every aspect of a restaurant or hotel operation. We have recently moved to an open platform strategy across our hospitality solutions portfolio.  The most important step in this paradigm shift is making all our API documentation for Simphony, our Enterprise Back Office, and Opera easily obtainable through simple web search engine query making integration to our products more straightforward, simple, and accessible. This allows our partners to build the innovative integrations that our restaurant and hotel customers want, promptly and efficiently. Combining the Oracle Hospitality open API strategy with our strong partner portfolio, we can offer a one stop shop for our customers and ensure that they have the means to build the technology solution that is right for their business.  If you have not heard of the partners listed above, we encourage you to reach out to them, or drop us a line at OracleHosp_ww@oracle.com.

The Oracle Hospitality team recently wrapped up spending three days in New York City for Oracle Industry Connect, Oracle’s premier event for industries. Filled with sessions about industry trends,...

Europa-Park lies at the very heart of Europe between the Black Forest and the Vosges, and is commonly referred to as one of the world’s most beautiful resorts. Their journey began back in 1995, and since then more than 90 million people from all over the world visit the park to enjoy the 100+ attractions, and five (almost 6) award winning, themed hotels. Europa-Park is so much more than a theme park & resort for families, the Ammolite restaurant for example, found just next to the hotel Bell Rock, holds two Michelin stars – the first theme park restaurant in the world to achieve this accolade. The Europa-Park resort is spread out over almost 100 hectares, and with plans to open a brand new waterpark, as well as a Scandinavian inspired hotel boasting a 650 seater dining room, it is essential that their operating solution can keep up. The park currently uses Oracle Hospitality Simphony Point of Sale Solution and *Suite 8 (*only available in EMEA and JAPAC) because of their ability to seamlessly integrate with one another. Arne Weinmann, the Beverage Director of Europa-Park explains, “We needed a purer system that fits to our size and is able to manage several revenue centres”. Arne goes on to explain that they particularly love the benefits of the Multi Property function of Oracle Cloud, where Europa-Park can manage their five hotels with 4500 beds, and over 1000 employee records all on one central data base. A key component of a successful business is the ability to gather rich and valuable data across all their activities, no matter how diverse they are. Thanks to Oracle Hospitality Reporting and Analytics, Arne explains that “it’s become really easy and fast to track our sales and track our data.” With over 19 restaurants and bars across the resort, and plans to open up a brand new 650 seated restaurant, Europa-Park naturally faces many challenges. Arne explained to us how they have started to use the Oracle MICROS 720 tablet, he especially liked the powerful battery, than can easily be switched during service - perfect for any busy restaurant. Using the Tablet 720, the service team are able to make the order at the table, which is then sent electronically through to the kitchen for the chefs to start working on straight away, eliminating the need for staff to re-enter any orders at a separate POS. Europa-Park uses 120 Oracle workstations and 20 Tablet’s, but thanks to Oracle technology, saleability is not a problem as Arne explains, “After we changed to Oracle Simphony we had no more worries for further expanding, Oracle Simphony is built for growing businesses.” Europa-Park also use Oracle Suite 8, a tool that combines all hotel processes onto a single software solution. Michaela Doll-Lämmer explains to us that Suite 8 “really helps us to focus on our guests”. Michaela goes on to explain how they used to struggle to manage all five hotels in one system, but thanks to Suite 8 this is no longer a problem. Europa-Parks various seasonal decorations and the large number of diverse and colourful events throughout the year, makes them a one-of-a-kind destination, and so the importance of a positive and personalised customer journey to match this experience is paramount. Luckily, Oracle Suite 8 helps Europa-Park achieve this, covering reservations to housekeeping all the way to sales and marketing – Happy Holiday’s from Oracle! If you enjoyed reading this blog about the fantastic Europa-Park resort, watch the full video customer story, or alternatively, place an inquiry or email oraclehosp_ww@oracle.com if you would like to start your Oracle journey.

Europa-Park lies at the very heart of Europe between the Black Forest and the Vosges, and is commonly referred to as one of the world’s most beautiful resorts. Their journey began back in 1995, and...

Oracle Hospitality was delighted to welcome Martin Garbrecht Damm, digital director for Sticks ‘n’ Sushi to the stage today at Oracle Industry Connect. Martin was keen to stress that at Sticks ’n’ Sushi the guest experience is everything. He also shared how using Oracle Hospitality’s Simphony Cloud solution is helping his company undergo simultaneous digital transformation and physical growth. Walking into the newest site of Sticks ‘n’ Sushi at the historic Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, you are hit by the meeting of two cultures: Japanese and Danish. An odd combination, many may think, but the pairing is making Sticks ‘n’ Sushi one of the most popular emerging restaurant chains in Denmark and is propelling its expansion across Europe. Sticks ‘n’ Sushi was founded 22 years ago by brothers Jens and Kim Rahbek, and Thor Andersen. Taking inspiration from their half-Japanese, half-Danish background, they created a unique cuisine that combines two culinary traditions. Known for its great food and exemplary service, Sticks ‘n’ Sushi is constantly striving to be one of the most innovative restaurants in the industry – setting new standards for training staff, communication, corporate responsibility, and advertising and design. That drive for innovation led Sticks ‘n’ Sushi to embrace Oracle Hospitality’s Simphony Cloud point-of-sale solution. The Oracle Hospitality video team recently traveled to Copenhagen to capture the restaurant’s digital transformation, including its app-driven takeaway service. “The guest experience is everything,” says Martin Garbrecht Damm, digital director for Sticks ‘n’ Sushi. “I’m trying to replicate that into the digital space, making a restaurant in the sky that people experience the same quality as if you were at an actual restaurant.” Watch the video to see how Sticks ‘n’ Sushi makes that happen – and understand why Damm describes Oracle Hospitality as “our extended software family.” The video also illustrates how Simphony: Provides centralized control of an ever-growing enterprise Helps make on-premise and off-premise ordering a universal brand experience Helps accelerate international expansion with plug-and-play simplicity Providing innovative technology that delivers such objectives is Oracle Hospitality’s mission, which Damm sums up best: “They’re helping us figure it out, and it gives us simplicity into our IT organization.” Learn more about Simphony point of sale on our website, and request more information here.

Oracle Hospitality was delighted to welcome Martin Garbrecht Damm, digital director for Sticks ‘n’ Sushi to the stage today at Oracle Industry Connect. Martin was keen to stress that at Sticks ’n’...

For restaurant operators today, loyalty programs are essential. After all, keeping existing customers is far less costly than attracting new ones. But do you really know if yours is effective? Operating successful loyalty initiatives is more complex than it seems, and knowing the correct answers to important questions is a must. Do you know if your rewards are relevant? Are loyalty programs going to become obsolete if millennials are less loyal than baby boomers? What role does technology play in loyalty? Providing insights for these queries was the main objective of Oracle Hospitality’s just-published global study, The Loyalty Divide – Operator and Consumer Perspectives, Restaurants 2018. Oracle Hospitality commissioned Morar HPI, an independent UK-based consultancy, to survey more than 13,000 consumers and 500 businesses across retail, hotels and restaurants in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Mexico, UK and US. The findings are designed to help restaurant operators refine loyalty initiatives and better understand the new levels of personalization they’ll require to be effective. The report – which was released at Oracle Industry Connect, an innovation and technology summit held April 10-11 in New York City – shows there is a significant “disconnect” between operators and consumers when it comes to their perceptions of loyalty. For example: 50% of restaurant operators believe guests would enroll in every loyalty program made available to them, but only 27% of consumers say they actually do. Furthermore, 23% say they rarely join programs. 47% of operators believe their loyalty program offerings are mostly relevant. By comparison, only 27% of consumers share that opinion. Closing these “perception” gaps will be crucial in gaining consumers’ allegiance. “Hospitality is an industry that celebrates personal interactions and a rich knowledge of guest behaviors,” said Mike Webster, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Hospitality. “World-class operators are now leveraging adaptive intelligence to deliver unique connections based on guest preferences as they move beyond simple loyalty and discount schemes. The result is greater engagement and social advocacy for new dining connections.” The Loyalty Divide addresses several key topics – including differences in generational behavior and technology’s role in nurturing loyalty – to help restaurant operators develop effective strategies. One of the more surprising revelations is that younger consumers profess to be more loyal today, contradicting society’s typical portrayal of them:   44% of millennials (25-34) say they are more loyal to restaurant brands than before. And 30% of millennials plan to sign up for every loyalty program, while 48% of baby boomers (55+) say they will only enroll in select, relevant programs. It’s also an imperative for operators to realize that building loyalty today is no longer a task they can handle exclusively by themselves – especially in the age of social media. According to the survey, 51% of guests are likely to research brands on social media before buying, and 48% are likely to share photos of restaurant experiences on social media. And it’s noteworthy that 38% agree that restaurant recommendations made by social media influencers are more trustworthy than those made by celebrities. Perhaps, most importantly, operators need to understand the motivations that drive consumer loyalty. To help with that pursuit, the report identifies four “personas” that consumers adopt ­– The Broadcaster (41% would submit a YouTube review in exchange for a reward), The Enthusiast (50% want to engage in new and exciting menu items), The Lazy Loyal (72% like programs where points are automatically redeemed) and The Seeker (58% would exchange personal details for personalized promotions) – when making restaurant choices. Discover more about these consumer archetypes and learn how to win their loyalty by reading The Loyalty Divide. Download your copy here.

For restaurant operators today, loyalty programs are essential. After all, keeping existing customers is far less costly than attracting new ones. But do you really know if yours is effective? Operating...

Oracle UK hosted its annual Customer Excellence Awards at The London Edition hotel on March 22, 2018. The night was all about recognizing Oracle customers’ business achievements and supporting charities that enrich our communities.   The evening began with a cocktail and canapes reception, providing an intimate networking environment for all the participants. Five major awards were presented by Dermot O’Kelly, senior vice president for UK and Ireland. Pret A Manger honored with the 2018 Business Agility award Oracle recognized Pret A Manger for its innovative and adaptive business, as well as its commitment to technology to continuously improve operations and the customer experience. Pret A Manager always strives to do the right thing in terms of sustainability, animal welfare and its efforts to alleviate homelessness through its charity work. This includes giving unsold food to shelters at the end of each day and providing jobs for ex-homeless and ex-offenders. Oracle was delighted to support Pret A Manger’s efforts with a £10,000 donation to a select charity of its choice. Richard Price, EPOS system manager, accepted the award and passed the charitable donation onto  Shelter in support of  its mission of providing housing for the homeless. It’s an honor for Oracle to be able to recognize outstanding business performance, and even more of a privilege to applaud corporate citizenship. Well done, Pret A Manger.

Oracle UK hosted its annual Customer Excellence Awards at The London Edition hotel on March 22, 2018. The night was all about recognizing Oracle customers’ business achievements and...

  A swipe card is easily lost, a pin code is often forgotten, but your fingerprint is always handy. Best of all, it is uniquely yours, making it an accurate and reliable identity verification method. That’s why fingerprint biometrics is being embraced in the hospitality industry. It’s the new key to business security. Check out Oracle Hospitality’s John Nicewick, senior director hardware, demonstrating the Biometric Fingerprint Reader here. Customers using the Oracle MICROS Workstation 6 Series can easily increase their Restaurant POS security by installing the new Oracle Biometric Fingerprint Reader. With this device you can: Simplify accessibility and improve security simultaneously Reduce fraud in your environment Eliminate magnetic strip card and employee PIN log in Add up to 50 users unlike a consumer fingerprint reader Easily manage and modify users depending on staff changes Prevent identity impersonation Says Nicewick: “Sub-dermal technology reads below the skin level, thus (making it) more resilient to contamination of food or grease, giving a larger percentage of positive IDs upon first read.” The Biometric Fingerprint Reader is field installable, making greater security and enhanced employee management easily on your Restaurant POS attainable. So, what are you waiting for? Submit a product inquiry or email us with questions.

  A swipe card is easily lost, a pin code is often forgotten, but your fingerprint is always handy. Best of all, it is uniquely yours, making it an accurate and reliable identity verification method....

Ask any avid tennis fan and they’ll tell you – Indian Wells Tennis Garden is an incredible venue. Best known for hosting the annual BNP Paribas Open, one of professional tennis’ premier events, the 54-acre compound features 29 tennis courts and the main stadium can hold up to 16,100 guests – making it the second-largest tennis stadium in the U.S. This year’s tournament, which ended March 18, culminated with victories by Naomi Osaki and Juan Martin del Potro. But what many may not know about Indian Wells is this: It’s a foodie’s paradise. With five, full-service restaurants, including gourmet options like Nobu, Wolfgang Puck’s Spago, and several Moet & Chandon champagne lounges, there is an impressive offering of world-class dining. Additionally, there are 30 other concessions stands, and casual food and beverage outlets offering everything from kabobs and sushi to poke and acai bowls. So how does Indian Wells quickly serve all the hungry fans, players and media personnel in attendance? The entire venue relies on Oracle Hospitality, which delivers fast, reliable service – so no one misses a blistering ace or a smashing backhand down the line! The new Oracle Hospitality Compact Workstation 310 and self-service kiosks combine to create custom solutions for every restaurant, concession and vendor at Indian Wells. And by running on Oracle Hospitality Simphony Cloud, these different operations are easily connected and able to seamlessly integrate with each other.     I was lucky to attend this year’s tournament and joined a film crew to produce a video showcasing all the Oracle Hospitality solutions at work throughout the grounds. In addition to the courts, Indian Wells is also a gorgeous outdoor “garden-style” venue. Nestled in the Coachella Valley, it’s a lush oasis of local flowers, plants and palm trees, with stunning mountain views everywhere you look. An ode to the venue’s natural beauty, the tournament’s theme this year was “In Full Bloom,” and thousands of new flowers were planted all over the grounds for the occasion. It’s no wonder then that the BNP Paribas tournament is so popular. In fact, it draws more than 400,000 fans a year during a two-week period. Revenue generated at and around the venue because of this event topped $406 million last year alone. With spectacular tennis, stunning scenery and sunny, 80-degree weather, I’m already planning my trip back next year! In the meanwhile, stay tuned for our upcoming video to find out more about Indian Wells – and how Oracle Hospitality is helping it create the ultimate fan experience!  

Ask any avid tennis fan and they’ll tell you – Indian Wells Tennis Garden is an incredible venue. Best known for hosting the annual BNP Paribas Open, one of professional tennis’ premier events, the...

The new wagamamago app allows diners to select, order and pay all via an app – and Oracle Hospitality was quick to head down to our nearest wagamama to trial it. It’s Thursday 22nd March 2018, fellow waga-lover Matt and I are first in line; as millennials, we’re excited to test the new online payment app, especially because our generation typically never carries cash. But it’s also perfect for busy office workers who want a quick dining experience during their lunch break. We were seated at 12:04 p.m. and out by 12:26 p.m. with a tummy full of noodles all paid for. How you ask? It was all made possible with the app, which was designed in partnership with Qkr! by MasterCard and integrated seamlessly into Simphony, the restaurant POS technology platform, from Oracle Food and Beverage – already implemented in wagamama restaurants across the country. Research indicated the app could knock off an additional 12 minutes of waiting time at the restaurant, already acclaimed for its quick table service. Matt and I were seated, opened a unique table number via the app and showed it to our server. The menu loaded and there was all the Asian and Japanese food I could ever want at my fingertips. At this point, I definitely had eyes bigger than my stomach. I ordered all my wagamama favourites via the app and, as promised, my dishes arrived before I had time to finish my green tea! I could even order an extra side of yasai gyoza to my unique table number – without help from a server. My request translated seamlessly through the wagagamago app to the Oracle Food and Beverage Kitchen Display System in the kitchen. Payment was just as quick and hassle free. My card was already linked up to masterpass, so paying simply required a click of a button. I could even split the bill and leave a tip all via the app. Digital ordering + digital payment = great customer experience! Already on my way back to the office, I marveled about my entire lunch experience: No waiting. No headaches. No hassles. And I was confident leaving wagamama, knowing my transaction would process securely because of smart Oracle Food and Beverage Restaurant POS technology. It’s just another example of Oracle innovation that makes Oracle a brand you can trust. So, will cash-less, frictionless experiences become the norm for restaurants? Who knows for sure, but I got a glimpse of the future – and I loved it! If you’re interested in how Oracle Food and Beverage can help you embrace innovation and grow as a business through our hospitality solutions, contact us today on oraclehosp_ww@oracle.com or visit our website to learn more about Oracle Food and Beverage Restaurant Point of Sale Systems and our thought leadership on What is POS.

The new wagamamago app allows diners to select, order and pay all via an app – and Oracle Hospitality was quick to head down to our nearest wagamama to trial it. It’s Thursday 22nd March 2018, fellow...

Oracle Industry Connect, our annual innovation summit, brings together restaurant technology leaders to share deep domain expertise and best practices to solve the most complex issues in the industry. Among this year’s agenda, featured topics include: Moving to the cloud to accelerate innovation and reduce IT complexity Mining data to gain insights and competitive advantages Capitalizing on mobility to empower staff and serve guests Still not registered to attend Oracle Industry Connect in New York City, April 10-11? Read on to discover why you need to register now. Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Attend Oracle Industry Connect: 1. Network with industry leaders and Oracle experts 73% of hospitality attendees are directors, vice presidents, and C-level executives – making it the perfect place to network. As always, this year’s program is designed and focused on providing connections and building relationships – come and explore our new ConnectZone. 2. Develop business opportunities with more than 2000 executives Oracle Industry Connect is a global event and draws attendees from a variety of hospitality sectors, including food and beverage, hotel, sports and entertainment, and cruise. It’s also a cross-industry event, providing you the opportunity to promote your brand to leaders from other key industries such as retail, financial services, and communications. 3. Learn how to capitalize on key trends and overcome top challenges Anticipating consumer trends and delivering innovations are vital to win in the hospitality industry. See how companies are using technology innovations to achieve these goals as well as reduce costs and improve productivity. 4. Test and experience our latest solutions Try it and you will love it! For two days, you will have the opportunity to test and trial our solutions in the Customer Experience Center. Some of our featured products include the new Compact Workstation 310, designed to serve more people in a small space, and the Oracle MICROS Tablet 700 Series, mobility designed and built for hospitality. 5. Explore New York New York is the 5th-most visited city in the world and a hotbed of hospitality innovation. Explore the city that never sleeps with the Oracle Hospitality community, and stay tuned to see what city activities we have planned for attendees. Don’t just take our word for it; read what our customers who attended last year have to say about the innovation summit – and why they continue to participate in it year after year. Register and secure your place at Oracle Industry Connect. We hope to see you in New York City, April 10-11!

Oracle Industry Connect, our annual innovation summit, brings together restaurant technology leaders to share deep domain expertise and best practices to solve the most complex issues in the industry. A...

Just imagine the scenario: Cooking a delicious, three-course Vietnamese curry dish, including simmering spring rolls to perfection in a fryer. Best of all, envision orchestrating the entire meal to delight guests, using an array of Oracle’s restaurant POS solutions. That’s exactly what happened as Oracle Hospitality in the UK hosted an exclusive, invitation-only, Cooking Masterclass with Europe’s award-winning cooking school, School of Wok, to showcase the new Compact Workstation 310 to new and existing food and beverage customers. The Oracle Hospitality event also featured the Workstation 6 and Tablet 720, enabling attendees to understand the ease and efficiency of how the Oracle Hospitality Workstation Family works together in a restaurant environment. It was the latest example of Oracle Hospitality customer-focused events, which are designed to engage attendees in an innovative fashion with our hardware. This event followed the TGI Friday’s BarTab cocktail evening, and more informative – and entertaining – sessions soon will be scheduled. Oracle Hospitality is invested in our customers in the food and beverage industry and makes a conscious effort to tailor events to suit customers’ restaurant needs. We believe this approach is an invaluable way to demonstrate how our food and beverage solutions can assist a variety of restaurant types – multi-site or individual – and underscore their flexibility and adaptability. Attendees enjoyed the interactive session as they could run through the menu just cooked through the Tablet, POS and KDS process. Once the final finishes were added to the dishes, attendees sat down and enjoyed their culinary creation, washed down with some traditional beverages. And we were delighted to share the experience with members of our Oracle Hospitality community. If you’re interested in how Oracle Hospitality can help you embrace innovation and grow as a business through our hospitality solutions, contact us today on oraclehosp_ww@oracle.com or  visit our  website to learn more about Oracle Hospitality Point of Sale Systems and Compact Workstation 310.

Just imagine the scenario: Cooking a delicious, three-course Vietnamese curry dish, including simmering spring rolls to perfection in a fryer. Best of all, envision orchestrating the entire meal to...

Oracle Hospitality just wrapped up its Dealer Sales Summit for U.S. channel partners, underscoring its commitment to strengthen and expand its partners position in the SMB/independent restaurant market. The Summit, held in Columbia, Md., began with a welcome reception hosted at The Ale House Columbia.  The team spent some time unwinding with our partners while enjoying fabulous food and drinks, before kicking off the first day of sessions. The fully packed agenda covered various topics, such as Simphony Cloud, Go-to-Market Strategy, and technical deep dives. The sessions concluded with hands-on demos in the Columbia office’s new Customer Experience Center. Our partners were able to see Simphony Cloud, Simphony Kiosk, Reporting and Analytics, the Oracle MICROS 310 Series, Tablet 700 Series, and the Workstation 6 Series in action! Day 1 concluded with an Awards Ceremony, which recognized our top-performing dealers and celebrated service milestones: The second day of sessions ran for a half day and covered key topics, including Marketing, Enablement, and Payment Strategy.  It was great to get together and celebrate our longstanding partnerships. As evidenced by the list above, many of our dealer partners have sold Oracle | MICROS solutions for decades. We are thankful for their dedication and expertise, and are looking forward to better serving the SMB/independent restaurant market together!

Oracle Hospitality just wrapped up its Dealer Sales Summit for U.S. channel partners, underscoring its commitment to strengthen and expand its partners position in the SMB/independent...

Oracle MICROS InMotion Mobile POS Reporting app brings actionable data directly into the hands of restaurant and hotel operators.

Oracle MICROS InMotion Mobile POS Reporting app brings actionable data directly into the hands of restaurant and hotel operators.

For Thwaites Hotels, the four-star chain renowned for making guests feel like they are at a “home away from home,” preserving first-class service is priority No. 1. The hotelier’s commitment to its hospitality culture is evident everywhere, manifesting even in its growth strategy. “There is a long-established tradition of investing for the future, sacrificing a short-term gain for the longer-term benefit of the company,” said Chris Hill, Operations Director for Thwaites Hotels. The hotelier, for example, focuses on building properties, rather than growing through acquisitions. A new hotel means all its elements are in the right place and designed specifically to meet guests’ needs, promising an exceptional stay. Customized building also enables Thwaites to better integrate its newer concepts, including spa treatment rooms and conference cafes. So, when the time came to select the best way to manage its food and beverage menu configuration, it came as no surprise that Thwaites sought a solution that would keep it unencumbered from the task’s challenges – and let it stay focused on its guest-service mission. That’s why Thwaites, which has six hotel and spa venues using the Simphony POS platform in its portfolio, partnered with the Oracle Hospitality Enterprise Menu Management team. The service offering, available to hotel and restaurant operators, eliminates in-house programming and improves operations by optimizing POS configuration, employing centralized reporting and enhancing inventory management. Since handing over the task to EMM in 2015, Thwaites has reaped other benefits, too, that it doesn’t want to relinquish. “We recently looked at taking the menu maintenance in-house, but after consideration of factoring in cost of in-house maintenance, balanced with the high level of service, expertise and coverage year-round we get from EMM, we took the decision to remain with the service,” Hill said. “We are reassured that our menu configuration is in the best of hands, plus we have the confidence that we have a team at our disposal who are experts in their field and always aware of new functionality that is relevant to our needs.” Though it honors its heritage, Thwaites’ dedication to continuously modernize operations has defined its hotels and spas, which have operated successfully for more than 30 years and is part of the Daniel Thwaites Group. Founded in Blackburn in 1807, Daniel Thwaites still uses its famous Shire horses to deliver locally – a nod to tradition and service values that are revered across the entire company. To continue to protect its brand reputation, both to customers and the trade, Thwaites relies on EMM to identify best practices and maximize performance of its Simphony POS platform. Critical to these efforts, EMM efficiently handles all menu and pricing updates, allowing for fast responses to changes in local markets. Said Hill: “Oracle Hospitality has not only provided us with a system that does the job we need, but their EMM team have held our hand to guide us through the process. We have learned so much from their years of experience, and they have been proactive in helping us establish best practices and ensure we get the best out of the system.”

For Thwaites Hotels, the four-star chain renowned for making guests feel like they are at a “home away from home,” preserving first-class service is priority No. 1. The hotelier’s commitment to its...

  If you’re a restaurant owner in the United States, you know that the compensation disparity between tipped Front of House (FOH) employees and nontipped Back of House (BOH) employees has been creating headaches for years.  To the point where it makes it difficult to find BOH staff right? Well, the US Department of Labor just proposed new rules that would allow restaurants to undertake tip pooling. What is tip pooling?  Tip Pool is defined as the collection of a portion of earned tips from a directly tipped employee (i.e. server/bartender) that is then distributed to indirectly tipped employees (bus boy, host, etc). Typically, the collection of tips normally occurs at the end of each shift and distribution of those tips occurs either the next day as cash or is paid out cumulatively on a paycheck. If the DOL’s new rule is passed, restaurants will be permitted to distribute tips amongst all employees. Now you’re thinking “that’s great, but now I have another headache to figure out: how to distribute tips fairly!” This is where a superior restaurant point of sale and labor management systems come into play. Oracle Hospitality’s Simphony Cloud Point of Sale, which includes Oracle Hospitality Labor Management, provides the tools to make tip pool management seamless, easy, and accurate. The system has different configuration options to help you determine the best collection method, whether that’s automatic or manual. The automatic configuration makes the point of sale system determine tip amounts based on a pre-set percentage based on different parameters. For example, bus boys will get 5% of sales, and the bartenders will get 8% of liquor sales.  The manual configuration divides tips based on percentages pre-configured by Managers. With Simphony Cloud Point of Sale and Labor Management, you can also determine tip amounts based on sales. For example, if you make $5,000 in sales one day, your pool amount can be X%, whereas if you make $10,000 the pool amount can be Y%. Tip pooling can improve work relations and improve staff morale. After all, earning tips becomes a team effort and gets everyone in the spirit of upselling! The chefs make sure food comes out hot, servers make sure glasses are full, and busboys make sure tables are cleaned. All of this of course benefits the restaurant and fosters repeat visits. Visit the Oracle website to learn more about Oracle Hospitality Point of Sale Systems and our thought leadership on What is POS, or reach out by sending us an email at OracleHosp_ww@oracle.com or calling us at 866-287-4736.

  If you’re a restaurant owner in the United States, you know that the compensation disparity between tipped Front of House (FOH) employees and nontipped Back of House (BOH) employees has been creating...

  At NRF 2018: Retail’s Big Show in New York City, Oracle Hospitality unveiled the Oracle MICROS Compact Workstation 310 and 310R, Restaurant point-of-sale device, with one goal in mind: Help you increase sales and serve more people in the same space. For operators in hospitality, sports and entertainment, and retail – with a limited menu offering and serving a high volume of customers in short durations – the Compact Workstation 310 is a “game changer.” Check it out here. Smarter and more robust, the Workstation 310’s transformative power lies in its name – Compact. Register for the on-demand webcast to discover more benefits of a smaller, sleeker workstation. Envision your current layout: You may have 6 or 7 (or even more) point-of-sale devices side by side. Your staff works tirelessly to process hundreds of orders within a short time span, keeping lines moving and ensuring customers are served and satisfied in quick fashion. But as good as your staff may be, your enterprise’s success is constrained by space – or the lack of it. However, what if you could double the number of point-of-sale systems in that same space? Imagine a bank of 12 or 14 Restaurant POS and consider the possibilities: How much faster could you serve customers? How much shorter would lines be? The answers lead to better service and greater revenue and reveal the benefits of deploying the Compact Workstation 310 – a POS truly built and designed with hospitality in mind. Although the Compact Workstation 310 may be smaller, rest assured that it has been engineered to the same exacting standards of performance and reliability that define all Oracle Hospitality hardware. The device offers a long lifecycle (vs. 12 months for consumer grade tablets) and lower meantime before failure, resulting in far fewer failures and refresh cycles. The 310R is designed for rugged dependability – delivering durability well beyond just a tablet with a protective sleeve. All these benefits come included in the 310’s affordable price. Our customers told us they wanted to increase volume without sacrificing quality. The Compact Workstation 310 and 310R help make that goal a reality.

  At NRF 2018: Retail’s Big Show in New York City, Oracle Hospitality unveiled the Oracle MICROS Compact Workstation 310 and 310R, Restaurant point-of-sale device, with one goal in mind: Help you...

Oracle Hospitality will be attending the New England Food Show in Boston Massachusetts, February 25th – 27th, 2018.  The New England Food Show is the largest regional trade event serving buyers and suppliers in the New England food service and retail markets. This year the event will be full of networking opportunities including; culinary demos, educational sessions, exhibitors and products, and key note speakers; all offering exclusive insight into the food and beverage industry. On Sunday, February 25th from 2:30-3:00 PM, Oracle Hospitality will have the pleasure of presenting an educational session about Restaurant 2025, providing research and insights into how emerging technologies are destined to reshape the future food and beverage industry. Help ensure your business has success tomorrow and join us to learn how anticipating consumer trends and seeking innovations, that enhance guest experience, can improve your future business. We will also be showcasing our innovative restaurant POS solutions. Join us in booth 806 to learn more about: Simphony Cloud a premiere cloud and mobile hospitality management platform, that looks beyond traditional point-of-sale (POS). With Oracle Hospitality’s innovation, the platform provides POS and back-office functionality, to support a wide range of food and beverage operations. Workstation 6 Family contains three sleek yet rugged POS terminals deliver superior performance and maximum efficiency with style. Tablet 720 is an intuitive and easy-to-use tablet, designed specifically for hospitality. The mobile application allows staff to maintain and manage operations off site. Kiosk is an interactive, self-service station that enable today’s on-the-go consumer to enjoy “zero-friction” shopping experiences and encourage impulse purchasing. Join us at the largest regional trade event in the New England food service and retail markets – see you in Boston!

Oracle Hospitality will be attending the New England Food Show in Boston Massachusetts, February 25th – 27th, 2018.  The New England Food Show is the largest regional trade event serving buyers and...

How can stadiums and arenas use the latest technologies to improve the fan experience? Come to the SportTechie State of the Industry event on 13 February and find out! SportTechie, one of the industry’s leading business resources, is hosting this premier conference on sports technology and innovation. Leaders from across the industry will be in attendance to find out what we can expect to see in sports technology in 2018. Join us on February 13 at Barclays Center in New York City for this unique experience! Oracle Hospitality is proud to be a sponsor of this event and will be hosting exciting discussions on several subjects, including: Data Science: How can stadium operators maximize sales through cross- and up-sells? How can stock availability be optimized while reducing waste? Data Science is the answer to both – we’ll explain how access to the latest machine learning technologies, combined with expert analyst support, can help you significantly increase revenues. Modernizing the Fan Experience: Fan experience is every stadium’s number one priority – but how can operators ensure that each fan has an enjoyable game-day? With a complete technology solution for venue management, Oracle Hospitality allows operators to deliver a quality product consistently and efficiently. Learn how to ensure accuracy of orders, timely delivery, and minimal wait time in order to provide the superior game-day experience that customers deserve. Driving Revenue Growth: Grow your profit margins by enhancing overall fan experience and driving repeat business. We’ll explain how to customize a simplified, cost-effective system for your venue. Take advantage of the latest technology to find new sales and cost-cutting opportunities. Forecasting the Future: What’s coming next? How can venue operators stay up to date on technological advancements to ensure a great game-day for fans and maximum revenues for the business? Find out on 13 February. The event is invitation only, so drop an email to OracleHosp_ww@oracle.com if you’re interested in attending. We look forward to seeing you there!

How can stadiums and arenas use the latest technologies to improve the fan experience? Come to the SportTechie State of the Industry event on 13 February and find out! SportTechie, one of...

Enterprise Menu Management (EMM) is a service offering from Oracle Hospitality to aid hospitality operators with restaurant POS configuration. EMM manages centralized and consistent data, therefore eliminating in-house programming and streamlining managerial tasks. EMM provides accuracy and efficiency on all menu and pricing updates across the business, ensuring a cohesive structure is maintained in a fast-paced environment. It is essential to have a well-conceived POS configuration in your restaurant operations. With the help of EMM and Simphony / RES 3700, Oracle Hospitality solutions can ensure you get the most out of your POS. EMM: Top Tips for Simphony / RES 3700 Users Plan, Schedule and Plan Again! – Planning is key to good POS configuration. If you are consistent with your planning, administration processes are made easier and more efficient. Oracle Hospitality EMM service offers consultancy advise on ‘best practices’ gained through years of experience to ensure on-going success in your enterprise management. Menu Grouping – EMM structures menu grouping to ensure accurate reporting, consistent programming and ease of finding items. For example, EMM can group your menu by type – starters, mains, desserts, beverages. EMM can also plan further grouping in these types. For example, white wine can be split into dry, sweet, sparkling, etc. Menu grouping benefits the restaurant floor, as staff save time as they can easily locate products on the POS terminals. Zone Management (Simphony only) – Keep your master records at your enterprise level. This will reduce the duplications of items - a six-ounce glass of Coke is the same no matter where it is sold / a bottle of San Miguel is the same no matter where it is sold – and you can link different recipes in inventory if needed. Managing regional pricing through price tiers will also help POS configuration. All of these points are critical to on-going, accurate data analysis, which is vital in managing the growth of your business. Test Terminal – Having a test terminal means you can test changes you are making before they go live on your estate, and will help in trying to replicate reported errors. Structure and Process – It can’t be emphasised enough how important it is to approach all aspects of your menu and inventory configuration with an organised approach. This reduces customer facing error and leads to accuracy in the all-important analysis. Get this area right, and you reduce customer frustration and increase profit. Join the Oracle Hospitality team on January 17th, 2018 and find out more about where the Enterprise Menu Maintenance service offering can help your business. Watch the on-demand webcast here.

Enterprise Menu Management (EMM) is a service offering from Oracle Hospitality to aid hospitality operators with restaurant POS configuration. EMM manages centralized and consistent data, therefore...