Webinar Recap: Panel Discussion With Experts On Hospitality & Technology

Lightspeed, FoodByUs and Deputy organised a live webinar with special guests Francesca Bartone-Prodromou and Stephanie Bull. The panel discussed the current challenges facing hospitality businesses and the importance of technology in adapting and growing in an ever-changing industry. 

The discussion also touched on a range of other topics, from how tech supports and builds on traditional hospitality experience to why integrations are important and how data and technology work together. 

Hospo veterans: who was on the panel?

Hosted by Ben Lipschitz, CEO and Co-Founder of FoodByUs, the panel also featured two veterans of the Australian hospitality industry – Francesca Bartone-Prodromou, Owner of Charlie & Franks, and Stephanie Bull, Venue Manager of Mexicano.

With over 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Francesca is the Founder and Managing Director of the Charlie & Franks Group – two premium coffee, catering, and dining venues in Sydney’s north. 

Thanks to her decades of experience, Francesca has cultivated a successful business and built a team who are passionate about looking after people and creating memorable experiences accompanied by great coffee and delicious food!

Like Francesca, Stephanie is also a hospo veteran with over ten years of experience in the industry. Starting as a chef, Stephanie is now the Venue Manager at Mexicano in Sydney’s Northern Beaches. 

Her hospitality experience, combined with business acumen, has driven Stephanie to always focus on the customer experience whilst keeping business goals and objectives in mind. 

Challenging times: what issues are businesses facing?

From fires and floods wiping out crops and pushing up food prices to COVID regulations restricting staff and customers, the past few years have been rocky, to say the least. And while things are slowly returning to an even keel, we’re still a long way off from a return to normality.

In the webinar, Francesca and Stephanie discussed the issues facing their businesses and the broader industry as a whole.

• Staff shortages have plagued the industry for the last 18 months, and Francesca believes the issue won’t be resolved for another 6-12 months. Many people assumed that staffing problems would be fixed overnight when borders opened. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case, and many venues still struggle to recruit staff. 
• Upper management wearing too many hats. The knock-on effect of staff shortage is that upper management has to jump in and help where they can to keep the business running on a day-to-day basis, rather than focusing on growing the business.
• Pricing and cost of goods going up. Inflation, supply chain issues and food shortages are pushing prices up. Venues are forced to pass on price increases to customers with menu price changes and credit card surcharges. For many businesses, absorbing these extra costs is no longer an option, especially after two years of lockdowns and restrictions.

Growth & agility: how can tech support businesses?

From point of sale (POS) software to staff scheduling tools and wholesale food supplier networks, Francesca and Stephanie use various tech programs to help them run their venues. 

“We’re very tech-focused. We probably made the decision around six years ago to get everything online as much as we could because we wanted to grow the business, and that was the quickest and best way to do that” – Francesca.

Stephanie is also an advocate for technology and believes it can empower hospitality businesses to do more and be more.

“We can be more than just a restaurant… we can do take-home kits and external catering. Tech has broadened hospitality and its services” – Stephanie.

The panel also discussed the other ways in which tech was instrumental for business growth.

• The importance of remaining agile. From suppliers to ordering and staff management, tech can help hospitality venues save time and boost efficiency – making it quicker and easier to deal with challenges.
  
• Why integrations are important. Ensuring your platforms can talk to each other and are user-friendly makes life easier for your staff and customers.
• How tech supports and builds on the traditional hospitality experience. While tech helped during COVID, it now has a prominent role in assisting businesses to grow. Francesca and Stephanie believe that tech doesn’t hinder the traditional restaurant experience. Instead, it builds upon it and fills in the gaps as people now want to access things in different ways as customer behaviour has changed.
  
• How data and technology work together. With integrated tech systems, it’s easy for businesses to compile information that will help discover new ways to diversify and increase revenue.

“For businesses who haven’t already adopted technology, you need to, to stay ahead” – Francesca.

Hospitality & technology: watch the recording now

If you missed the live webinar and are considering implementing technology into your business, this is an excellent opportunity to hear about real-life experiences on what it takes to run a successful hospitality venue, how technology manages business disruptions, and ask any questions during the live session.