The Business Times reported that the Covid-19 pandemic has created protracted havoc in Singapore’s food and beverage (F&B) industry over the last 2 years. Supply chains, manpower supply, dining habits and payment patterns were disrupted.
Several establishments called it quits in the largest stress test of the decade – 3,440 F&B businesses ceased operations from December 2019 to June 2021, with total employment in the sector falling by about 8 per cent in the same period, according to statistics from the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Within this cloud of doom and gloom, however, there is a silver lining. While Covid-19 shut down some F&B businesses, digitalisation has provided a lifeline for others. The digital transformation of the industry has gone from a pipe dream to a piping hot buzzword.
Industry 4.0
Digitally-savvy F&B operators quickly filled the gaps left by the incumbents by introducing e-commerce and digital tools into the conventional business model. An example is the proliferation of so-called "ghost kitchens" or "cloud kitchens". These low-capital startup options fulfil orders for restaurant food directly to customers – without an actual restaurant. Usually based in industrial estates, they have been popping up in shopping malls as well.
Then there are hybrid kitchens, restaurants that physically split into 2 operations – one for the physical crowd and the other for virtual orders, to maximise available space for the rapid scaling of the business.
Amid the pandemic, these digital forerunners made innovative use of Industry 4.0 to thrive in the new normal.
Conventional barriers were overcome via digital problem management, with processes such as virtual customer service and direct supply chain helping to make F&B operations less vulnerable and reactive.
Smart restaurants
The next step in the digital transformation of F&B is automation. This is the key to streamlining workflows and optimising manpower, factors that impact the ability to change during a crisis.
As a case in point, consider repetitive, manual tasks such as measuring, scooping and assembling ingredients in the correct sequence. Automating this process can dramatically reduce the amount of physical labour needed to produce a dish, allowing operators to better direct resources to other business functions.
A fully automated restaurant could serve the dual purpose of being a food production facility. Every dish in the menu will be pre-programmed with the desired preparation method. Each order is completed at the ideal timing and served with optimal consistency in taste and presentation.
From taking pre-orders to fulfilling each order at precisely the right moment, such a smart restaurant will operate with greater efficiency and precision.
A true restaurant of the future, however, requires more digitalisation than dedicated hardware and software. The system is an equally important part of the equation, which is where the Internet of Things (IoT) comes in.
With sensors deployed across the operation, computers can automatically and intelligently adjust workflows for greater efficiency and the best use of equipment, and even predict and schedule maintenance turnaround.
An IoT system can also drive a more sustainable operation by monitoring stock levels and freshness of ingredients and using analytics to minimise overlaps, gaps and wastage.
Operators can take heart that this digital process is not much different from how they manage their usual army of fryers, ovens and point-of-sale systems.
Automated workflows are incredibly streamlined, leading to shorter learning curves for staff with less reliance on technology skills.
Digitalisation can also support the research and development process by using data to visualise each stage of food preparation, test different options, stress-test the business model and map the most efficient production process end-to-end.
It allows F&B operators to base decisions on robust data rather than rough estimates, and enables finetuning and tweaking of different elements to achieve a more cost-effective or higher margin result.
F&B of the future
The digital transformation of F&B means a whole new way of experiencing the food business. Operations can expect greater room for innovation, traceability of transactions, predictability of costs and waste, collaboration between internal departments and external partners, and monitoring of performance to drive change.
Here’s more good news: the technology needed for all the above is already available, with increasing ubiquity pushing down capital outlay and total costs.
With governmental support of S$70 million to help the F&B industry transform and thrive, as announced in Parliament in March, accessibility is no longer an issue.
As more F&B enterprises catch on to the full extent of digital transformation's benefits, digitalisation will no longer be a "nice to have" but an actual necessity.
With a variety of technology options to explore, there is no reason to resist the convenience and flexibility of being an F&B outlet of the future, whether you are a hawker or a fine dining restaurant.
As the industry continues to innovate, and humans learn to maximise the potential of automation, the biggest winner will be the consumer – and that is the greatest reward of all.
Source: The Business Times / Photo by Kua Chee Siong
Date: 20 April 2022
Link: Here
May 31, 2022
