3 Restaurant Tasks You Can Automate Today

Running a restaurant requires balancing numerous tasks and workflows. Your core operations are wide-ranging — starting from menu development, to inventory management, food preparation, front-of-house service, staff management, marketing, and maintaining cleanliness and food safety standards.

Juggling these responsibilities can feel overwhelming, particularly for new ventures breaking into Singapore’s dynamic food and beverage scene. Over the past couple of years, F&B businesses have faced challenges due to rising costs, manpower issues, and competition from international brands and private dining.

Leveraging restaurant automation technology can help you get a leg up on the competition, through improving efficiency, reducing costs, and freeing up manpower for activities that require a human touch. In our article, we’ll dive into three restaurant tasks you can automate, plus automation tools and key features you can utilise.

What is Restaurant Automation?

Restaurant automation refers to the use of technology — ranging from simple software to complex robotics or AI systems — to automate or assist with daily restaurant tasks and business activities. It can be implemented for operations such as:

• Order management, through tools like online ordering platforms, mobile apps for customer orders, and digital kiosks
• Customer service, using reservation management systems, loyalty programmes, and AI talkbots and chatbots
• Kitchen automation, through kitchen display systems (KDS), AI-powered smart cooking devices, self-service food dispensers, and food waste solutions
• Back-of-house operations, using inventory management software, recipe management systems, shift management software, and staff scheduling apps

Here’s what the data on restaurant automation shows:

• In the Restaurant Trends to Watch in 2025 report, research findings show that over half (54%) of operators believe AI will become a staple in restaurants over the next three years.
• 59% of operators plan to automate more online functions, while 43% plan to automate more on-premise functions.
• 45% of operators will automate more front-of-house functions, while 28% will automate more back-of-house functions. 31% will automate more management tasks.
• Hospitality groups like IHG Hotels & Resorts and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group have implemented food waste solutions to reduce food wastage by up to 36%.
• A 2023 study found that operators using automated kitchen solutions saw an 83% increase in order accuracy.

As automation technologies continue to demonstrate measurable results, here are three core functions every restaurant can automate to improve efficiency and service.

Restaurant Tasks You Can Automate Today

1. Automate Your Reservation Management

Managing reservations manually can easily lead to errors, double bookings, or inefficient table turnover. Automating this process through digital reservation systems helps you handle bookings seamlessly across multiple channels — website, social media, and third-party apps — while keeping your floor plan updated in real time.

Optimise Your Booking Management with Inline

Booking management systems like Inline allow customers to make and modify reservations at their convenience. It automatically syncs new bookings, cancellations, and walk-ins, reducing the burden on your staff and minimising human error.

The app offers key restaurant management features, like the ability to send customised questionnaires to diners during or after their visits. This means every reservation provides an opportunity to gather valuable customer data, such as diner frequency, personal preferences, and dietary requirements. These insights can inform your decisions, helping you plan staffing levels and tailor your marketing promotions more effectively.

By automating your reservation management, you not only streamline front-of-house operations, but also enhance the customer experience through faster confirmations, reduced waiting times, and personalised engagement.

2. Automate Your In-Store Analytics

Understanding customer flow, dwell time, and behaviour inside your restaurant can reveal powerful insights — but collecting that data manually is challenging.

Using clicker counters at specific timings is a low-cost, but time-consuming measure. You could observe and guesstimate foot traffic, but this lacks precision and may result in inaccurate data. With AI-powered in-store analytics, you can automatically track and interpret customer movement patterns using cameras or sensors.

Leverage Whale SpaceSight’s Intelligent Store Inspection Capabilities

Solutions such as Whale SpaceSight use visual analytics to measure foot traffic, identify popular zones, and generate heatmaps of high-engagement areas. The data can show you which displays or menu items attract attention, how long customers queue or dine, and how layout changes affect customer movement and flow.

Here’s an example: if you find that customers linger near your dessert display but this doesn’t convert to sales, you may consider offering promotional pricing, bite-sized dessert options, or repositioning the display for better visibility.

The tiered pricing plans also offer scalability, ensuring that your needs are addressed as your business evolves and grows. As you expand into multiple restaurant outlets, consider switching to the Whale SpaceSight Pro plan, which offers video surveillance integration. This feature lets owners and store managers monitor operations and gather foot traffic insights remotely, without needing to be physically present across different venues.

Automating your in-store analytics lets you gain real-time, actionable insights. This helps you make smarter decisions about layout, marketing, and staffing — ultimately driving efficiency and revenue.

3. Automate Your POS System

A modern Point-of-Sale (POS) system does more than process transactions — it acts as the digital backbone of your restaurant operations. Automating your POS ensures that orders, payments, and inventory updates are seamlessly connected across your front and back of house.

Boost Efficiency With EPOS

Cloud-based POS systems such as EPOS integrate with external platforms, including delivery services, accounting software, and other third-party tools to create a connected ecosystem for your restaurant. This eliminates the need for manual data entry, reduces human error, and offers visibility across channels.

EPOS’ Grow and Turbo packages have all the essential features an F&B venture needs to increase its store efficiency. It offers a QR code ordering system, which is a plus point for restaurants dealing with a manpower crunch. EPOS provides training for managers and cashiers and offers prompt customer support, ensuring a smooth setup and onboarding process.

An integrated POS system simplifies management, enhances efficiency, and keeps every part of your business — from front-of-house to accounting — working in sync.

Your F&B Solution for Automated Efficiency

Automation is no longer a luxury in the fast-changing F&B industry; it’s a necessity for staying efficient and competitive. By digitising key tasks like reservations, analytics, and POS management, restaurant owners can focus more on what matters — delivering great food and a memorable dining experience.