Top of the morning, folks! Welcome to another edition of The Fix, a bi-weekly newsletter chock full of need-to-know industry news and tips for improving your restaurant operations.

This summer, make your customers go googly-eyed over quick service, smooth operations, and maybe a bot or 2.

(Why did you get this email? You've engaged with ResQ in the past, and we're betting you'll get value out of this totally not boring, juicy newsletter. If you hate the news, you can unsubscribe at the bottom. No hard feelings. 🙏)

What's on tap in this issue:

• Kitchens driving clucking awesome experiences 
• Kitchen bots: Yay or nay?
• Preventative R&M 🤝 Customer experience

Heading to Vegas or Nashville in August? Come spot the ResQ team in the wild — we'll be at the Paris Baguette Convention in Vegas and R365's Restaurant Transformation Tour in Nashville. We'd love to say hi.

Reply to this email if you'll be around and want to hang out with us. 👋 

— Christina, Koby, & Sam​​​​​

​​​​​Industry news

What's cookin' in the industry?

These tasty bites of restaurant industry news will WOW your customers. 🙌

Love that kitchen from Popeyes 🎶

Popeyes is making their customer experience more consistent… starting in the kitchen.

They've launched "easy-to-run" kitchen conversions with 30 tweaks to treat their customers.​​​​​​

• Their test kitchen is decked out with upgraded tech, retrofitted equipment, updated kitchen layouts, and simplified processes. New equipment even allows for automated chicken battering, which is less labor intensive and gets those cluckers out faster to customers. 
• The plan is to scale the new kitchen design to the entire system later this year and into 2025. The conversions can be knocked out in a few nights and don't require restaurant downtime during the day.

A little innovation goes a long way. Where can you simplify kitchen processes to lighten your team's load? Speedier, more accurate service boosts morale and CX in a single swoop. And as you know, that directly impacts ⇧ your sales.

Restaurant Robots: Yay or Nay? 

With today's tech and the desperation to cut costs, restaurant robots are rising up to enhance customer experience through speedier service. The reception's been spotty, though.

In the world of fancy-schmancy drinks, it's a "Yay"…

Botrista's DrinkBot machine allows restaurants to serve boujee, high-dollar cold drinks like boba, cold brew coffee, and smoothies without hiring or training specialized staff.

• It seriously shaves down wait times by mixing made-to-order drinks in about 20 seconds. 
• A bot machine whipping up cold, frothy drinks in a flash? Apparently, it's a Yes, please. ✋ So far, Botrista has raised a cool $120 mill in capital. 

When it comes to burgers, some say "Nay"...

Hasta la vista, baby? 🤖 

Aniai's Alpha Grill automatically cooks burgers from both sides and slides them into a warming tray.

• Burger bots have been a hard sell in North America. U.S. owners have been hesitant to bring a burger bot into the mix. Maybe they think customers prefer humans grilling their burgers?

​​​​​​Timely tips ​​​​​

🍟 Be ready when the fried frenzy calls. Deep fryer maintenance is a must.

• A commercial deep fryer can last up to 10 years. But ONLY if it's well-maintained. It's the worst to turn away a customer jonesing for fries or chicken strips. 
• Preventive maintenance on your deep fryer saves money, avoids downtime, and lets you serve up fried goodness aplenty. Use tech to track equipment maintenance so you can focus on giving customers an unforgettable experience worth sharing! 

🤝 HVAC systems & happy customers go hand-in-hand. Ditch reactive repair for proactive maintenance.

• Yes, BOH operations, like HVAC systems directly impact your customers' experience in 3 ways:

1. Food Safety: Your restaurant's rep depends on this. A properly functioning HVAC system can maintain the right storage and prep area temps, helping prevent food spoilage and foodborne illnesses.

2. Air quality: A well-maintained HVAC system removes contaminants from the air and sustains consistent air quality, humidity, and temperature. This can help prevent mold and stinky odors, which are sure to have customers heading for the door.

3. Staff morale: Your staff's work environment impacts morale, efficiency, and their "tude" toward customers. A hot, sweaty kitchen can turn even the kindest employee into an irritable snit.​​

From the community

Due' Cucina's Messy Lesson from Parade Day Disaster

Due' Cucina brings Italy's heart, soul, and authentic taste to local neighborhoods in the Seattle area. Today, they have 4 locations with plans to add 30 more.

But everything wasn't always fantastico. Quite the opposite, actually. 

In Due' Cucina's early days, a vendor failed to do jetting maintenance, causing a major sewage backup during the annual Pride Parade weekend. 

The parade was its busiest day of the year, bringing in 50% more business than usual. Thousands of potential customers skirted by their storefront as the chaos ensued.

Instead of serving loads of customers, they had to call out an emergency repair that cost them $3,600. Then, they had to shell out MORE bucks to hire a cleaning crew to sanitize everything.

It was an expensive (smelly) day.

Today, with ResQ on their side, they can easily confirm maintenance jobs are completed by reliable, vetted vendors. That's right… No more lost customers due to missed preventative maintenance!

Break time

Don't worry about remembering HVAC maintenance. Your HVAC will remind you. 😉

When your restaurant becomes an impromptu sauna, customers might not be fooled into thinking it's a hip twist on dining. ​​​​​​

— ResQ team

Know someone who'd gobble this info up? Forward this email to a peer!

Liked this email? Reply and let us know what you think!​​​​​​

Shameless plug

What does ResQ do?

ResQ is the ONLY facilities management platform that streamlines restaurant R&M operations and enhances oversight. Operators can efficiently track assets, create work orders quickly, and choose from a network of quality vendors to work with.

Love free samples? We do, too. Schedule a FREE demo to see how ResQ can help you kick R&M chaos to the curb.