What Is a Pop Up Diner? Can I Start My Restaurant From One?

Learning about what a pop up diner is and how they get started is a fascinating journey for diners and restaurateurs alike. Springing up in unexpected places, these allow food aficionados of all walks of life to enjoy cuisines and entrees never before experienced, and in unique and engaging surroundings. But can pop up dining events translate into a restaurant dining experience with a realistic long-term successful outlook? Can it be done without sacrificing the “wow” factor within a pop up experience?

Keeping up the appearance of improvisation while in a static location looks like a challenge on the surface. However, just as improv comedy clubs can succeed, so can your ability to provide an improv, pop up diner experience within a restaurant also succeed. This will require having a powerful POS technology foundation in place; one that checks off the most important boxes for making dining in your restaurant an event that cannot be missed.

Menus Must Be Diverse and Engaging: Here’s How

So how do you determine what should be on your menu, or how often the menu must be refreshed? Do you know how many options should be listed, or if it is better to offer a scheduled course listing for a flat fee? These pieces of information are vital to the successful conversion from pop up diner to fully functioning restaurant and will require you to possess the ability to constantly monitor sales, inventory, and customer preferences to retain status as a top-tiered engagement restaurant.

The most innovative POS tools available for today’s restaurant environment will present you with multiple options for advanced data management. With data being king in modern business, your success will be directly related to the type of data you obtain, how you store it, and having the ability to access and analyze it with minimal limitations. This makes it imperative that your POS system is cloud-based and supports the gathering of data from every area of your business.

Having a full complement of data, from customer sales to ingredient usage, will provide you with the required insights to construct and update your menu. Important supporting factors to a successful menu, such as when to change options, what to offer, and ingredient availability or freshness, will enable you to stay ahead of customer expectations. You will be able to continue to introduce menus that come with a wow factor while maximizing the quality of the food you serve.

Allow the Kitchen Staff to Focus on the Food

The creation of inspiring menu options will serve to draw people through your doors. But it will be the food that you serve that causes them to come back. This makes it imperative that your kitchen staff, from those working in the food preparation area and on through into the service area, can keep their focus on the tasks in front of them. You need to minimize distractions in the kitchen, such as seeking clarification on an order or reviewing inventory, in order to maintain a high level of food quality.

A tablet-based kitchen display system (KDS) will enable your kitchen line workers to remain at their posts throughout their shift. Orders will be accurately represented on the mounted tablet in front of them, drastically reducing mistakes in the meal preparation process. Also, this will provide them with exact guidance as to the number of ingredients that should be used when preparing a meal, keeping the taste consistent from plate to plate and providing a highly predictable inventory model.

The use of a KDS will almost eliminate ordering errors and will add a high-performance element to your business model. This quickens the pace at which orders are filled, giving you faster table turnaround times in the dining room, thus allowing you to service more customers. The KDS you select must seamlessly integrate into your POS system, which in turn must provide the waitstaff on the floor with the proper technology to make the service in your restaurant shine brightly.

Give Your Waitstaff the Tools Necessary to Provide Quality Service

The conduct and service provided by your waitstaff contribute the most to a customer’s dining experience. Incorrect orders or not properly communicating specials or menu changes will reflect poorly on your brand, making it difficult to retain a customer even if the meal served is absolutely stellar. Giving your waitstaff the right tools for the job will help to head off any faux pax’s by your waitstaff while empowering them to take the level of service they provide to the next level.

Your cloud-based POS technology will give you two powerful tools to leverage during the ordering process. A POS-integrated online menu, and the ability to equip your staff with tablets, place the perfect ordering process in their hands. Implementing this technology strategy allows your staff to bring order and pay process to every customer, promoting faster and accurate service to coincide with the presentation of a menu that has up to the minute accuracy.

Servers will be able to pull up valuable information of the customer as well, including items like birthdays or past dining histories. This provides the server with pertinent information that is useful for improving the overall dining experience, including making helpful suggestions for those indecisive ordering moments, or to surprise a customer having a birthday with a chorus of Happy Birthday while being presented with a special birthday treat.

So, What Is a Pop Up Diner? The Answer Is Ultimately Up to You

The great thing about running a pop up diner is that you have complete control over the cuisine and atmosphere being offered. However, bringing your show in from the road will require you to have more vigilance over a dining experience to keep your brand exciting and fresh. Taking this approach with your brand will be made easier and highly responsive through the use of POS technology that supports your restaurant from kitchen to table.

Are you still wondering “what is a pop up diner?” The consultants at talech can not only help answer that question, but can also provide you with solutions and next steps. We create a powerful blend of cutting-edge POS tools for your use so that you can turn your focus back to your customers.