Trends in the Russian Horeca digitalization market

Current digitalization status

Since 2022, the market for catering enterprises has shown steady growth. According to open sources, in 2023 it increased by 10% compared to the previous year. The digitalization market is also growing in proportion to this, shared Violetta Gostishcheva, head of the Tavern department of SoftBalance.

According to the specialist, the main reason for the growth is the trend towards the "whitewashing" of catering, which is associated with tax reform, the requirements of the state information system for monitoring the turnover of goods (GIS MT) and the federal service for regulating the alcohol market (FSRAR), as well as with a lack of qualified personnel.

As a result, entrepreneurs are actively introducing automation and robotization of work processes, as well as using various technologies, such as menus on tablets, applications for self-ordering, including QR codes.

By, in to data SteadyControl 2024, about 13% of companies in the hospitality industry Russia are implementing solutions related to control and personnel management. Earlier, together with analysts hh.ru , SteadyControl experts revealed that 43% of managers at Horeca consider the current management system outdated and realize the need to implement technologies based on. AI Such information was provided by Dmitry Lebedenko, managing partner of SteadyControl Horeca.

In the medium term, we expect a doubling of the pace every two years, "he said.

According to analysts, Mintrocket the market volume of mobile solutions for Horeca in 2024 will amount to 4.6 billion rubles. By 2026, the company's experts predict an increase in the volume of the mobile solutions market in this industries up to 6.5 billion rubles. At the same time, most of the investments in digitalization are aimed either at creating sites, or at introducing specialized ones, CRM such as or iiko. R-Keeper

Heterogeneity of landscape

Mikhail Taran, Director of Industry Development Okdesk , noted that the level and depth of digitalization primarily depends on the scale and maturity of the business: firstly, regardless of the size of the restaurant state , it requires the introduction of digitalization, starting from the first check (it is necessary to purchase and register an online cashier and start working with the "honest sign"), and secondly, when opening even a small institution at the budget development stage, the owners immediately think about the choice CRM for communication with their customers and delivery services. Further, it is important to digitize the relationship with suppliers through. E-DOCUMENT FLOW To do this, there are specialized industry solutions, for example, Docsinbox.

The company's technical director KODE Nikolay Nikolenko noted that the Horeca market includes many companies of different sizes, and therefore the digitalization landscape is heterogeneous.

He said that the segment of large and most of medium-sized businesses is, as a rule, companies that use all the benefits of IT. They have EDO, internal digital services for employees and automation of processes, as well as to track and control the implementation of each iteration: check-in, cooking, sending an order to the kitchen, getting a courier to work, onboarding and personal account for employees. This is a large number of different services, a developed and diverse IT landscape within such companies.

The main areas of digitalization for this segment are the unification of various IT systems into single services with seamless interaction, data lakes and data storage systems, analytical systems with the ability to predict, deepen the integration and penetration of digital services at all levels, the implementation of their own services instead of those used now from other suppliers.

In the segment of small and only starting medium-sized businesses, the situation is different. Most often, they have a site or application for the end user, sometimes with very developed functionality, which distinguishes them from the total mass of the same companies. At the same time, digitalization can be basic inside: conditionally 1C for maintaining expenses and calculating salaries for employees, CRM for monitoring load and general statistics on orders. And all purchases - through farmers or on the market, with personal verification of the quality of products and conditional softness of mattresses.

However, in this segment you can also find a very high level of digitalization. This is facilitated by the widespread distribution of franchises, for which software and process description are the main value, as well as various coaches who teach how to do it right and according to the template. One of the reasons is the high availability of many ready-made IT solutions for this segment, as well as the general trend towards a new type of entrepreneurship, when all analytics are collected and considered, and decisions are made on the basis of data.

In general, in the industry, the degree of digitalization of document flow can be considered quite low, said Dmitry Lebedenko. According to the expert, the deep penetration of technology is characteristic of large centralized structures: distribution warehouses, kitchen factories, large mature chains.

One of the limiting factors in the growth of penetration of various CRM systems is the complexity of integrations. There are a lot of solutions on the market, however, as a rule, entrepreneurs stop at solutions provided by a cash software supplier, the use of which allows us to hope for a minimum number of accounting errors and more or less transparent analytics that do not go in line with accounting and management reporting. But the key factor is not the problems of technology, but the shortage of really working mechanics that lead to a business result: the depth of the check, the frequency of visits, etc.

Unfortunately, most cases of using loyalty systems simply lead to a decrease in the average check without any profit for business, - said Dmitry Lebedenko.

On the one hand, the restaurant business has already switched from traditional paper approaches to digital technologies, which is confirmed by revenue growth rates of 68.3% for 2023 of Russian digital services for the catering market^[1]. On the other hand, automation only affected what the state requires or what is "in plain sight."

At the same time, the issues of ensuring continuity in terms of automation are at a very immature stage and for many, in principle, they remain not even on the knee, but in theory, - said Mikhail Taran.

The landscape of digitalization of the industry is heterogeneous, says Valentin Dyachenko, head of the sales group at Kraion. Large chain establishments and modern restaurants in large cities have long switched to basic information and CRM systems. This makes it possible not only to simplify accounting and legal processes, but also to improve the quality of customer service through personalized offers and data analysis.

We see that the market is actively developing, and our experience confirms that the introduction of digital solutions in the restaurant business is not a question of "if," but "when," the specialist is convinced.

Barriers

EDO and CRM - these two sites are very different in terms of automation, said Dmitry Papin, CEO of iiko. According to him, most enterprises of the industry have long established the process of digitizing guests and ensuring communication with them. This directly affects revenue, so the motivation is great. To solve these problems, approximately the same mechanics are used, which means it is easy to automate. Therefore, in the CRM area, digitalization is at a high level. But with EDO, the situation is more complicated. There is no single format for all documents, it is difficult to create and maintain a universal tool that can completely rid counterparties of paper and manual data entry - which means that it cannot be affordable.

While manual labor is simply cheaper. Nevertheless, many local useful solutions have been created in this area, - said Dmitry Papin. - For example, we have an application in the iikoStore that can pick up invoices from any EDO in iiko and scan paper checks from stores.

In the restaurant segment, the drivers of the introduction of EDO are often large suppliers, thanks to which the business gets acquainted with the technology, Dmitry Lebedenko shared. According to him, having seen the first advantages, many entrepreneurs seek to get rid of paperwork, but there are a number of significant difficulties in the path of such digitalization.

Acceptance of goods can be carried out by employees without a digital signature and sometimes without the necessary equipment for acceptance. In some fast service networks, even a line staff can perform this function. Equipping each employee with a digital signature is quite problematic, taking into account the flow and interchangeability.

During the acceptance of goods, personnel, as materially responsible persons, identify undershoot/re-delivery, etc. Current solutions for correction of invoices in EDO are very complex and time-consuming. It is one thing to delete an item from the invoice or correct the quantity, sign and transfer it to the accounting department with a commodity report. Completely different - go to the application on the phone or walk to the computer, open an electronic invoice, "defeat" the unfriendly interface, etc. This takes a lot of time, and the requirements for the qualification of an employee have to be expanded with specific skills in EDO.

In the restaurant business, there is always a place for small purchases from suppliers who ship products only on paper invoices, or even at retail with commodity checks. Not all suppliers are ready to fully meet the stated requirements.

It is even more difficult to digitize the internal document flow, - said Dmitry Lebedenko. - Write-offs, transfers, capitalization, etc. - all this requires a legally significant signature, with which, as we already know, not everything is so simple. Some entrepreneurs may neglect this, but we do not advise following their example: jokes are bad with material responsibility.

According to the expert, with the development of business, especially when mastering new technologies, the vast majority of companies are faced with a lack of change management methodology. The lack of understanding of how to ensure the seamless introduction of a new tool into current processes and maintain a stable team performance leads to the fact that about 60% of innovations in companies fail. All this provokes sabotage by management of any changes in companies and significantly restrains the automation of processes, without which the business is not able to maintain a position in a highly competitive market.

In addition, he noted that the main problem areas in Horeca are associated precisely with personnel management, since today the average efficiency of employees in the food and hospitality industry does not exceed 40%.

Expert Mikhail Taran stressed that the key software for any restaurant today is the restaurant management system. At the moment, the most common solutions in the restaurant business of Russia are iiko and R-Keeper. According to data for 2023^[2], iiko occupies a significant share of the restaurant automation market, more than 66,000 establishments use it, R-Keeper also finds widespread use with more than 65,000 implementations around the world. It is important that both systems offer built-in tools for customer management (the same CRM) and integrate with specialized industry EDMs. This makes them not only suitable for modern market requirements, but allows you to optimize the cost of choosing individual solutions, their implementation and integration.

However, these solutions completely cover only the needs for restaurant automation regarding guests, staff, procurement management, and cost optimization. Automation issues for any catering enterprise today are much deeper. With the growth of business, it is necessary to organize the uninterrupted operation of restaurants and the organization of the so-called "one-window service" to solve all service issues: operation of the point, repair of equipment, both specialized, such as furnaces, coffee machines, etc., and general (refrigeration plants, MCDS systems, fire sensors, IT equipment, etc.).

Why is this important? There is no need to go far for examples. According to the federal network "Pomponchik"[3],[4] with non-working acquiring due[5] the lack of an Internet network, the loss of revenue of the institution is up to 60% per day, - said Mikhail Taran.

The mentioned catering automation systems cannot help in solving continuity issues, because they are not intended for this, the expert noted. Restaurants require specialized systems to automate service processes. Solutions of the class help desk or Service Desk not only make it possible to organize a "single window" for all applications and automate the processes of their execution (both by internal services and service contractors), but also provide convenient mobile applications of applicants for quick fixation of applications, checklists for standard or routine work, warehouse accounting modules integrated with 1C or My Warehouse system. It is with the help of these solutions that you can digitize all service processes and ensure the uninterrupted operation of restaurants.

According to the expert, for Russian catering, a characteristic feature is concern for cuisine, delivery and marketing with complete misunderstanding of how to organize and even more automate the processes of the back office and service: there are many nuances in these issues, it is difficult to find a contractor, etc. However, issues such as a broken toilet or flashing light bulb can lead to lower customer loyalty. And an inoperative coffee machine or cash desk that is idle for a couple of hours is a direct loss. Therefore, you need to think about automating service processes.

In addition, there are problems in the processes of organizing service support related to the lack of clear standards: applications are processed through dispatchers, a specialist is selected for a long time, there are no regulations and sequences in actions. All this leads to the fact that companies are making attempts to automate chaos. Management needs not only to be aware of how processes are currently going, but also to imagine how they will look after the implementation of automation.

A good and fast service is when an application for an incident is drawn up in a matter of seconds, an automatic selection of a service specialist takes place and the solution is provided within the agreed time frame, the expert noted.

As Violetta Gostishcheva said, many establishments and suppliers have been working with EDO for a long time and have felt the effect of using the technology. They also maintain customer bases in CRM, allowing them to be closer to their customers. However, conservative methods are still common.

According to Igor Vaag, Deputy General Director of ATOL, it cannot be said that the industry is completely digitalized. Many restaurants still use paper media, especially at the level of primary documentation and customer engagement. This is due to both the conservatism of some of the market players and the lack of comprehensive solutions that could meet all the needs of the business.

Шаблон:Quote 'However, we are seeing a steady trend towards digitalization, and more and more restaurants are moving to electronic document management, the expert noted.

According to him, the conservatism of some market players who are distrustful of innovation and prefer time-tested approaches is one of the key problems. In addition, the introduction of new technologies often requires significant investment, which is not always affordable for small restaurants. Also, difficulties arise when scaling custom solutions developed for the needs of a particular client. Under these conditions, the vendor has to carefully work out the issues of versatility and typical applicability of its products.

Dmitry Agamaliev said that for many catering enterprises the cost of developing their application remains quite high. The stakes on programmers are growing, so in the near future the cost of developing applications for Horeca will increase. Even some restaurant chains cannot always afford such solutions, not to mention eateries and single outlets. Meanwhile, even small establishments have a request to develop applications.

Domestic tourism growth

According to Nikolai Nikolenko, taking into account the rapid development of domestic tourism (1 ruble in tourism, according to him, generates up to 5 rubles in related industries) and the significant growth of the Horeca segment (due to the same 5 rubles), as well as the withdrawal from the market of familiar goods and brands, manufacturers now do not have time to master this segment to the full extent. And in order to understand in what niche there is a shortage of supply and begin to act in it, an in-depth analysis is not always needed.

Tourism and delivery platforms stimulate the development of the Horeca segment from construction (lack of number of rooms in the Russian Federation) to the final service for users.

Since 2022, the state has been actively stimulating the development of the hotel business, since there is a clear lack of room space in the Russian Federation, which is important for the development of domestic tourism, and domestic tourism is a significant item in increasing state income.

Due to the development of new tourist destinations and a general increase in demand, the state introduced financial support in the form of grants and subsidies for the construction of hotels and glamping, conducts events to attract tourists to the regions (the largest exhibition is the Regions of Russia at VDNKh), and also simplifies the receipt of licenses and permits for conducting hotel business. The state actively allocates land for hotels and glampings, and develops transport infrastructure in regions with high tourist potential.

With the increase in the domestic tourist flow, the development of the Horeca segment is proceeding at a huge pace, the market is both scaling current companies and their expansion into the regions, and the active growth of new companies, many of which are following the path of total digitalization and making all decisions based on data.

The current situation in general leads to an increase in demand for IT solutions: loyalty systems, booking management, CRM systems, comprehensive automation of internal processes and customer interaction processes. With IT, you can offer a personal service for your customers, and accurately follow their preferences and expectations. A considerable share in the demanded solutions is now played by solutions that ensure the security of personal data.

According to the expert, based on the growth of tourism, the development of delivery services, a possible economic crisis, 200-300 billion rubles is the minimum that business will be ready to invest in digitalization so as not to lose its current position.

Business needs to come up with new solutions for customers, and young and ambitious guys are stepping on their heels to make revolutions in these areas, - said Nikolai Nikolenko. - As a good example - Foodfox, which Yandex bought for ~ 500 million rubles and built Yandex Food on this base.

The growth indicators of the Horeca market correlate with the growth of tourism activity, said Dmitry Agamaliev. According to him, under the conditions of sanctions, the volume of domestic tourism is growing, territories in new regions of the Russian Federation are developing comprehensively, new apart-hotels are being built in Crimea, and the coast of the Sea of ​ ​ Azov may become a new place of attraction for tourists. The hotel and restaurant business is expected to grow here. All this affects the positive assessment of the potential of the Horeca digitalization market.

Growth in the share of online interaction: pros and cons

According to Alexander Zakordonets, a business partner in the edna IT company, with the departure from Russia Booking.com temporary chaos arose in the hotel market in communicating with customers: the usual model of interaction was broken, when both booking and communication were built through a single online service. Due to the fact that there was no replacement for the usual service at once, large restaurant chains began to introduce their own chats on sites to keep their permanent audience, and small hotels added the opportunity to contact through official channels in messengers: WhatsApp, Telegram and Viber.

We offer such companies a chat center that combines communication through all channels in a single workplace and retains the entire history of interaction with the client, the expert shared.

According to him, in the restaurant business, the development of its own delivery service led to the growth of online communication, especially in large network projects. The range of tasks that are set when organizing the service in chats and instant messengers has changed. If earlier the main thing was to improve metrics, for example, the time of the first response or indicators of the quality of service, now chats are becoming another advertising platform with the possibility of instant interaction with the brand. For example, when sending a personal promo, buttons for making an order are immediately integrated. While the messenger and chat channel in the application is not overloaded, this gives significantly higher conversion rates compared to Internet advertising, he said.

Valentin Dyachenko also noted that in the hotel and restaurant sphere the share of online interaction with customers is steadily growing. This trend is due not only to the development of technologies, but also to a change in consumer preferences. In the post-pandemic world, customers increasingly prefer online booking and remote interaction with services, which the specialist considers a positive trend, because online channels increase the convenience of using services, make it easy to book rooms or tables, choose services and receive support in real time. And companies that use CRM systems and online ordering platforms effectively can better manage customer relationships, offer personalized services and run marketing campaigns.

The specialist considers the need for increased attention to information security and personal data protection as the flip side of the coin to increase the share of online channels.

Violetta Gostishcheva also said that the share of online communication with customers in the field of hospitality and catering is growing. According to her, this is a positive trend, but one cannot do without human participation.

Dmitry Lebedenko, on the contrary, believes that a large share of online touches causes guests more inconvenience than benefit. A few years ago, an independent order in a restaurant looked like a very promising solution, he recalled. But the technology solves business rather than customer problems. Business can now do without a waiter, leaving runners who deliver orders and clean tables. However, this negatively affects the user experience, since guests are forced to do the work of the waiter instead of relaxing and enjoying the detailed service.

The same goes for the direction of robotic (smart) hotel service. According to the expert, this area has prospects only in the grassroots price segment, and attempts to fully automate the service are recognition of the business's own inability to manage employees.

Today offline is a new premium, - said Dmitry Lebedenko. - Do not try to automate the most valuable touches with the guest, forming the brand in the eyes of the target audience.

As Nikolai Nikolenko commented, smart hotel service is an integral part of the business service, which focuses on a high class of service and provides services for a high segment. In addition, the direction is relevant and in demand among businesses that want to reduce costs and dependence on personnel, providing a economical or comfortable level of service for the middle segment.

The demand for this is definitely growing now, "he said.

Also, according to the expert, the increase in the share of online interaction is not good or bad, since there is a change in the pattern of people's behavior, and the business is forced to adapt to it. Recognition, quality control, additional sales, user support is the minimum list that businesses need to adapt to the online segment so as not to lose revenue. In addition, for business, this is an additional opportunity to save time and cost, since digital technologies affect how people communicate: mobile devices and social networks have become the main communication channel for many.

The general trend has already been accurately formed by many companies - this is the transfer of all processes online and saving user time, - concluded Nikolai Nikolenko.

Notes