The National Living Wage is expected to receive an increase of 6.6% at tomorrow’s Budget, rising to £9.50 per hour from April of next year for those aged 23 and over, with 21 and 22 year olds expected to see their wage increased to £9.18. One concern facing the Hospitality industry is the rapid increase of running costs since the start of the pandemic, increasing by 13%, in addition to the significant debts taken on by respective venues and chains in the past 18 months. However, hospitality tech pioneers such as Ubamarket LTD are putting the case to the industry that the implementation of technology is pivotal to cutting costs in the industry, while streamlining both front and back of house practices.

As the hospitality sector continues to battle with the impacts of the pandemic, research from the card payment company Dojo has shown that 95% of venues in the UK are seeking to implement technology into their premises. Catalysed by the events of the last 18 months, hospitality technology has gone from a niche product, to an absolute necessity.

In a market that matured almost overnight, there’s no longer any room for an MVP (minimum viable product) as every food & beverage-based establishment now needs a sophisticated digital menu to facilitate a fully integrated end-to-end ‘order and pay’ solution. In creating NOMM, Ubamarket LTD went a step further with their ‘magic menu’ technology which brings the traditional menu to life, enabling customers to browse, build and even customise their order whilst choosing between table service, collection points, take-away or even home delivery.

A key differentiator is that the app is seamlessly and completely linked with the venue’s POS system and back office as well as being entirely modular, therefore compatible with loyalty and membership systems too. The benefit of this is two-fold. Firstly, every customer order is automatically routed to the main till system and kitchen so there’s no need for staff to use a tablet or manually ‘key in’ any orders. Secondly, venues can manage the app simultaneously with their POS so if staff update a menu, price or even ‘specials’ or offers, it’s immediately reflected in the app, in real time and can be pro-actively communicated as well.

Will Broome, founder of Ubamarket LTD and NOMM, has commented on the benefits of hospitality technology.

“Venues and technology providers have responded quickly by pivoting and creating an array of apps. However, as pinpointed by the concerns of those in the industry, technology providers now have to step in and provide solutions to ever-increasing costs faced by the hospitality sector.

“NOMM is a versatile, scalable and affordable all-encompassing app for the next generation of tech enabled hospitality, combining the best/simplest possible UX with the finest, most seamless fully integrated array of functions. Far more than a basic ‘MVP’, the NOMM app is an entire customer-facing tool, incorporating not only ordering and payment but also loyalty, communication, marketing, membership and customer relations all packaged up into a beautiful, aesthetically delightful, AI-enabled app which is designed to grow and evolve in line with any venue’s aspirations.”