Rethinking the Hotel Restaurant: Behind the Tab with Kenneth Scharlatt

If you’ve stayed in a hotel recently, you’ve probably felt it.

The restaurant feels overpriced. Service is limited. In-room dining — if it exists at all — arrives in a paper bag instead of on a beautifully presented cart. The menu looks like it could be in any city in America. And what once felt like a small luxury of travel now feels transactional and underwhelming.

So what changed — and more importantly, how do we fix it?

In a recent discussion with hotel F&B consultant Kenneth Scharlatt, we explored how rethinking the hotel restaurant point of sale, identity, and service model can transform hotel food and beverage from a “loss leader” into a true profit center.

If you’re evaluating a new hotel POS system or trying to improve hotel restaurant performance, here’s what you need to consider.

Hotel food and beverage has long been treated as an amenity — a convenient add-on for overnight guests rather than a true revenue driver. But as guest expectations evolve, that mindset is becoming a liability.

The Problem: Hotel Restaurants as “Loss Leaders”

For decades, many hoteliers viewed restaurants and bars as necessary amenities — designed primarily to serve in-house guests. As Kenneth shared, hotel F&B was often seen as something that “crossed each other out” financially, with events and room revenue carrying the weight .

The result?

• Generic menus (think: burger, Caesar salad, steak frites)
• Limited connection to the local community
• Underinvestment in technology
• Slow, friction-filled service experiences
• In-room dining abandoned post-pandemic

Meanwhile, independent restaurants outside hotel walls were innovating — investing in digital ordering, local sourcing, experiential dining, and data-driven marketing.

Hotels, in many cases, stood still.

The Opportunity: Hotel Restaurants as Community Anchors

Today’s most successful properties are flipping the script.

Instead of asking, “How do we serve overnight guests?” they’re asking:

How do we become a destination for the local community?

That shift changes everything — from menu design to marketing to technology infrastructure.

It also requires a hotel restaurant point of sale system built for flexibility, not just legacy workflows.

Where Hotel POS Systems Create Friction

Many legacy hotel POS systems were built for a different era. They often:

• Require manual order entry for digital requests
• Lack integrated QR ordering
• Don’t support tableside handheld payments
• Make room charges complex or limited
• Operate separately from property management systems

This creates friction for both guests and staff.

Kenneth described a recent property that had completely abandoned in-room dining after the pandemic — not because guests didn’t want it, but because the operational model wasn’t sustainable .

The solution wasn’t eliminating service. It was modernizing it.

The Modern Hotel Restaurant Point of Sale in Action

At one independent hotel property, a digital ordering platform was implemented that tied directly into the hotel’s POS system .

Here’s what changed:

1. QR-Based Ordering Across the Property

Individualized QR codes were deployed:

• In guest rooms
• On pool chairs
• In cabanas
• In recreational areas

Each QR code was tied to a specific location, eliminating the need for guests to manually input room numbers or table identifiers .

The system automatically:

• Displayed location-specific menus (pool vs. in-room dining)
• Sent orders directly into the POS
• Triggered smart upsell suggestions
• Integrated payment processing, including room charge

The result? A frictionless guest experience and streamlined workflow.

2. Smarter Labor Allocation

Instead of staffing 8–10 servers at the pool, the hotel shifted to:

• Fewer servers for guest assistance
• Dedicated runners for food and beverage delivery

This reduced labor costs by as much as 50–70% for certain shifts — while increasing service speed.

For in-room dining, phone operators were no longer necessary. Orders flowed digitally into the hotel restaurant POS, and runners handled delivery.

Technology didn’t replace hospitality. It removed inefficiency.

Revenue Growth: What Happens When Technology and Identity Align

Technology alone doesn’t drive performance. It must align with brand identity and community positioning.

At the same property, the transformation went beyond POS:

• A regionally inspired menu was developed.
• Lunch service was added in a business district that previously operated only for breakfast and dinner.
• Direct delivery within a one-mile radius was introduced — without relying on third-party apps.
• Catering expanded beyond internal banquet events.
• Weekend brunch launched and quickly gained local recognition.
• A standalone restaurant website, SEO strategy, and social presence were created.

The impact?

• 40% quarter-over-quarter revenue growth
• Nearly 50% projected year-over-year growth

That’s what happens when a hotel restaurant point of sale system supports expansion instead of limiting it.

Why Hotel Restaurant POS Must Support Data and Marketing

One overlooked advantage of modern hotel POS systems is data ownership.

Instead of limiting guest Wi-Fi access to room number and last name, the property implemented a restaurant-specific login system that collected:

• Name
• Email
• Phone number
• Zip code

Why zip code? To distinguish local diners from hotel guests and build segmented marketing lists.

With that data, the hotel could:

• Promote brunch to nearby residents
• Send targeted offers to past guests
• Build loyalty campaigns
• Measure repeat visitation

Legacy hotel restaurant POS systems rarely make this easy. Modern systems must.

The Mindset Shift: From Amenity to Experience

Perhaps the biggest disconnect in hotel F&B performance isn’t operational. It’s philosophical.

As Kenneth explained, the industry has been slow to adopt technology out of fear that it reduces hospitality.

But in reality, the right hotel POS system enhances hospitality by:

• Eliminating wait times
• Enabling faster payment
• Supporting mobile ordering
• Allowing staff to focus on guest interaction instead of manual processes

Guests today expect experiential dining — even inside hotels. They want regional flavor, local sourcing, and seamless digital interaction.

If your hotel restaurant POS can’t support that, you’re at a disadvantage.

A 30-Day Challenge for Hotel F&B Leaders

If you’re rethinking your hotel restaurant operations, start here:

1. Walk through your restaurant as if you were a local guest. Would you choose to dine there?
2. Define your story. What makes your restaurant unique to your region?
3. Build local vendor partnerships that reinforce that identity.
4. Evaluate whether your current hotel restaurant point of sale system supports:
   
   • QR ordering
   • Room charge integration
   • Handheld payments
   • Location-based menus
   • Guest data capture
   • Direct delivery and catering expansion

Technology alone won’t fix performance. But the right hotel POS system unlocks the operational flexibility required to compete.

The Future of Hotel Restaurant Point of Sale

Hotel restaurants can no longer afford to operate as afterthoughts. In an era of diversified revenue streams, rising labor costs, and heightened guest expectations, they must function as standalone businesses that just happen to be located inside a hotel.

The properties winning today are those that combine:

• Community-driven identity
• Experiential dining
• Smart labor strategy
• Data ownership
• And a modern hotel restaurant point of sale system built for hybrid service environments

The shift is already happening. The question is whether your technology is ready to support it.

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