Mobile Payments: What Does It Mean For Your Restaurant?
Mobile payments are one of the newest and hottest trends in restaurant technology and are changing the way restaurants do business. Does your POS system work with mobile payments yet? If not, you may be missing out on business, and dollars.
Technology such as mobile payments can help streamline a lot of your daily operations to help things run more quickly and efficiently. If you’re on the fence about introducing mobile payments to your restaurant, here are three reasons you should be considering it.
Turn Tables More Quickly
When using mobile payment technology, tables turn an average of 15 minutes more quickly. Splitting the bill between parties used to involve lots of small bills, now it involves lots of credit cards, which is a pain for your server and time consuming to stand there swiping multiple cards. Make it easier for your guests to split the bill by letting them take care of it themselves. Using an app, customers can get their bill, split it between friends, and pay for it, all with a few taps and swipes right from their phones. They no longer need to wait for their server to come back to the table, ask for their bill, and wait for credit cards to process. Skipping this step entirely means that the server doesn’t even need to be involved in cashing out the transaction and can focus instead on excellent customer service. Tables are cleared more quickly and ready for another party in record time.
Your customers want it
If your customers are already using this method, then it’s time to get on board. People travel much lighter these days and are not carrying as much cash, if any at all. More and more, apps in their phones are even replacing credit cards. (Think Uber.) The next frontier for this convenience is dining out and barhopping around town. Picture a crowded bar, your customers can now finish their drinks, settle up and leave, without elbowing their way back to the bar. The faster you can be a leader in mobile payments, the faster you’ll be getting their business.
Ongoing Information
Mobile payments offer a lot of valuable data to the restaurateur, in real time. Restaurateurs can get a snapshot of the restaurant in real time, whether or not they’re physically there. See which servers have how many tables, how much money has come in so far that night, and how many people are waiting for tables. Real time data helps see if problems are isolated incidents, or recurring problems that need to be addressed. Mobile payments also allow for real time feedback, as payment prompts a review (that isn’t public) then and there. You can see a negative review before the guest has left your restaurant, giving you an opportunity to make it right before that person even leaves.
Whether your restaurant is in a college town and catering to millennials, or a more traditional fine dining restaurant with an older crowd, the ease of this technology makes doing business faster and more efficient.
