The pen-and-paper guestlist is in decline, the restaurant technologies are on the rise. Restaurateurs only have to look over and glance, to observe how their customers are spending a great deal of time on their smartphones while waiting for tables.
From e-commerce to text messaging, digital technologies are everywhere in the hospitality industry’s consumer base. We explore some of the ways restaurant technology is keeping current with today’s customer demands.
Need advice on how your restaurant can keep up-to-date with current guest demands? Read more about specialist restaurant techniques and methods such as standby seating to keep restaurant tables full.
Customer Convenience is Paramount
Today’s service economy favours a fast and instant world. From Google search to next-day deliveries, consumers are now accustomed to waiting very little for getting what they want.
How can restaurants compete in such a speedy environment? Nowadays the pressure is on restaurants to provide customers with a zero-hassle experience, ensuring that new guests encounter top-level service delivery.
Unfortunately, an age-old restaurant tradition is preventing and stagnating a general push forward in the industry’s growth: a fixation on the pen-and-paper guestlist.
Many restaurateurs feel that because it is an old-school method that the pen-and-paper guestlist is the only way to do business. Customers on the other hand prefer it otherwise.
Today, restaurants reluctant to adopt technology are dramatically out of step with their customer base. They’re also lagging behind neighbouring industries at large. Service businesses from airlines to beauty salons have already adopted electronic booking systems — so why not restaurants?
The Impact of Long and Tedious Waiting Times
Putting customers through long, tedious wait times threatens to destabilise a restaurant’s income.
Imagine it this way. A popular, successful, and busy restaurant can become over-confident in the service it provides. Staff begin to care less about customer wait experiences, and the “worth the wait” comment often comes up in arguments on the restaurant’s ever-increasing wait times.
But this is not viable in the long term. Consumers eventually become tired of long waits. Ultimately, this has a negative effect on restaurant revenue.
For instance, a long wait can cause restaurant guests to leave early. Case studies have found that on average customers leave after thirty minutes of waiting time. One study went further: the researchers found that customers left after fourteen minutes of wait time.
Long waits can also lead to negative reviews online. A poor waiting experience dulls the guest’s overall experience. In other words, it sours the meal ahead. Restaurants must do their best to avoid these scenarios.
Lastly, long waiting times prevent more customers from arriving. It is a well-cooked myth that queues create more business for restaurants. Find out why this is untrue, and discover why restaurants need to cut down on customer queues as soon as possible.
What is Fear of Missing Out on Restaurant Technology?
FOMO, an acronym for fear of missing out, refers to a phenomenon, a feeling, in the digital age. When others are doing new, novel, and interesting things, we tend to worry that we’re being left behind.
But this feeling isn’t all that bad — nor is it new. Humans have always feared that others are excluding them from the fun. Taken seriously though, the idea of fear of missing out may qualify as a genuine anxiety, but it is also one that pushes us to do new things.
It is good to adopt new methods to get out there. Consider a famous case in the restaurant industry. An Italian chef Massimo Bottura at one of the world’s greatest restaurants has advised new hospitality businesses to “always keep evolving” and to always “find the new excellence”. Favouring novelty means shaking things up a bit — but that’s okay. To stay in business, restaurants need to experiment, evaluate, and evolve.
Think From a Customer’s Perspective
Competitive venues that have already felt the fear of missing out have long since adopted restaurant technologies to manage their guest lists. So restaurants that have remained stuck on pen-and-paper systems risk missing out on all the benefits their competitors are currently enjoying.
Generally speaking, these restaurants also risk running behind in an ever-evolving and ever-connected world that favours hi tech restaurant technologies.
Today’s customers are dynamic and experts in using smartphones. Fast food delivery, QR codes, and review apps are just some of the ways customers are interacting digitally with the hospitality industry.
This is what restaurants need to keep in mind: that the hospitality industry is competing with these services in terms of attention and engagement.
Picture a restaurant host stand. A likely scenario shows a line of people, who dot the restaurant’s floor. If they’re waiting for a table to become available, then they’re killing time. If they’re killing time, then they’re probably using smartphones as their murder weapon of choice — scrolling, surfing the net, and texting.
This is really how queues look these days. As such, restaurants are doing customers a grave disservice when they make customers stay and wait. Put yourself in their shoes. What would you do, hungry and ill at ease, when asked to wait for another ten minutes? The chances of staying put are very slim.
Carbonara App Caters to Guest Concerns
Now there is a free solution available to help restaurant guests battle the boring waits.
Clear and concise, Carbonara App is a restaurant technology solution, one of the most engaging in the hi tech restaurant industry. That’s because Carbonara App adjusts to the needs of all restaurants, great and small, and has a first-rate staff services team to help venues to fully use all of its features.
Carbonara App:
- Makes the wait more bearable. Guests no longer have to confront queues. They leave to return later, doing what they want for the remainder of the time. Therefore, wait times are more bearable, less painful.
- Increases guest confidence. Wait timers allow customers to beat the queue, knowing exactly when to return via an accurate system. Find out more.
- Allows guests to have more fun. Carbonara App empowers guests to have fun while they wait. Plus, when consumers are having fun, they like to spend money. Offer them a unique experience with Carbonara App’s drink pre ordering feature, a handy way for restaurant customers to order beverages while they wait.
Interested in employing online reservations? See our ultimate guide to help get you started and launch onto your restaurant’s website today, including comprehensive information on how to display a booking link on both Google Maps and social media platforms.
—
Let’s face it. Restaurants today are spending too much money on upkeep and maintenance to afford anything else. Contact us, and we’ll let you know how a free restaurant app can save you well-needed cash — especially in today’s hospitality environments.
