Confused with the technology revolution that is taking place every now and then? Stop worrying. This article talks about the five key technologies that might create an awareness among the restaurateurs like you on the trending customer contact intensive business using which you can satisfy your patrons in every step and turn your new visitors into regular customers.

1. iPAD POS

With the traditional POS system there also prevails certain disadvantages where the staff have to manually take the orders in a paper and move to the POS system, enter the orders received and send it to the Kitchen which is time-lagging and sometimes prone to errors. Also the customers feel insecure fearing of fraud acts that might take place when their credits cards are being taken away and used for payment.

iPad POS overcomes all these disadvantages in an attractive and well-organized way. It enables the laborers to take note of the orders directly into iPad POS from the table side and transfer it to the Kitchen instead of manually writing the orders in a paper and then entering it into the POS. It reduces the wait time. The laborers can concentrate on selling more. Moreover as the iPad is portable it can be brought to the table and transactions can be made directly in front of the customers enabling onscreen signature. In addition it keeps track of the employees' clock in and clock out time, employees' sales summary, attendance and reservations. Splitting bills, linking tables and inventory control using POS scale and bar code scanner for scanning each item, are made easy with a single touch.

iPad POS Systems: Shopkeep, TouchBistro, Revel, Ambur POS and Bindo.

2. ELECTRONIC MENU CARD

With the e-menu card the customers no more need to wait for the waiters to come and describe them the items in the paper menu. Instead they can visually see the HD images of the items with description on ingredients and allergens. It reduces the great deal of time in ordering. Additionally it enables effective feedback and loyalty programs. The restaurateurs can update their menu according to the specialties and availables at any time. A recent survey by Alixpartners talks about people's choice on dining out where 22% of customers opt for restaurants with e-menu technology and 12% opt for restaurants with digital loyalty programs.

3. ONLINE ORDERING AND RESERVATIONS

The restaurateurs can choose whether to use a third party medium or their own system for online ordering and reservations based on their facilities. Customers can reserve tables and order food prior to their arrival to the place through online reservation systems based on the reviews available about each restaurant, eliminating the wait time; for the tables to get cleared and after ordering the food in restaurants. This facilitates the restaurateurs to save time and get more customers to their place. In recent days Restaurants using Facebook as a platform for online ordering and reservations have started gaining popularity.

On the other hand every restaurant has started developing their own restaurant's Smartphone app available for iPhone, iPad, android phones, google play store and amazon app store which makes the customers feel convenient to order and reserve for table as every one has an easy access to all these technologies. For example, Domino's Pizza witnessed 30% boost in their sales through their Spanish language ordering app making it convenient for the people who could speak only Spanish. English version of the app is also available.

Third party ordering tools: OpenTable, Bookatable, SeatMe and TableSAVVY.

4. ELECTRONIC PAYMENT

Electronic payment technology built specifically for this hospitality industry would be a solution for the restaurateurs who are searching for easy payment solution. The patrons can download the app which provides the electronic payment system before or after entering a particular establishment. It is a link between the POS system available in the restaurant and the app which enables the patrons to view their bills with split checks, make transactions and invoice management when they are inside the dining hall or even after departing from there. It eliminates the need to pay cash and credit card frauds. Pre-payment for the food before eating the meal is an emerging trend today which vanishes the inequality between the tipped and un-tipped staff.

Digital payment Tools: Tabbed out, Square, Paypal, Cover and Settle

5. GUEST MANAGEMENT TOOL

This tool is keenly developed for efficiently putting a full stop to the dis-satisfactions caused due to the wait times for tables. Patrons crowd outside the dining place waiting for tables to get cleared. Earlier the staff used to take note of the patrons' name in a paper and yell for the names when the table is ready. Later paging system was introduced where customers are provided with individual pagers and signaled when the table is ready. It sometimes lead to lost pagers where customers don't return to the place.

Wait list management tool will replace the paper lists and the pager system. The different wait list tools comes with different features;

Either the customers can put their names in the app before they arrive at the place, keep track of the status and wait in their homes until the table is ready or the customers can arrive at the restaurants and get their names and phone numbers registered by the staff and go out until the wait time is over. In both the features the customers are notified with text messages, calls or voice messages which are sent to their smart phones to notify them that their tables are ready.

Guest Management Tools: Table's Ready, WaitAway, NoWait, BuzzTable and Qless.

OTHER TOOLS WHICH ALSO ARE GAINING POINTS

Have you choosed the right technology for your restaurant to solve the consumer issues?