Providing a Seamless Customer Check Out Experience with new payment technologies.
GAAP Point-of-Sale
GAAP Point of Sale (Pty) Ltd leads the market in point-of-sale development.
Article: Hostex Conference
Date: 3 March 2024
Author: Paul Kent
Position: CEO adumo
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In a contemporary, fast-paced business environment, time equates to money, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the restaurant industry. Consumers now demand seamless, efficient, and timely interactions throughout the entire reservation, ordering, preparation, delivery, and payment processes.
While technology is steering the consumer experience globally, the challenges faced in developed markets, such as labour costs and shortages, differ significantly from those in South Africa. Despite the captivating introduction of Bella Bot, an automated waiter in 2021, the prospect of replacing human waitstaff with robots remains distant in South Africa.
With a focus on meeting consumer demands I have used the examples below on how innovation in South Africa is improving the consumer journey in QSR (quick service restaurants) and FSR (full-service restaurants) industry.
Reservations
Improving the consumer experience and significantly benefiting a restaurant’s bottom line - Is all about convenience and simplicity, using digital tools such as mobile apps. The convenience of a mobile APP such as Dineplan when making reservations has seen telephone bookings decline by 7.5% and online bookings rise by 9.3% in 2023. The introduction of automated booking reminders and deposits, not only for high end restaurants is becoming a norm across restaurant types, is reducing no shows from an industry average of 20% to 1.6%.
Ordering
The ordering options are ever increasing with many FSR (full-service restaurants) still opting for waiters with notepads, but we are starting to see efficiencies with the introduction of QR menus and ordering systems, preorder apps, or waiter services using smart devices that are connected to the point of sale and double up as payment devices. If you are targeting millennials, a self-service kiosk is a must, more suited to QSR (Quick Service Restaurants) than FSR according to research conducted by Toast, "54% of Millennials say self-ordering kiosks improve the restaurant experience."
QR Code
QR codes, easy to set up and cost-effective, are playing a pivotal role in streamlining operations. Dynamic QR codes, capable of redirecting to a URL page/site, facilitate updates and amendments without altering the code. Utilising the same URL or a mobile APP for pre-ordering, digital menus, enriched with images, special offers, and analytics, reduce costs associated with printing. Furthermore, incorporating ordering and payment systems within digital menus enhances customer interaction, reduces errors, and fosters loyalty.
The digital menu can be enhanced to include an order and payment system that reduces errors and increases customer loyalty.
Order/ Pay at Table
A streamlined ordering process improves table turnover rate and increases revenue and technology can assist to optimise the process. While a QR code is dependent on the customer using his/her own device, equipping waiters with mobile devices that are integrated into the POS and restaurant operations to take and process the order is as extremely efficient. These are doubling up a payment device and the ability to quickly close the table immediately upon receipt of payment, reduces the time to present a bill and removes the need to shared payment devices across waiters, a frustration to many restaurant patrons.
Self-service kiosk
Interactive kiosks can provide an opportunity for customers to browse menus, customise order and make payment at their own pace while automating processes and decreases the likelihood of errors. The ability to standardise or personalise add-on recommendations based on customer selection improves the upselling opportunities, increases average order values thereby increasing revenue. According to recent US studies, McDonald’s customers spend 30% more at kiosks than at the counter or drive-thru window.
Preparation
While BellaBot gains a lot of publicity, the displacement of waiters within the hospitality sector is far off. Robotics are primarily used in the back office replacing repetitive task that create efficiencies in the restaurant. Within QSR segment, the introduction of robotics has created the biggest impact on food preparation with restaurants in US such as Chipotle, Sweetgreen, and White Castle are using robotics to automate mundane and highly repetitive tasks such as peeling avocados and frying potatoes. The Sweetgreen Huntington Beach, California, store uses kiosks to process orders and a robot-powered assembly line that can crank out up to 500 salads per hour. That's roughly 50% more output than a team of staffers preparing dine-in and digital orders. Additionally, greater accuracy in food preparation will help to reduce food waste. Food waste is a huge problem in America, with 4-10% of purchased food never reaching the customer. Moreover, if you’re looking for a QSR software for restaurant, you must understand that automation contributes significantly to maintaining consistent taste and quality. Venture capitalists invested $364.5 million in kitchen robotics in 2022, according to PitchBook and US VCs invested $153.7 million as of September 30, 2023.
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Check-out
We are increasingly seeing signs at retailers such as Starbucks and PNA informing customers that they are “Cashless”, and Woolworths Cafe’s announcement in January that it is going cashless stirred a lot of debate. To support the debate, we need to first understand the payment options available and the drivers of going cashless. While it may appear straightforward and hassle-free, when you break down the cost of accepting cash, it’s not as simple as you might think. For businesses that have stopped accepting cash altogether, the benefits of reduced costs, time savings, and operational efficiencies can be significant. The cash replacement technologies that exist today simplify and secure the payment process, leading to fewer errors in processing, accounting and security. According to international studies, considering cash handling fees, errors, theft and security concerns managing cash for SME’s can cost between 5 and 15%. By relying on digital payments rather than cash, businesses can improve their overall operations and bottom line and with a large portion of the South African population having access to a bank or bank card and an extensive range of digital payment options available cashless stores should be gaining traction. When it comes to payment options, more choice is better, with contactless, wearables, QR payments, digital wallets and mobile payments gaining popularity.
In a recent VISA article, Lineshree Moodley, country manager for Visa SA, noted 72% of all face-to-face transactions globally were contactless. “In South Africa, more than 50% of all digital transactions were contactless. Contactless and mobile payments are really reaching new highs across consumers in South Africa.” But when it comes to payments, using Diners, VISA, Mastercard, Amex, Applepay or Payshap is only one piece of the puzzle and the consumer interaction being the other. Option such as “Pay at table” using QR or a payment device provides an efficient check-out experience for customers, and connecting the payment device to your point-of-sale software removes waiter errors and closes the table, improving the turnaround between seatings.
Integrated Payment Solutions: Beyond Simplicity
Integrated payment solutions make the checkout process significantly more seamless and straightforward. But beyond pure simplicity, integrated payments also offer other important benefits for your restaurant:
? Fast, efficient checkout: The most obvious benefit of using integrated payments is that it saves time, for the customer this means an improved experience and the restaurant means increased table turns. It also makes end of day reconciliation quick and easy.
? Improve the Customer Experience: An integrated payment processing solution essentially acts as a detailed customer database for your restaurant because it can track valuable information such as previous transaction history. In turn, you can use this information to improve your customer service with personalised promotions, suggestive selling, and even targeted marketing campaigns.
? Reduce Errors: While some restaurants can get by with non-integrated payment systems, they are leaving themselves vulnerable to frequent data entry errors. And these mistakes could end up costing you more and increase the risk of chargebacks. Integrated payment solutions easily eliminate this risk of error because all the customer and transaction information are synced automatically and accurately.?
? Strengthen Security: Provides added security layers, such as EMV, tokenization, and end-to-end encryption, reducing the risk of fraud.
? Increased Gratuities: Including a tipping or gratuity prompt on the payment device increase gratuities to restaurant staff, improving employee happiness.
Closing the loop with customer feedback
The competitive nature of restaurants means that customer interaction does not end when the customer leaves your restaurant. An engaging loyalty program will help develop a group of loyal customers who, will act as your brand ambassadors and bring successful referrals to you. Feedback, whether positive or negative, can help restaurant owners determine the viability of their business. With restaurants now on more digital platforms than ever, receiving customer feedback has become a easy and efficient. If you overlook incorporating constructive feedback in your plans, you are missing out on a huge opportunity.
Conclusion
The golden thread running through various stages of the customer payment process, from reservation to each subsequent stage, enhances the consumer experience. Facilitating payment at each stage not only removes friction but also eliminates costly cash transactions from the business, marking a significant stride towards a seamless and profitable future for the South African restaurant industry.
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