Can’t Touch This: How You Can Provide a Contactless Dining Experience

Guest expectations have significantly changed over the last 6 months and it’s crucial for restaurants to consider their varying needs. With more guests living a touch-free lifestyle, contactless dining is making its way into our favorite restaurants.

According to a recent study, 1 in 7 Americans (13%) will only dine out at restaurants with contactless dining solutions. Not only does technology provide a more seamless dining experience, but it also helps restaurants deliver a safe contactless experience.

From menus to payments, here are 5 ways your restaurant can adopt contactless technology and go digital:

You’ve Arrived: A Virtual Waitlist

No more crowds of people waiting at the hostess stand to be seated. Remember when you would hand a buzzer to your guests that they would return when it started lighting up? Find the right software or technology that allows guests to add their names to a virtual wait list so your host can call or text the guests when their table is ready. Here are some apps that can help you organize reservations and make waiting for a table more pleasant.

Time to Eat: A Contactless Menu

No more shared menus. Time to get innovative and go digital. Having to manually type in a web page can introduce a lot of frustration. By placing a QR code on your tables and using a solution like Paerpay, guests can bring up the menu on their smart phone and instantly be taken to the relevant page when they are scanned. Have fun with it! These menus can be interactive, quickly updated to reflect menu changes, and even feature special offers. Try using engaging content and go beyond just displaying text on your menu.

Worth Every Penny: Contactless Payments

In today’s world, having the ability to accept payments without physical contact can mean the difference of a guest dining with you or your competitor. Replace processes that require handling cash, checks or credit cards and make contactless payments a breeze. With services like Paerpay, your guests can split the check, tip their server and pay by phone with the payment sent directly to the POS system.

Pen and Paper Is So Last Season: Contactless Reviews

Just because you’ve gone digital, doesn’t mean you can’t still relish in the restaurant love your guests usually leave on comment cards. Restaurants are serving guests who are more digitally enabled than ever before. By linking a QR code to your Yelp or review page, you can ensure your guests are heard without having to use a pen and paper. Plus, those positive reviews are a great way to encourage new comers to visit your restaurant!

Be Right Out: Contactless Curbside Pickup

For those who are still hesitant to dine-in at a restaurant, curbside pickup has proven to be a safe and successful way for guests to continue to have their favorite eats while practicing social distancing. But what happens when customers are calling from the parking lot which results in tying up the restaurant phones? By adding a QR code to parking lot signs or adding links to their electronic receipts, your guests can initiate curbside delivery without in-person contact.

From digital ordering and payment to minimizing the number of shared surfaces and objects, touchless technology represents a new way of dining – while also providing exceptional service. Consumers have clear expectations about what will make them feel safe when ordering from or dining at a restaurant. By removing the need to share menus, touch receipts and hand over credit cards, you can keep your staff and guests safe and happy.

Dining alliance can help

By joining Dining Alliance, operators can get exclusive pricing on contactless solutions like Paerpay. We work with independent operators to ensure they stay competitive by lowering their costs and increasing quality. Want to learn more? Contact us! We’d love to meet you.