Mobile Order & Pay for inside table service

[adamj]

Good Afternoon Toasters!

Is anyone using MO&P for casual upscale.  Are you having any guest challenges? any suggestions of best practices.

[FarmerTJC]

Curious as to what kind of per person average you are running?  We're trying to understand if this can work for a fairly upscale operation, that would be selling wine by the bottle, in an affluent Chicago suburb.  The clientele is more Gen X/boomer than Millennials.   Can we make this work at a $65 per person average?  

[josh212]

@FarmerTJC You can easily do it as a hybrid model. and have a clean QR code near somewhere on the table or with the oils or something. It creates a better experience, how many times does someone not want to wait for a weeded server and goes up to the bar and gets a drink themselves creating havoc among who gets the tip for the one drink. Also thebiggest opportunity for most restaurants is taking to long to close a guest or pick up a check, thats also when people get ancy or are rushing. I love being able scan and pay. Or if I'm running arround I could tell guests no rush just whenever you can scan that QR code on the wall for your check. Just dont forget to claim your loyaltypoints

[FarmerTJC]

The concept is fairly upscale;  we are shooting for a PPA over $50 so I don't want to have any concept disconnects;  I don't want to make our guests feel like its fast casual or a QSR.   However, I want to make it possible for the guests to order another glass of wine, a second cocktail or dessert without needing the server to stop by.

[FarmerTJC]

I'm considering it.   My personal opinion is it depends a lot on your guest base and their demographics.  I tested it a year ago and it was problematic for the guests.  If you have an older guest base, you might have more resistance to it.   Here's an example;  my two restaurants Farmhouse and Farm Bar both have a largely educated and affluent clientele.  However, Farm Bar is more downtown and the guests are, on average, about ten to fifteen years younger than Farmhouse.  

So we've implemented Sunday an app that allows a guest to immediately pay their bill at any point, without needing the assistance of a server.   About 50% of our Farmhouse Evanston customers use it;  about 70% of the Farm Bar customers use it.

Another question is special instructions;  how much capability does the mobile ordering have to address this?  Remember, guests aren't trained on POS.  

Depending on your price point and positioning, there's additional questions about guest interaction and hospitality... We are reconcepting a restaurant and taking it substantially upscale (looking for a 50% increase in PPA).  Having the guests order for themselves through their phones when I'm targeting a $50 PPA seems a disconnect. 

We are using Toast handhelds in the restaurants;  Maybe the fault is with us, but our impression is the quality of our guest interaction has declined and our per person average has declined.   The servers can become 'order takers' and aren't interacting with the guests in the same ways they would have done before handhelds. 

However, I believe that tip credit wages are going away in the next few years so operators need to figure our new models to stay in business.   Technology must be part of the solution.  

Just my thoughts for what they are worth.  

[FarmerTJC]

I've been thinking about implementing a hybrid model.  Check started by the server, but the guest can add on to the check by ordering through their phone.  Trying to find someone at Toast to talk about this idea.