7 Hidden Benefits of Table Service Apps For Hospitality Businesses🤫

Consumer behaviour has changed significantly over the last couple of years. Expectations of technology and business use of technology has changed forever. The hospitality industry is no exception.

The opportunities presented to food and beverage service businesses by a table service app are there for the taking. But only some business owners have connected the dots between the technology and the benefits to their business. Those who have stolen a march might prefer that we keep it a secret 🤫, but we are here to share seven hidden benefits of table service apps for hospitality businesses that your competitors don’t want you to know.

1. Reduce movement and help adhere to social distancing rules

OK, maybe this one isn’t a secret, but with needing to comply with social distancing restrictions at the moment, a table ordering app for hospitality businesses is ideal. Customers can take a seat, use a QR code to scan and browse your menu, meaning they don’t need to handle a printed menu, and then place their order and pay without ever having to leave the table.

2. Interactive digital menu

Digital menus are advantageous in more than one way. Firstly, given that the space on a sheet of paper or two isn’t your limit, you can more easily display a broad range of products and product information than on a printed menu.

Secondly, digital menus allow you to update product information on the fly if you need to. Suddenly run out of a dish that turned out to be more popular than planned? No problem, just disable it on your digital menu and save your customers the disappointment of trying to order something that is no longer available. If your ordering system is linked to your stock tracking, there may even be an option, like in LoyLap, for the automatic disabling of items once they sell out, which saves you and your team needing to think about it. 

3. Augment your service, create a hybrid customer experience and broaden your appeal

Let’s face it, a table ordering app isn’t a direct replacement for your front of house staff. Nor should it be! However, what an app does is allow your team to focus their time and efforts on the areas of guest service and experience that can’t currently be taken care of by technology. The critical thing to remember is that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. There is a balance needed between technology and the human touch to create the experiences that modern consumers are growing more inclined to expect. 

Additionally, given the current climate, some customers might want to go out and eat but prefer having limited contact. Similarly, others just always will appreciate the speed and convenience of being able to order digitally. Giving customers the choice of how they want to interact enhances their experience and broadens your businesses appeal.

4. Faster table turnover times

Efficiencies created from using a table service app allow you to maximise your takings from a days service. Customers don’t have to wait for a team member to become available and get their attention to place their order or pay, so there are faster table turnover times.

5. Eliminate ‘dine and dash’

Sadly, revenue loss from ‘dine and dash’ is something many food and beverage service businesses have faced. Unfortunately, it is also something that is much more common with outdoor dining. A table service app will help you eliminate the risk of ‘dine and dash’ and give you the peace of mind that when a customer places an order, they pay for it at the same time.

6. Increased order values

When using your table service app, customers have more time to browse your menu. They don’t feel rushed or flushed when placing their order with a staff member in a bustling restaurant or embarrassed about adding additional items to their order in front of everyone else. This, coupled with not needing to catch the attention of your team member to order extra drinks or order dessert, means that the overall size of the cover tends to be higher when orders are placed digitally through a table service app.

Your table service app may also have built-in ways to help you upsell and cross-sell through the use of targeted campaigns, increasing your average order value even further.

7. Collect better data

The data that becomes available to you from using a table service app is an asset. While you may already know essential top-level information like your busiest days and times of the week and roughly the most popular dishes during those times. Your table service app data can take those insights to another level with data on visit frequency and intervals, spend per visit against demographics, or by dish or drink preferences giving you business intelligence data to make informed decisions and grow.

If you are considering an online ordering system, whether a table service app, a food delivery app or click and collect, don’t forget to ask these questions of any provider to help you make the right decision for your business.