Of all the businesses that have been adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the worst impact has been on restaurants. Even when the current lockdowns begin to be eased, can restaurants ever return to business as usual?
Dining is Not Going to be The Same Again
Governments have been advocating the widespread use of masks to reduce the spread of the infection. Things like thermal screening and social distancing have been put forward as some measures that can allow businesses to resume work after the curbs are lifted.
But what about the restaurant dining experience?
Customers will have to take off their masks as they start eating. They will touch their chairs, their tables, and the dining utensils. A waiter will have to come up to take their order. The menu will be passed through the hands of multiple diners.
And there is the whole matter of payments; whether a customer gives their card to the waiter or go up to enter your details in a payment terminal themselves, they bring themselves in contact with multiple public surfaces.
Each of these activities is a point of contact with a high risk of virus transmission. Even if governments decide to allow for the risk, diners are unlikely to want to chance it.
How can restaurants change their processes to ensure that they continue to do business without putting the lives of their clientele at risk?
Can Going Online Work?
The key is to eliminate physical contact as much as possible. While things like utensils and menu can be made disposable, what about placing orders and making payments?
Some restaurants are contemplating taking their ordering and payments process completely online. But doing that has its own issues.
Mobile internet can be unreliable at times, leading to awkward situations where a diner sitting at their table is unable to place their orders due to a slow network. Similar problems extend to payments as well, which is why very few business establishments accept online payments for physical purchases.
And the usual workarounds like placing your own touchscreen tablets on every table for ordering (and on the counter for payments), are no longer feasible due to the possibility of those screens or PIN pads becoming virus carriers.
Even more importantly, going online is only a solution for home delivery of food. But what about a restaurant’s fine dining experience? Internet-based applications are not an answer to this problem.
Contactless Technology is The Way Forward
That is where our technology solutions come in. With the aid of our short-range radio communication modules, every customer can use their own mobile phones for everything, from ordering to payment, without physical contact.
As the protocol uses radio communication, no internet connection is required, with the added advantage of doing away with any network delays. The transmission of data is absolutely seamless, leveraging a mobile application for all platforms.
Want to show your updated menus? Done. Looking to take orders from a diner’s table? Also done. Wish to implement contactless payments? We have got you covered.
With our mBeacon technology, it is possible to deploy a complete application ecosystem covering everything from ordering to touchless payments on any mobile device, or even an existing application if you have one.
The installation is also easy, with our retrofit kits (some of which are the size of a postage stamp) integrating with your existing setup with a minimal fuss.
The future of a touchless dine-in experience is here. Contact us today to transform your restaurant into a COVID-19 proof establishment and be ready to keep your patrons and staff safe.