Should Your Restaurant Offer Free Wifi?

At Gazella Wifi we speak with dozens of small business owners each week, and occasionally we will run into a restaurant owner that does not offer free wifi to their guests. Most all restaurants are already paying for wifi to run their Point of Sale systems and keeping employee records. This would mean the cost to add an open wifi hotspot to their guest is near zero.

According to TweakYourBiz.com

• 61% customers look for Wi-Fi in restaurants
• 36% visit restaurants offering free Wi-Fi
• 27% visit more frequently to restaurants that offer free Wi-Fi
• 45% opine it’s important to have Wi-Fi access while dining or drinking

With so many benefits and zero costs to the restaurant owner it seems it would be difficult not to provide free wifi. But, according to one fast serve corporate franchise owner. The idea of allowing free wifi appears troublesome as guests would stay longer, without an increase in profit. Which is why this franchise opts out of offering free wifi.

At Gazella Wifi we decided there should be best of both worlds. We now have the ability to limit bandwidth and time. When a customer logs onto the free wifi, predetermined limits are already set by the business owner. Limiting free wifi to as little as 15 minutes per day. As well as limiting bandwidth. No longer will a customer be able to come into your restaurant and soak up all the free wifi. Giving customers the free wifi they need to check emails and do all the important stuff, without the ability to download movies and games that may slow down the entire network.

Check out GazellaWifi.com for more information.