Technology and Hospitality go together like Milk and Cookies

The world has embraced consumer technology, and now it’s becoming more pervasive in restaurants. Some argue that this is a negative and that hospitality will suffer. Actually, the reverse is true.

Think of the challenges in providing hospitality to diners. In a perfect world, wait staff could spend all of their time with diners, attending to their every need. The reality is that wait staff spend most of their time in transit from tables to the kitchen and to the POS, wasting time they could spend with diners increasing the hospitality quotient of the restaurant.

Meanwhile, customers are frustrated because they spend too much time waiting. They have to wait to order, to be served, to get drink refills, to pay their bill; to get change or their credit card returned, and to get a receipt.

It all adds up to frustration for both diners and wait staff, and hospitality suffers. ‘Speed of service’ is regularly touted as the biggest reason diners defect from a restaurant brand.

Technology such as the tabletop Presto System enhances hospitality by allowing wait staff to spend more time with diners. How? By acting as a complementary tool to place orders and make payment at the table. Diners no longer are forced to wait, and wait staff can eliminate many trips to the BOH to relay orders and process payments. Delays in placing orders and processing payments are eliminated, so food and drink is also served faster.

The bottom line is hospitality improves with tools like the Presto System since the focus of wait staff shifts away from order and payment processing, towards customer engagement and service.