Tock’s Bridge to the Future — Tock 20

…And Results of Tock’s Diner Survey

The restaurant business is about to get harder, not easier. Wait… what?

Ambiguity makes planning for business incredibly difficult. A month ago, with mandatory shutdowns in place, the only option for restaurants was to quickly build robust carryout and delivery meals and experiences. To Go was likely not enough to fully replace revenue, but it was clearly the only viable path at that moment.

Now, slowly in fits and starts, restaurants are told they can reopen, but with capacity restrictions, often conflicting safety guidelines, and no notion of how consumers will respond. What’s worse, requirements and consumer sentiment vary from state to state and city to city.

In the best of times, restaurants are “game-day is everyday” operations. They make it happen. But usually the playing field is known. Now? Maybe service is in the middle of a street, outdoor dining only, four people max per table, six feet apart in kitchens (whoever thinks that’s viable has never been in a restaurant kitchen), with servers wearing masks, and reservations, contactless ordering, and payment required, even for your casual neighborhood bar.

In early March, Tock rapidly built and deployed Tock To Go to help thousands of restaurants, wineries, and even farms pivot their operations, rebuild sales, lower costs, and eliminate third party delivery apps.

Now we’ve launched Tock 20: a unified reservation, takeout, and delivery system that will help you build a bridge to the future and firmly maintain control of your operations. Here are the key features:

• Contactless ordering and payment, at the time of the reservation or within the restaurant
• Customizable communication tools and surveys
• Real-time floor plan editing and capacity planning
• Complete access and ownership of your data, as always

We prioritized these features, adding to Tock’s already robust platform, because we spent the last month investigating what diners want as they return to restaurants.

Results of Tock’s Diner Survey

In May, we surveyed the most active Tock diners. We received a statistically relevant sample of 16,757 responses from around the country.

Let’s start with the good news. 73.3% of respondents plan to dine out shortly after restaurants reopen.

People that want to dine out, will, however, need separation and social distancing measures to feel safe. No surprise here.

The bad news is that nearly 27% of the most frequent diners do not plan on returning anytime soon. This is certainly alarming, and restaurants will need to clearly and consistently communicate safety standards and protocols to win these uncertain consumers back.

Contactless ordering and prepayment are emerging as new trends. Just over 50% of respondents want to be able to pay in advance for their meal when they make a reservation. This streamlines the kitchen, eliminates unnecessary interaction with staff, turns tables faster, and most importantly, reduces no-shows rates.

It will be more important than ever to know customer preferences and hospitality cues. Keeping track of where a diner sat, with whom they interacted, and for how long is also critical — and in some locations mandated by local municipalities. Tock easily facilitates tracking diner behavior and spend through existing, easy-to-use features.

Elevated, controlled takeout and delivery are here to stay as part of the “new norm” and will be necessary to supplement revenue, even for upscale restaurants. Over 75% of respondents have been ordering pickup/delivery at least 2–4 times a week during the pandemic. 72% of these same respondents say they will continue to order takeout even as restaurants open.

To Go is going to be a necessary bridge for restaurants to cover their costs as they are allowed to partially open their dining rooms. A restaurant at 50% capacity will not be able to cover the expenses of payroll, rent, and food/beverage.

Finally, we asked diners to simply share their thoughts, hopes, and ideas for restaurants, and we received thousands of passionate and empathetic responses. It was apparent that these customers view their favorite restaurants as cornerstones of their communities.

What we found from these highly engaged diners is that they are looking for more:

• Meal kits/family meals
• Grocery, pantry items, and CSA-style boxes
• Cocktail kits and curated wine packages
• Contactless curbside pickup and delivery options

Far from being ‘done with To Go’ as restaurants reopen, the thing that consumers want the most are unique new offerings from their favorite local places. Dine in and carryout will exist side-by-side permanently, just in more creative ways.

All of these requests, To Go operations, and operational flexibility have been fully built and integrated into Tock — a single platform with single-point-of-truth operational clarity and analytical reporting.

It’s called Tock 20 and it’s available today to get restaurants, wineries, and the hospitality businesses through this crisis and on to a stable and thriving future. We pledge to serve the industry and its workforce with the same care and compassion that they share with millions of people every day.