Get in Touch with Contactless Self-Services:
How Customer-Facing POS Technology Can Benefit Restaurants Today
7-minute read ---
After nearly a year of serving customers with exclusively takeout, curbside pickup, and delivery options, restaurants are welcoming customers back on-site with new technologies. Contactless ordering and payment solutions had slowly been making their way into the restaurant industry, but the pandemic has accelerated usage and adoption of these solutions.
As a result, online ordering has been widely accepted by both restaurants and customers as a necessary and preferred ordering and payment option. Restaurants, bars, food trucks, pop-ups, cafes, and pizzerias now offer digital menus; online loyalty, gift, and rewards programs; and mobile POS to expand their dining, takeout and delivery services.
Returning patrons come with renewed expectations for ordering and payment services. Most customers, especially those who grew up with touch screen technology, say the availability of contactless menus, ordering, and payments will influence what establishments they choose to dine at as they return to restaurants. Owners who have not already digitized their services are being challenged to reconsider their investments and take a look at contactless, mobile POS solutions.
Coupled with the restaurant industry’s wage and labor crisis, fears of the coronavirus and its variants has made contactless POS technology necessary for restaurant owners to keep their doors open. Additionally, as leading fast food restaurants open kitchen-only establishments that serve exclusively via delivery, contactless ordering and payment delivery services are becoming necessary for small and medium restaurant businesses to stay open.
Increasingly, the overwhelming majority of food and drinks are ordered to-go from restaurants, moving customers away from the traditional brick and mortar full-service experience to a consumer-direct model. Contactless technology, once an added luxury, has become a necessary commodity for owners and operators.
The best contactless POS technology offers cloud-based, customizable online ordering and payments for any order type. It allows order entry on- and off-premise, in-store and outdoors, and enables all order types such as curbside pickup, drive-in dining, takeout, delivery, and tableside. Meanwhile, customers enjoy utilizing contactless solutions in-store, at home, at work, or at an event through the comforts and convenience of their personal devices.
As a result, online ordering has been widely accepted by both restaurants and customers as a necessary and preferred ordering and payment option. Restaurants, bars, food trucks, pop-ups, cafes, and pizzerias now offer digital menus; online loyalty, gift, and rewards programs; and mobile POS to expand their dining, takeout and delivery services.
Returning patrons come with renewed expectations for ordering and payment services. Most customers, especially those who grew up with touch screen technology, say the availability of contactless menus, ordering, and payments will influence what establishments they choose to dine at as they return to restaurants. Owners who have not already digitized their services are being challenged to reconsider their investments and take a look at contactless, mobile POS solutions.
Coupled with the restaurant industry’s wage and labor crisis, fears of the coronavirus and its variants has made contactless POS technology necessary for restaurant owners to keep their doors open. Additionally, as leading fast food restaurants open kitchen-only establishments that serve exclusively via delivery, contactless ordering and payment delivery services are becoming necessary for small and medium restaurant businesses to stay open.
Increasingly, the overwhelming majority of food and drinks are ordered to-go from restaurants, moving customers away from the traditional brick and mortar full-service experience to a consumer-direct model. Contactless technology, once an added luxury, has become a necessary commodity for owners and operators.
The best contactless POS technology offers cloud-based, customizable online ordering and payments for any order type. It allows order entry on- and off-premise, in-store and outdoors, and enables all order types such as curbside pickup, drive-in dining, takeout, delivery, and tableside. Meanwhile, customers enjoy utilizing contactless solutions in-store, at home, at work, or at an event through the comforts and convenience of their personal devices.
The Top Contactless POS System Must-Haves
In the next 3 months, consumers say that a restaurant’s digital services will influence where they choose to order food and drinks.*
Here are five areas restaurant POS technology can meet rising demand for contactless dining experiences.
Here are five areas restaurant POS technology can meet rising demand for contactless dining experiences.
1. Online Ordering and Payments for In-Store and Mobile Food and Drink Services
The trend for off-premise dining is here to stay, with 77% of consumers saying they plan to continue to order takeout, delivery, and utilize drive-thrus. Contactless online ordering and payments offer restaurants and their guests expanded and improved dining experiences to meet customer demands.
Online ordering and payments enables restaurants to improve their operational efficiency by allowing customers to manage their own ordering and dining experiences. Customers view vibrant digital food and drink menus, select and customize orders, and send orders directly to prep printers or a kitchen display system (KDS).
Online ordering and payments enables restaurants to improve their operational efficiency by allowing customers to manage their own ordering and dining experiences. Customers view vibrant digital food and drink menus, select and customize orders, and send orders directly to prep printers or a kitchen display system (KDS).
Online ordering helps restaurants increase sales and limits customer drops due to unpredictable pandemic concerns
Using online ordering expands small and medium restaurants’ to-go options:
- Easily convert parking spaces into a drive-in diner experience
- Streamline curbside pickup and takeout services
- Enable customers to bypass long ordering lines
- Expand streetside services such as food trucks and patios
2. Contactless Multi-Store Online Loyalty, Rewards, and Gift Card Programs
45% of diners will select a restaurant if they belong to its loyalty program.¹ Flexible contactless payment solutions help restaurant owners increase customer loyalty and gain a competitive edge. But managing multiple rewards can be difficult if rewards are not tracked and automatically linked to customers’ accounts. To keep loyalty programs top-of-mind, customers need updates or prompts to remind them of their redemption progress or reward values.
Cloud-based management programs for single and multi-store online Loyalty, Rewards, and Gift Cards enables restaurant owners to control their programs anytime, anywhere, to suit their business’ needs. Programs can be based on a qualifying number of purchases, provide discounts based on dollars spent, earned rewards for a subsequent visit within a specific period, or immediately earned rewards based on a particular purchase.
Restaurant owners benefit from increased customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in their restaurants. Online Loyalty, Rewards, and Gift solutions influence customers to return to a restaurant where they feel appreciated and encouraged to spend more to earn more. Plus, restaurants with strong loyalty marketing programs grow revenues 2.5 times faster than their competitors.²
Restaurant owners benefit from increased customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in their restaurants. Online Loyalty, Rewards, and Gift solutions influence customers to return to a restaurant where they feel appreciated and encouraged to spend more to earn more. Plus, restaurants with strong loyalty marketing programs grow revenues 2.5 times faster than their competitors.²
3. Access QR Code-Based Menus, Ordering, and Payments Anytime, Anywhere
One in three customers say that the availability of contactless or mobile payment options influences their dining decisions. Since March 2020, nearly half of all restaurants have begun offering online ordering services, changing the norms within the restaurant industry.
Whether utilized in person or online, QR code-based menus, ordering, and payments are some of the most affordable and user-friendly contactless experiences restaurants can offer customers today.
Using QR code enabled online solutions conveniently launches a variety of ordering and payment solutions. Secure digital wallets reassure customers that they’re not missing out on qualifying purchases, increasing their confidence that every visit counts. Customers can directly access online Loyalty, Rewards, and Gift Cards for both online and in-store transactions, ensuring they never forget a card or lose a card.
Bust lines and streamline tableside ordering by posting QR codes on table tent cards, window decals, and other signage. Turn parking lots into drive-in diners by posting QR codes beside each parking space. Customers simply scan a QR code to launch the solution, identify their parking stall, order, pay, and wait for their food to be brought to them.
Whether utilized in person or online, QR code-based menus, ordering, and payments are some of the most affordable and user-friendly contactless experiences restaurants can offer customers today.
Using QR code enabled online solutions conveniently launches a variety of ordering and payment solutions. Secure digital wallets reassure customers that they’re not missing out on qualifying purchases, increasing their confidence that every visit counts. Customers can directly access online Loyalty, Rewards, and Gift Cards for both online and in-store transactions, ensuring they never forget a card or lose a card.
Bust lines and streamline tableside ordering by posting QR codes on table tent cards, window decals, and other signage. Turn parking lots into drive-in diners by posting QR codes beside each parking space. Customers simply scan a QR code to launch the solution, identify their parking stall, order, pay, and wait for their food to be brought to them.
QR codes can be posted on windows, table tent cards, ads, and other areas to provide contactless ordering and payments
Because of the growing demand for contactless self-service options, QR code-based ordering and payments have the potential to expand restaurants’ customer base and earn restaurants additional revenue.
Aldelo can help restaurateurs effortlessly and seamlessly achieve an integrated Online Storefront, Online Ordering, Gift, Loyalty and Reward and much more with a Masa+ online services platform.
4. Contactless Reservation and Waitlist Modules for Improved On-Premise Dining
Customers are eager to return to on-premise dining, with nearly 75% saying they do not eat at restaurants as often as they would like. Confidently welcome customers back to in-person dining experiences with seamless table reservations and a contactless waitlist module.
Synchronize table reservations, customer profiles, and special requests across all POS devices to complement and enhance staff duties while amazing guests with customer-centric services. Digital reservations and waitlists not only contribute to contactless environments, but eliminate unreadable scribbles, scratches, or spills typically found in hand-written books.
Avoid the need to clean physical notification devices by sending SMS text message notifications directly to customer smartphones. Save time and money and make reservation processes more attractive with an automated and contactless solution.
Aldelo Express’ integrated cloud-based reservation module eliminates time-consuming staff duties, improves table turn rates, and ensures customers’ reservations are never lost, increasing operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. Accept reservations up to months in advance, making it easy for customers to come back hungry for more.
Synchronize table reservations, customer profiles, and special requests across all POS devices to complement and enhance staff duties while amazing guests with customer-centric services. Digital reservations and waitlists not only contribute to contactless environments, but eliminate unreadable scribbles, scratches, or spills typically found in hand-written books.
Avoid the need to clean physical notification devices by sending SMS text message notifications directly to customer smartphones. Save time and money and make reservation processes more attractive with an automated and contactless solution.
Aldelo Express’ integrated cloud-based reservation module eliminates time-consuming staff duties, improves table turn rates, and ensures customers’ reservations are never lost, increasing operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. Accept reservations up to months in advance, making it easy for customers to come back hungry for more.
5. Seamless Cloud-Based Integrations Customizable to Any Restaurant
Since March 2020, over half of all restaurant owners have added contactless customer-facing solutions. A cloud-based POS restaurant technology platform enables owners and operations to streamline online and in-store sales, meet growing demands for contactless, self-service POS technology, and maximize productivity.
Choose from a variety of affordable and intuitive hardware options such as iPads, Androids, and handheld POS devices. Improve dine-in, curbside pickup, and delivery experiences, or effortlessly manage food trucks, pop-ups, and outdoor event services.
Owners can manage one or several storefronts from a single login via a cloud-based POS back-office portal. Keep tabs on the business at all times with immediate and scheduled updates of dashboard and detail-level reporting and analytics. Save time by instantly syncing changes to employee, menu, or store details across all POS devices. A virtual back-office environment allows restaurants a secure and dynamically scalable restaurant management solution with no hosting or storage fees.
Choose from a variety of affordable and intuitive hardware options such as iPads, Androids, and handheld POS devices. Improve dine-in, curbside pickup, and delivery experiences, or effortlessly manage food trucks, pop-ups, and outdoor event services.
Owners can manage one or several storefronts from a single login via a cloud-based POS back-office portal. Keep tabs on the business at all times with immediate and scheduled updates of dashboard and detail-level reporting and analytics. Save time by instantly syncing changes to employee, menu, or store details across all POS devices. A virtual back-office environment allows restaurants a secure and dynamically scalable restaurant management solution with no hosting or storage fees.
Sync all updates and configuration changes across all POS devices with Aldelo Express cloud back-office
Drawing from nearly 25 years of developing point of sale software for the restaurant industry, Aldelo offers customizable solutions for all food service applications such as restaurants, bars, food trucks, cafes, event centers, and more. Aldelo has the right POS technology to help restaurants succeed.
Contactless Point of Sale Solutions for Every Restaurant
Selecting the right cloud-based point of sale restaurant technology platform is essential to surviving today’s market. Users can obtain access to Aldelo Express Cloud POS with “ultra-competitive” Aldelo Pay merchant services or Aldelo Partner Merchant Services, increasing a restaurant’s bottom line from the day of deployment.
- Native solutions means no third-party fees
- Online and in-store order and payment processing
- Setup, hosting, deployment, and software updates
- Masa+ QR code-based secure digital wallet, online ordering, and digital payments
- Seamless integrations and automatic data sync across all devices
- Access to the Aldelo Express cloud back-office from any browser-based device
Restaurant owners who use Masa+ Online Ordering with Aldelo Express Cloud-Based POS increase sales by an average of 8.3%.³ The contactless ordering solution amplifies a business’ online presence and increases order volume, enabling restaurants to run a seamless and efficient operation.
Learn more by contacting an Aldelo representative today at [email protected] or 925-621-2410
Learn more by contacting an Aldelo representative today at [email protected] or 925-621-2410
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Restaurants that use ultra-competitive Aldelo Pay or Aldelo Partner Merchant Services obtain access to a Centralized Multi-Store Restaurant Technology Platform that includes Masa+ Online Ordering, Unlimited Software Releases, Unlimited Software Upgrades, and 24/7 Technical Support! *** Please contact an Aldelo representative today for more details, including a free Aldelo Express POS demo trial [email protected] | 877-639-8767 | [email protected] |
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* All statistics reported in this post not indicated by a footnote “¹“ or “²” were gathered from the National Restaurant Association’s 2021 State of the Restaurant Industry Report
¹ Hospitality Technology, “Effective Restaurant Loyalty Programs” Anna Wolfe, June 10, 2019
² Harvard Business Review, “Are You Undervaluing Your Customers?” Rob Markey, from the Magazine Jan.-Feb. 2020 edition
¹ Hospitality Technology, “Effective Restaurant Loyalty Programs” Anna Wolfe, June 10, 2019
² Harvard Business Review, “Are You Undervaluing Your Customers?” Rob Markey, from the Magazine Jan.-Feb. 2020 edition