For many years Apps have ruled the roost when it comes to ordering takeaways and deliveries, but there has been an ever-increasing growth in ‘Order-at-Table’ Apps over the last few years, but do they actual work? And more importantly, do they add value?

So, what is Order-at-Table? Well it’s pretty much what it says it is on the tin, the ability for the customer to place an order, at their table, using their own smartphone.  No staff required and in most cases the customer pays the bill by card up front.  The order is then fulfilled by the bar and/or kitchen staff and taken direct to the table chosen when ordered.

Sounds fairly simple, and to be honest it is, as you are not adding anything new to the process, you’re just removing the need for the customer to queue and place an order at the bar or with a member of staff.

In many cases, giving the customer the ability to place the order themselves saves them an average of 15 minutes of waiting time per visit.  This not only means they are happier; it also means they can depart a bit faster too, which offers you the ability to turn tables quicker, and serve more customers.

A study done by Velocity in 2019, showed that 40% of people said they would be more likely to eat out more often if they could order and pay via an App.  So not offering this service could be putting people off from visiting you, or at least visiting more often.

The way people spend their money has changed in the last 5 to 10 years, with a huge switch from cash to card and more recently to contactless and App payments.  In a conversation with the owner of WA Pubs in Preston, who recently launched their own ‘Order-at-Table’ App, powered by App4, Lee pointed out that “in 2011 around 85% of all transactions were cash, whereas today it is more like 60% card/contactless, and this only increases every quarter”.

Clearly offering this kind of service has some great financial benefits to the business, and the customers also have a lot to gain, so how easy is it to implement?

Talking to Lee who has put this into two of his 3 pubs so far, he said;

“We initially met with App4 at their offices in Derby to go over everything we needed.  It was clear that they had a wealth of experience in the sector and they were very clear in what they provided and made sure that their solution met our needs exactly.

Once we had signed up, App4 were very quick to get the ball rolling with the App design and they worked with our IT consultant to make sure everything was setup as needed.

After a couple of weeks, the App had been built and submitted and we received a box of equipment for each site.  All we had to do was plug in the printer and tablet provided and connect the tablet to the internet.  We then had a 30-minute training call to go over everything and we were up and running.

We have been live for a few months now and the reaction from our customers has been amazing, with great initial uptake, which has continued to grow every week.

So far, we have seen a reduction in waiting times at busy periods, as people are not going to the bar and queuing, they are simply ordering at the table.  We have also noticed an increase in individual customer spend, as people are exploring more of our drink and food menus.

Overall, we are very happy with how the App has worked and really pleased we chose to work with App4 as they have helped us all the way through the process and continue to support us on a regular basis.  We will be rolling this out across the venues in the group over the next few months, as well as introducing a take-out service in a few of our venues, also through the App.”

If you’re looking at ways to encourage more customers to visit your business and to increase customer loyalty and spend, come and speak to App4 on Stand E266 and talk to us about our Order-at-Table system and how it could work for you too.