Pizza Today - March 2016 - 40

But which system
is better? What
should operators
consider before
making a decision
between pagers and
texts/automated
calls?
Mike Ganino, a
restaurant speaker,
trainer and consultant in Los Angeles,
says moving to a text/call-based system
makes sense as consumers continue to
spend more and more time on their
mobiles. He added that with texts there
are no more missing pagers and no
longer a need for expensive real estate
dedicated to a waiting area that does
not equate to revenue.
Ware Sykes, CEO of Nowait, agrees
that texts are the better option for
customer alerts. "The pros of using
texts to alert customers that their table
is ready is that expensive hardware is
obsolete, guests can wait where they
want, they're already comfortable
using the notification method, and it
provides two-way communication -
guests can reply if they'll be delayed,"
Sykes says. "Consumers already have a
'pager' -- their cell phones -- and they
are engrossed in using them 24/7. They
want to be contacted in a medium that
resonates with them and their on-thego lifestyle."
Michelle Strong, chief marketing
officer of LRS, argues that the restaurant pager still has a place in today's
restaurants.
"Uses for the modern-day restaurant pager are on the rise. It's not just
for casual restaurants with a wait list
anymore," Strong says. "Today's casual,
fast-casual and quick-serve restaurants
see the value in the restaurant pager
for its simplicity in form, function and
price.
"With a push of a button, you're
able to notify a guest. No need to ask
the customer for their name, personal
contact information or enter extra data.
No set-up or programming required,
no networking needed. Little or no
4 0 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / M A R C H 2 0 1 6

training is required - just push the
pager number associated with the
person you're trying to reach. With
high rates of hospitality turnover, staff
need tools that are quick to learn and
easy to use."
Geoffrey Simpson, creator of
DinerConnection.com, claims that

texts are the more economical choice
and offer valuable information to
operators.
"The buzzer setup requires a large
initial investment, and then ongoing
costs to replace lost, stolen or broken
pagers, which on average are about $75
each, and an average-sized restaurant
usually has to replace about three a
month," Simpson says. "You can learn
a lot about your restaurant when you
look at the data that you gather with
a wait-list application. You can see
when the highest number of four-tops
come into your restaurant in order to
optimize your table layout. You can
also glean information such as average
wait times, and monitor those waittimes in real time to properly plan food
production."
Strong says the quiet and discreet
manner in which pagers notify customers is a definite plus to a paging system.
"And with today's electronic wait lists,
paging systems with an open API can
be easily integrated with any wait list,
POS or kitchen display software as a
means for assigning pagers and notifying customers from within the application," she adds. "Paging tools may be
easily integrated with other solutions."
Armen Matosyan, chief innovation
officer at TTAg Systems, says texts
offer a more efficient and effective way

to develop great customer
relationship management.
"Automated voice calls are
robotic, while text messages
are more personal. Depending
on what type of relationships
you want with your customers, texting notifications, if
you get recipient's consent, of
course, will always be the best
way," he says.
Texts also offer operators
the chance to add opt-in opportunities,
promotions, coupons and surveys.
"Along with a table status message,
restaurants can include a promotional
message in the text," Matosyan says.
"After asking permission to write
promotional text messages, bars and
restaurants can send special customized
promotions to its existing customers.
Another significant factor which makes
text messaging a great way to contact
customers is that it can be tracked and
analyzed. Analyzing customer preferences and other factors important to
restaurant businesses - average waiting times, coupons used - will help
significantly improve customer service."
Strong credits paging systems' reliability.
"Paging systems work in unique
spaces where other forms of communication might be challenged due
to structural obstacles, being underground, or other unique environments
where other types of communications,
like cell phones, are limited," Strong
says. "Pagers respond nearly instantaneously without any network delays."
Because each system has its own
attributes, choosing one is not easy.
An operator not only has to weigh
the finances and system reliability and
function in their restaurant, but also
the relationship they have and the relationship they want to build with their
customers before selecting the right
technology to serve their customers. n
DEANN OWENS is

a freelance journalist
living in Dayton, Ohio. She specializes in
features and human-interest stories.

http://www.DinerConnection.com http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM

Pizza Today - March 2016

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