A Touchless Restaurant Experience: How To Create One

This article will discuss how to create a touchless restaurant experience in this post covid-19 world. Although it may sound dramatic, it is very true: The world will never be the same. Many people are nervous to go back out to their favourite restaurants and shops. This has profound implications for the hospitality industry. Restaurant cleanliness was already one of the most vital factors in customers’ dining choices. However, where cleanliness was one a nice thing to have when visiting a restaurant, it is now absolutely necessary. Diners are not only looking for germ-free restaurants. They are also looking for restaurants who are actively communicating about their post covid-19 hygiene standards. Creating a touchless end-to-end dining experience does exactly that. It not only makes your restaurant safe. It also gives your customers confidence that it will be when they come to visit. Let’s talk about how to create a touchless experience post covid-19. 

Touchless Restaurant Experience: Touchless Menus

Reusable menus are the single filthiest thing on restaurant tables. Single use paper menus are a solution but not for the environmentally conscious. They are also a waste of money. The best solution here is using a QR code for a restaurant menu. This is the easiest method to employ on this list. It tackles a restaurant’s biggest obstacle which is germ-free dining. Rolling out a contactless menu is honestly a no-brainer and it can be any kind of menu. There is no constraint on the format or amount of the content. A touchless menu will also save you money on printing and paper costs. The National Restaurant Association is now recommending that paper menus be discarded after each use. Imagine how quickly that money will add up and how bad it is for the environment.

Touchless Restaurant Experience: Contactless Ordering

Touchless ordering is generally a reality for diners, but not for servers. In addition, those servers do a lot of interacting with diners. Therefore, a touchless ordering solution for servers will benefit everyone in the restaurant. Tablet-driven tableside ordering was taking off in the years even before the covid-19 outbreak. The right solution to covid-19 is a truly contactless solution, which is tableside mobile ordering. How it works is there is a QR code on each table that the customer scans on their phone. From there, they can view the menu, order and pay whenever they wish.

Touchless Restaurant Experience: Contactless Payments

The final point for a restaurant to go touchless is payments. The payment process is a remarkable sequence of germ swapping from a post covid-19 lens. A check is handed over to the customer, the customer gives the server cash or a credit card. Then, the server gets them change or runs the card. Finally, the server hands it all back to the customer. The customer sorts through the cash, sometimes leaving a tip. It is a pretty unhygienic back and forth. Think about servers and bartenders who do this all day. It is not a wise approach. Contactless payments therefore are here to stay.

Conclusion

This article discussed how to create a touchless restaurant experience in a post covid-19 world. Although a touchless future may sound grim, in the context of restaurants it is anything but. By taking control to provide touchless menus, contactless ordering and contactless payment, the restaurant industry can make customers feel confident about dining at their restaurant. They can do this while providing and adhering to safety regulations. Contact us today to find out about DinePay, our table ordering solution. It is not just for restaurants but also hotels, cinemas, drive thrus, airports and more!