As the COVID-19 pandemic again starts to ease, customers appear ready to return to dining rooms. And they are probably going to be encountering more technology when they get there.
For evidence of this trend, look no further than the latest moves by tech giants Olo and DoorDash. In the past week, both added products focused on the dine-in business, like QR codes that open digital tabs for ordering and payment.
The deals seem to mark a new phase for digital ordering providers, which, having become invaluable for takeout and delivery, are now looking to apply themselves in the dining room as well.
Olo CEO Noah Glass has long banged the drum for digitizing 100% of restaurant orders. He believes digital provides a better experience for customers and workers, as well as a more complete picture of the guest, which ultimately leads to more sales.
“Restaurant brands are telling us they want to operate as one digital business. … And in order to accelerate the restaurant's ability to operate as one business, we must unlock on-premise solutions,” Glass told analysts during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call last week. He was explaining why Olo is buying Omnivore, which helps restaurants connect their POS systems to a host of in-restaurant tech apps.
DoorDash signaled it will pursue a similar strategy with its acquisition of Bbot, which offers digital ordering and payment tools that include on-premise ordering.
These companies see dine-in as another source of revenue as consumers shift from ordering in to dining out. And they will likely find a receptive audience in full-service restaurants that continue to struggle with smaller staffs and rising costs.
Texas Roadhouse, a brand that has eschewed delivery in favor of preserving the in-restaurant experience, has not shied away from adding technology to the dining room. Servers in some of its restaurants are using handheld tablets that allow them to shoot orders straight to the kitchen. And guests now have the option to pay at their leisure through a new service called Roadhouse Pay.
“The ability for the guests to pay and to leave at their convenience and not really wait for us is really a big win,” said CEO Jerry Morgan during the company’s earnings call with analysts last week. “You do see other concepts going in that direction, too. And it's definitely something we held off on, but we probably shouldn't have.”
In the past two weeks, as I’ve become comfortable eating inside restaurants again, I have used QR codes to order and pay on two occasions. While consumers seem to have mixed feelings about the technology, I found it pretty easy to use. Maybe more importantly, it definitely appeared to make workers’ lives easier. The server at one restaurant was visibly relieved when she came by to collect my payment and realized I had already cashed out, digitally.
The concrete benefits of this technology seem clear for restaurants. Its impact on guests’ experience and their expectations for the dine-in experience may prove to be a little more squishy. But restaurants are in dire straits on multiple fronts, and more technology in the dining room could help.