Ultimatebob's Possibly Dumb Product Idea: The "Smartcheck Wallet" for restaurants

[ultimatebob]

OK, so I have this weird idea for a product. I thought that I'd bounce it off of you guys.

So... After you have a meal at a restaurant, they bring you a check in one of those little check wallet thingies that has room for cash or a credit card. If you want to pay with a credit card, you need to slide your card in the check wallet, and wait for the server to ring you up before you can sign your receipt and leave. It takes awhile, and is kind of a waste of time.

I'm wondering why someone hasn't created a "Smartcheck Wallet" that accepts Apple Pay or Samsung/Google Pay right from the table yet. I wouldn't think that it would be too hard to do: Just embed a small NFC card reader with a transmitter and battery into the back of the wallet, and you can check out and pay using the wallet from your table without getting the server involved. It would still look like a check wallet, and you could still pay with cash or a credit card if you wanted to. You would also need a way to wirelessly charge and store these smart wallets as well, which I'd imagine would look something like one of those charge towers that they use for customer wait pagers.

I would think that busy restaurants (like a Texas Roadhouse or a Cheesecake Factory) would like it, because they would get people out the door quicker and help them turn around tables faster. Apple and Google would like it as well, since it would get more people using their payment services. I think that the hard part would be integrating all the wireless payment processing hardware into something small and thin enough to pass off as a normal check wallet, while still being cheap enough for restaurants to order in bulk. That said, I could see someone like Apple subsidizing these to get the price down, as it gets more people using their payment services.

Anyway, just throwing the idea out there. I know that I don't have the Electrical Engineering skills to build something like this, but I'm hoping that someone else reads this idea and tells CNBC about "that weird guy on the Internet with a cool idea" when they tell their story on how they started their billion dollar business

 

[spacejamz]

Outback has a thingey you can pay your check (order food and play games) at the table...it even lets you split the tab...

 

[ultimatebob]

Outback has a thingey you can pay your check (order food and play games) at the table...it even lets you split the tab...

Yeah, Chili's has a little tablet like thing at their tables as well. I thought that this would be a bit classier, though, since it would pass for a normal check except that it would have a little spot inside to place your smartphone to make a payment.

 

[OccamsToothbrush]

Well if Outback and Chili's have something like that it won't be long until restaurants get it too.

 

[sciencewhiz]

In Europe, it's common for the server to bring the credit card reader to the table.

 

[ultimatebob]

Well if Outback and Chili's have something like that it won't be long until restaurants get it too.

Perhaps, but now that practically everybody has a smartphone in their pocket... why bother with additional hardware for each table that needs to be maintained? Those little self payment kiosk things seem like they would get broken constantly by kids and drunk customers.

Perhaps this idea could be as simple as a QR code that you can put on check that the guests could use instant phone payments. No additional hardware needed at the tables.

 

[destrekor]

Perhaps, but now that practically everybody has a smartphone in their pocket... why bother with additional hardware for each table that needs to be maintained? Those little self payment kiosk things seem like they would get broken constantly by kids and drunk customers.

Perhaps this idea could be as simple as a QR code that you can put on check that the guests could use instant phone payments. No additional hardware needed at the tables.

That seems great for everyone willing to use their phone with preferred payment cards linked to the mobile wallet, but that's definitely not everyone. And that has nothing to do with slow technology adoption and more to do with security and privacy concerns (almost entirely the latter).

But with an NFC (contactless) terminal, you can cater to both mobile phone payments as well as contactless credit cards.
That part sounds easily doable, but I am curious on how to then get that data into the Point of Sale system.

If you were thinking self-contained portable terminal/tablet with the check carrier, I'm afraid that would have low adoption due to the nature of portable electronics in bar environments (frequently damaged).

But also consider that using cash also often means waiting for change (unless all of the change is the tip, which depends on total cost and bill denominations available in your wallet working out near perfectly), so this is no different than waiting for the card to get rung up and returned to you.

 

[JEDIYoda]

We are finally moving out of the stone age....

 

[Red Squirrel]

I forgot about those things. Now days they just give you a paper bill and they bring a wireless terminal. Places that don't have the wireless terminals will just get you to pay at a counter they usually have several throughout the restaurant. I remember as a little kid a time where they did have those wallet things, and think they even had to take your card with them. I guess this would have been before chip and pin and you just had to sign. But that's going pretty far back so I don't really remember how it worked and I was not the one paying.

 

[Kaido]

I have some restaurant clients for IT & I've seen two options that address this issue.

The first one is a battery-powered tablet/terminal combo that sits on each guest table. The most popular unit I've seen is Ziosk, which has a heavy presence here in the Northeast:

https://www.ziosk.com/

It has the most payment support of any guest-facing technology system I've seen:

1. Chip cards (chip & PIN supported)
2. Magnetic-stripe cards
3. Google Android Pay
4. Apple Pay
5. Samsung Pay

It has several features:

1. Tipping
2. Check-splitting (don't have to use Venmo anymore, everyone can just pay their share)
3. Pay & leave without server interaction (the light on top turns green once you've paid, so the server can see)
4. Built-in thermal printer for a paper receipt, if desired (you can also have it emailed, or skip the receipt altogether)
5. Free & pay-for games for kids (usually like $2 for unlimited access for kids, which sounds stupid, but when your kid starts yelling in a restaurant, it's a small price to pay, haha!)
6. Order food without talking to a server (ex. if you're ready to go & want dessert brought out to go, or just want more breadsticks or whatever)

The second system is a handheld touchscreen device for servers, which both relays orders accurately to the kitchen & also accepts payments (swipe, chip, etc.). The Toast Go is one of the more popular ones:

Toast Go® 2 | Handheld POS System for Restaurants

Toast Go® 2, the next generation of our handheld POS, delivers speed, safety, and flexibility to help restaurants adapt.

pos.toasttab.com

One of my favorite restaurants that I go to has a new, smaller unit, which is wrist-mounted, sort of like a jumbo Apple Watch - the technology is continually being refined & rolled out all the time! This one is the larger, more common unit:

There's a lot of really cool things going on IT-wise in the world of food service, many of which are sorely needed. The trouble is that once a third-party company has control over your business, they're free to screw you over with rate increases, service issues, etc. I have a client who has swapped between every terminal service available every year for the last four or five years due to various problems with each one...Toast, Square, Clover, etc. Plus, sometimes you get screwed over no matter what you do...there's still fallout from the sudden closure of the MyPayrollHR service a couple months ago, for example:

MyPayrollHR fallout: Troy restaurant staff quits en masse

TROY — In what is believed to be unprecedented in the local restaurant scene, the...

www.timesunion.com

As far as technology goes, IT integration does make a lot of things a lot easier, such as guest paging:

Staff & Server Restaurant Paging Systems | JTECH

Staff and server pager systems connect your team to optimize labor and reduce costs. See how JTECHs restaurant paging systems can help your business today!

www.jtech.com

Or digital inventory:

POS Inventory Management Software | Lightspeed Commerce

Track your stock, manage inventory levels, set reorder points and so much more with Lightspeed's inventory management software. Start your free trial today.

upserve.com

And kitchen display systems:

Kitchen Display Systems (KDS) | Toast POS

Toast kitchen display systems simplify back-of-the-house operations. Manage incoming orders with real-time updates, improve turnaround times.

pos.toasttab.com

Communication & paperwork are two of the biggest headaches in the restaurant business, so anything you can do to cut down on problems with the FOH talking to the BOH, or knowing what your inventory usage & needs are for forecasting purposes, and having to re-order stuff...it's just really nice to have it automated. But, you do pay for it, and then they have you in their clutches, because you're dependent on them for financial operation & can't just easily yank them & go back to a bank box & dial-up reader.

One trend I've seen lately (and really like) is self-serve to-go orders. The first place I saw it was Panera Bread...you'd order online, like with your phone, and pay ahead, and then walk into the store, where there's a talk-out shelf with your info on it, and you just grab it & walk out. SUPER convenient! Uber Eats is testing it as a new feature called Dine-in & Pick-up:

Dine-in and Pick-up Order FAQ

QUESTION: What is a Pick-up order? A Pick-up order is when you place an order through the Eats app and you go to the restaurant to collect it. You'll be able to see the different order stages and know exactly when the order is ready for you to collect. NOTE: Pick-up is only available in certain...

help.uber.com

I know it sounds pretty stupid to use Uber to pickup your food, at least on the surface, but it works kind of like Amazon Prime...Uber has already partnered with the restaurants & your payment method is already saved in their app, so all you have to do is open the app, pick what food you want from the pictures, place the order, and then pick it up on your way home or whatever. You don't have to have a million different restaurant apps, or call anyone on the phone & then pay for it when you get there, you can just pop in & grab it (well, based on how each restaurant works - Panera's method is really good because it's just sitting on a shelf, waiting for you!).

If you want some fun reading, check out this article on Ghost Kitchens:

Chains Like Wendy's And Applebee's Are Using 'Ghost Kitchens' To Keep Up With Delivery Demands

Here's what you should know.

www.delish.com

We spent over $10 billion dollars on delivery services last year:

Delivery is stretching restaurant resources. Ghost kitchens can be the answer

Starbucks, Chick-fil-A and Sweetgreen are all investing in ghost kitchens as a way to manage the demand for delivery.

www.cnbc.com

I would have loved to have worked at a ghost kitchen when I was in school & needed cash...no customers to deal with, just focus on the cooking process, clean up, and go home every day!

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

The Yard House near us have tablets like that where you can pay or order more.

 

[feralkid]

We are finally moving out of the stone age....

No, we still rely on tips.

 

[ultimatebob]

[/QUOTE]

No, we still rely on tips.

Ooh, I just realized something. Apple Pay (or whatever payment service the customer uses) would need added support for tips within the the payment app for my Smartwallet plan to work. I wouldn't see that having a screen, just something basic to communicate to the POS system that they paid.

 

[RLGL]

Say what you want BUT the time difference from myself seeing the tab to the time I sign the card receipt affects the cash tip I leave at the table.