Working with the right EPOS system is a great place to start but integrating self-service points and mobile ordering can take your catering operations to the next level in terms of delivering great customer service. Consumers want and expect more ways to order and pay.
Self-serve tills and kiosks integrate both hardware and software to produce point-of-sale terminals for a wide variety of businesses, and their uptake is becoming increasingly popular in the hospitality sector.
With the struggles to find staff still ongoing, self-service points are a fantastic way to free up existing staff members for alternative tasks, easing the workload and creating a more efficient process which will boost staff morale and create a more positive environment in typically difficult times.
Self-service points allow customers a speedy and efficient checking out process, perfect for those on the go or looking for ease. With most self-ordering kiosks connected to cloud servers to store menus, allowing the management of customer requests with ease, it makes sense for university and college campuses to adopt this same technology.
What about Cashless Catering?
Many Further and Higher Education settings are now implementing cashless systems. Cashless catering allows authorised users, such as employees, students, parents, guardians and teachers to create an online account, which then creates a unique reference number that may be authenticated in several ways including biometric fingerprint technology or the use of NFC (Near Field Communications) such as MiFare cards. The cashless account can then be managed and topped up to allow for spending on-campus.
Users can link their cashless portal accounts with existing Google and Facebook accounts as an additional method of authentication, and the portal only uses fully secure payment methods like Worldpay to ensure your details are always safe and secure.
Students and staff can then scan their cards or access their portal on the self-service point to use their accounts to purchase food and drink items on their pre-paid cashless account as required. This can also be done with mobile ordering.
What are the benefits of self-service?
For many hospitality operations, especially college or university campuses and business service centres, giving customers the option to be served at a till point in the traditional way, as well as the option to ‘grab & go’ is proving to boost efficiency, on top of reducing overheads and boosting sales.
As mentioned above customer satisfaction is boosted when self-service is implemented, queues get shorter and staff have more time to tackle other elements of their job roles, without any detriment to customer service. There is also the benefit of kiosks utilising dead space in your business, turning it instead into a designated self-service area.
As most people are completely comfortable ordering online, whether that be retail items or food and beverage, then they may want the same level of control when ordering ‘on premise’, and from a customer perspective, having complete control over their purchase often feels more personal.
Why not include a loyalty programme too?
A digital loyalty program is created in the EPOS back-office, the details of which are decided by you, the business owner. A digital reward stamp or a number of points are awarded for each qualifying purchase and they’re popular for a reason – they offer rewards for something your customers are already doing; purchasing with you.
There are many benefits involved with the implementation of loyalty schemes, including setting you ahead of competitors, increased customer satisfaction and a high return on investment.
Loyalty schemes also work with self-service points and mobile ordering as customers just have to scan their unique QR code to collect points or redeem offers, making it a quick and easy process that keeps customers happy and returning.
If you’re considering implementing self-service or mobile ordering into your setting, do not hesitate to contact us. We’re happy to discuss the options available to you and any ideas you may have.