New Mobile Service ReadyPing Alerts Diners When Table is Ready
ReadyPing is a new mobile solution for restaurant owners which lets a host or hostess alert customers when their table is ready via a mobile notification. The system, a vast improvement over the restaurant pagers currently in use today, lets diners wander beyond the restaurant's immediate vicinity - something that would be especially handy for those one hour waits. The only question we have about ReadyPing is this: why didn't someone think of this sooner?
About ReadyPing
When going out to eat, there's nothing worse than being told the wait time is 45 - 60 minutes and the restaurant is so over-crowded with customers that you can't even make your way to the bar. Unfortunately, the only choice customers have today is to crowd in and bear it since the paging systems used by restaurants have such a limited range. This is especially trying when you're at a restaurant that's in a mall plaza where other shops, bars, or coffeehouses are only steps away. But instead of being able to kill time in the bookstore, for example, customers have to wait, bored and crowded, in the restaurant's entry way.
ReadyPing solves this problem and does so without the need for restaurants to invest in additional hardware or software. Instead, the system allows for text messages to be sent to the waiting dinner guests. To use the system, a host or hostess enters in the party's name, number of guests, and a mobile number. When a table becomes available, the host clicks a button to send out a customized text message.
The cost of using the system is a flat $34.95 per month for unlimited messaging and there are no setup fees. At the moment, ReadyPing is U.S.-only, but there's no reason why they couldn't expand to other parts of the world at a later point.
Potential Issues
There is a potential drawback to using a system like this - and that's the restaurant customers themselves. Given free range, people will likely wander off much farther away from the restaurant than before and that could delay the time between the text's delivery and their return by several minutes, possibly even five or ten. This would dramatically slow down the seating process and would frustrate those on the list behind them.
Before a restaurant implemented such a system as this, it would be necessary to retrain hosting staff so they understood the potential issues. Perhaps instead of waiting until a table was actually ready before alerts were sent, ReadyPing users could anticipate ahead of time that a table was about to become ready. This would give customers the additional time needed to return to the restaurant from wherever they had ventured off to. Perhaps staff could even work out a system where awaiting customers were pinged as current customers were brought their checks. Further integration with restaurant POS systems to do so would be even better, but something like that may be beyond ReadyPing's capabilities.
Another potential drawback to ReadyPing is that some customers would be hesitant to give out their phone number, despite assurances that data is secured. For those customers, backup pagers may still need to be used or they may need to wait the old-fashioned way - listening for the hostess to call their name aloud.
Real-World Mobile Technology
In any event, the ReadyPing system is a great example of an application that solves a real-world problem which so many of us can relate to. Thanks to mobile technology, we expect to see more everyday, useful solutions like this in the near future.
Facebook
Comments
Subscribe to comments for this post OR Subscribe to comments for all ReadWriteWeb posts
I don't know if it was a mass-market product or just a one-off, but I remember back when I carried a SkyTel pager, I was waiting for a table in a restaurant in NYC that paged me when our table was ready.
I think this will be a good idea if:
1) the time estimates by the restaurant are accurate - there is nothing more annoying that being told the wait is 60 minutes when it is actually 15 minutes - so the diner does have the freedom to know that they can roam around
2) none of your friends are dining at the same restaurant and spot you and decide to send a you a message that your table is ready
Thanks You..
Someone did think of this sooner. It's called QLess.
readyping uses SMTP gateways to send text messages for free. This means that when you enter a customer's phone number, you also have to enter his cell phone carrier. Awesome. The service is not interactive. There's no way for a customer to reply to the SMS. There's no support for voice calls.
Check out QLess for a much more mature product offering. QLess is interactive, support both voice calls and SMS, provides customers with forecast wait times, and provides detailed analytics.
Wow this could be extremely useful. I'm surprised a Twitter mashup hasn't been created to do something similar.
I don't know if it was a mass-market product or just a one-off, but I remember back when I carried a SkyTel pager, I was waiting for a table in a restaurant in NYC that paged me when our table was ready.
thanks for sharring
LRS, one of the bigger players in the customer paging field has a solution that will call customers on their cell phone as well as page the onsite pagers. This gives restaurants and customers more flexibility. Customers may use their cell if they wish or they may use the coaster if they don't have a cell or wish to give out the number. Check it out here: http://www.pager.net/Long-Range-Systems/cell-phone-paging.html
The LRS system is relatively slow because it doesn't actually manage your wait list for you. You have to write the customer's phone number down on your paper wait list when they arrive, then key it in again every time you want to page them. I spoke to a restaurant manager who tried it for a week at a high-traffic restaurant, and quickly got rid of it, because it was just not fast enough to keep up.
I've seen a few restaurants in Chicago use this. Works great! And their phone number is always on the text. So if you need more time, just click on the number and dial them up. So what if you can't text them back. Is the hostess really going to be able to keep track of incoming text messages with everything else going on up front?
The Freshtxt system works much better and includes more features. Freshtxt will manage your wait list, reservations and seating chart for you. Freshtxt also allows you to capture numbers to send out sms marketing to customers using their intuitive interface as well. Add the ability to take reservations through the web with their new web reservation widget, and you've got an efficient system that outpaces the competition in every way.