As the number of vaccinated people increases and social restrictions decrease in most countries, the catering sector is beginning to recover and tread a new path in customer service.
Although the pandemic has brought a mountain of difficulties to this sector, it has also cemented new ways of doing business. From consumer expectations to the introduction of new technologies, the world of food has changed forever. Liang explains,
"Everything that restaurants are doing today will continue in the future," predicted Ivan Liang, regional senior vice president of international markets at Discover Financial Services. "It would be virtually impossible for restaurants to go back to where they were a year ago, as restaurants have profoundly redefined themselves not only from a technological point of view, but also in terms of human resources and supply chains."
With the pandemic forcing the introduction of new eating habits and means of payment, customer expectations and demands have become higher, which is helping to shape the future of catering throughout the rest of the world, something that is particularly visible in the non-slowing down of some trends that have emerged over the last year.
So, to win this future, catering businesses will not only have to understand the new consumer profile, but also anticipate their needs so that loyalty (especially affected during the pandemic) is maintained in a post-pandemic world.
In short, the catering industry needs to build a perfect customer service experience, both in physical shops and on its e-commerce platforms, which have multiplied in the meantime.
The convenience of ordering and paying online
With dining rooms closed, restaurants had to adapt. The majority chose to offer multichannel services which, among other things, included click-and-collect, drivethrough and home delivery.
All this ended up providing an experience contactless which took the form of different ordering options and payment flexibility. These changes have been fundamental for players in the sector to continue operating during the pandemic, but nobody expected consumers to adapt so profoundly to this new paradigm where "contactless" reigns supreme and allows them, with total convenience and simplicity, to order and pay via multiple channels.
Contactless payments: a global trend
In the US, for example, according to a study by the Mercator Advisory Group, the mobile ordering and payment market for so-called Quick Service Restaurants grew by 17% in 2020 and is expected to continue to grow at this rate over the next few years.
Although the growth of mobile payments if it is a paradigm shift at a global level, it has only cemented what was already happening in Asia, as Susanna Chan, regional senior vice-president of global acceptance at Discover Financial Services, explains:
"China was already more advanced in terms of mobile payments due to the widespread use of QR codes and super apps in restaurants."
The preference for contactless technology as customers return to restaurants
Although the easing of restrictions has resulted in people gradually returning to restaurants, the truth is that customers still remain wary and expect restaurants to offer a safe and virtually contactless experience. This has ended up creating a "restaurant experience" that in some ways emulates what could be found in distance selling and delivery and home delivery, such as using a smartphone to read a menu or make a payment.
Alongside these remnants of a recent reality, one of the most noticeable trends is customers' aversion to paying with cash, preferring to pay with contactless cards or digital wallets.
As you can see, these changes end up having a significant impact on the technology that restaurants make available at the point of sale, and we don't need examples from Asia to verify this.
In Portugal, REDUNIQ offers restaurants the solution REDUNIQ@Payments which allows them to accept not only card payments remotely, but also payments for orders with greater security, guaranteeing better management of the space since, once there is a payment amount in the reservation, this will prevent customers with reservations from not turning up.
Beyond @Paymentsimportant in the acceptance of remote payments, the growth of the mobile payments e contactless over the past year have led REDUNIQ to develop the REDUNIQ SmartIn addition to accepting payments by card or smartphone (with contactless), chip, MB WAY and Apple Pay, it gives the restaurant the possibility of presenting menus, registering and confirming customer orders, integrating its invoicing software with the TPA via the WinRest and ZSRest apps, which are available and ready to use, thus guaranteeing the management of the business in a single automatic payment terminal.
New technologies offer a better customer experience
According to a study conducted by Discover Global Network among the British public, 45% of consumers like to order food and/or drinks directly from their mobile devices, while 40% said they believe that using technology to book, order and pay is part of what can be called "a good experience" in pubs, bars and restaurants.
"There is a general consensus that restaurants must respond quickly to changes in the way consumers want to pay - whether through new forms of technology or new types of card acceptance."
concludes this study.
The idea embodied in this Discover study ends up being in line with what contactless POS is all about. REDUNIQ Smart seeks to offer: customer service suited to new consumer and payment demands and habits.
These solutions for quick and easy interaction with customers are becoming increasingly important. As the world awakens to the importance of the "individual experience", restaurants that offer these new technologies in services such as order-taking, reservations or contactless payments will have greater power to attract customers who put safety and efficiency first.
"Customers have adopted contactless as their preferred payment method; it's what they're familiar with and it's what they feel safe and secure with when enjoying their dining experience."
notes Ivan Liang before concluding by saying that the restaurant industry must recognise this reality and continue to focus on customer needs in order to successfully overcome the challenges of the present.
* Article adapted from Discover® Global Network.
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