I have seen a few sambapos integration
my client is asking which option can archive
Which integration is suitable?
We do not have a service that holds the ticket for someone to go to table and check. That seems a bit counter productive. If they are doing that maybe they should just take the order at table and not use systems for self ordering.
We do have GoTablet that can be configured to run similar to that. The waiter must submit the ticket after they choose the order from the tablet.
thanks for the response
it is for a restaurant chain
it might seems counter productive, but put yourself in the restaurant/ staff / kitchen shoes
I believe @Jesse you had a restaurant before? I m sure you can relate
self order is widely used as a cost cutting excecise, also balancing the essentials servicing, to maximise opportunities for the staff on getting service charge and tips
And this is the reason why many restaurants still take the order at the table with a waiter, either using just pen and paper or a solution like MC3.
Your solution is non existent as serves no purpose. It is the creating of a dreaming potential client who is just creating scenarios in their head, of which scenarios are not realistic and it’s the job of a reseller to go and actually educate their client with their experience and knowledge that such a solution really serves nothing but a waste of staff time, unnecessary cost, unnecessary delays in placing an order and frustration for the end customer. Any restaurant who implemented exactly what you described would either quit doing it in the first week, or be extremely unpopular for both staff and customers alike.
Giving customers an option to order themselves with a QR and online ordering is a convenience to the customer, cost saving for the business and time saving for the waiting staff. A system should be designed that the customer can self order without staff intervention and should not allow the customer to “make mistakes” otherwise that system is of no use. If it needs a staff member to “check” the order at the table, that would be considered quite condescending to the customer (I know I would feel like that!). This is not an “upsell opportunity”! A properly implemented self ordering system would give relevant upsells to the customer during the order. People don’t go to a restaurant to have a flashback to their childhood of having their work checked by their teacher, they go to have a nice meal and a simple and streamlined ordering process whether that be self order or from a waiter.
Many businesses use such and still charge a service charge, including in the UK. You don’t need to have a certain amount of human interaction to have a service charge, many customers these days either just accept this as an extra added cost or they will ask it to be removed regardless of how much service they have received.
You can setup a very reliable self ordering solution with Jetrik from the table scanning a QR code and the order can be placed automatically, fully integrated with SambaPOS. You can do somewhat similar with Gloriafood and even there is an integration, I am not certain how well it handles “dine in” / “on premise” orders going into SambaPOS - it’s not something I have tested myself. GoTablet also gives you a self ordering option but using the restaurant’s tablets, and like @Jesse mentioned will let your waiter verify the order after it’s placed - but I do believe this is still quite an outdated way of looking at self ordering (having someone check the order) plus customers just expect to be able to place an order fully themselves if they choose the self order option whether with GoTablet or scanning QR code to order online.
the solution has been proposed by client, then as a technology enabler, of course we need to try our best to serve, sadly (or luckily), our company dont have the ethos to tell my client “Your solution is non existent as serves no purpose” (slightly intimidating?)
the solution was copying from a Chinese Hotpot chain that had 3000 restaurant outlets worldwide, half of it outside China. They have restaurant in UK, London Piccadilly, Greenwich and Birmingham Bullring; go and experience it, I recommend.
Maybe it is a Chinese thing? reasonably demanding…
as much as I’d like the opportunity to “educate” my client, I fully understand how nervous they are, as it is a big shift in service, this client has over 15Mil GBP turnover - my approach will always be copy from the solution that they are comfortable with.
After all, there are so much possibility that can be achieved by sambapos, if we stop learning from success and creating, then we might as well stop working in this industry…
thank you for your valuable information
This doesn’t make sense - they are nervous to use a solution they already use? Or this solution is actually proposed by you? I don’t get how a customer would propose a solution that “they are comfortable with” and yet be nervous.
The first thing I always do if someone has a complex requirement is ask: why do you want to do that way? What problem are you trying to solve? What is wrong with your current POS or overall solution? Those questions then give you insight to what is really going on and can be valuable to understand what the real needs of the client are. If someone has a solution they already like, why change the POS? Is it about money? Locked in service contracts? What is the budget for this? These are all realistic things you need to know before your business spends (or wastes) time on this sort of thing. You can think how you like, or say I am arrogant or whatever, but if I have someone approach me with some wild solution that nobody does, and they already have a POS that works in the way they want, I honestly would tread carefully because it can be opening a can of worms - I have had clients who right after buying SambaPOS and then getting training, then the client wants to know why it doesn’t do A, B or C the same way as their old POS did, and in rare situations there is just no way they can accept anything different to what they had. This is nothing to do with not learning, not wanting to work in this industry. It is about being sensible with your time, picking and choosing your battles (like a £20m turnover business who feels that £1,500 is too much for a POS or worse still that £450 is too much for a software only setup, then you work so much trying to please that you are working for 10% of minimum wage for the potential to get more with them which never materialises because it’s not their old POS… compared with getting 10x clients who listen to your advice and love the solution you provide with SambaPOS, give no hassle and bring you 20x more revenue for your business and require 100x less time and effort to support).
Look I am not at all against building complex and unique solutions for paying clients - I have done many and SambaPOS is great for this. But from the start when you asked about the solution and were given a simple response and explanation why it does not exist and is not really something anyone else would want, I’m not really sure what you expect to get in response to that? It’s not constructive trying to justify creating a solution that the industry does not need and (especially for the likes of the UK, USA and most of Europe I would say) have got used to being able to self order things themselves and many want and prefer that to actually dealing with another human.
You’re welcome, always happy to help 