If a few years ago, paying without contact, scanning a barcode from the table or sharing the bill with friends without the restaurant owner having to intervene seemed to be avant-garde solutions, we can see it today: innovative payment methods are accelerating their development and new technologies will soon invite themselves to the table (and not only...).
What are they? In this article, we will see that the retail sector and several experiments in the restaurant industry are paving the way for ways of paying that will soon reach the general public... namely your customers. With a watchword: phygital in all its forms!
In this article, you will read about on-site payments, as well as the new remote order process.
Cryptocurrency payments
Cryptocurrency payments are a digital payment method that is gaining in popularity worldwide. Cryptocurrencies are forms of digital currency that use cryptography to secure transactions and control the creation of new units.
Whether cryptocurrencies are accepted as payment in restaurants depends on many factors, including geographic region, restaurant type and general acceptance of cryptocurrencies.
The biometric approach: the body, the new bank card?
The title is a bit provocative, but the technologies already exist. Beyond the numerous ethical and data processing issues they will raise (which is already the case in the few countries where these approaches are implemented), it cannot be denied that they will probably revolutionize the way we pay on a daily basis: in supermarkets or grocery stores already, but also in restaurants by extension.
After all, what could be easier than smiling at a camera or putting your hand on a fingerprint reader to pay a bill?
In the United States, fans of the Seattle Seahawks team can already pay for their beer at the stadium by placing their fingers on a receiver. The technology behind this system is simply that of CLEAR, which you may have already come across when entering the United States.
Fast, fluid, frictionless, this method of payment has not finished talking about it. We are already waiting for the passionate debates on the protection of privacy and the possible drifts made by this technology, but we will not fail to follow its evolution!
Beyond the example of the Seahawks, the idea is to extend these systems to festivals, restaurants, supermarkets and why not to bars and cinemas within a few years...
Your smile is worth its weight in gold (or almost)
The biometric momentum continues with facial recognition, accelerated by initiatives from Alipay and Carrefour in China, as well as the KFC chain.
China is undoubtedly the country where these solutions are developing most rapidly today. The system consists in scanning a person's face with a 3D camera either at the entrance of the store and then at the checkout, or at the time of payment if the person has already "linked" his face to his bank account.
Little concerns about potential surveillance in some countries? Yes. Future technology? Yes also, most probably.
"In two years, you'll be paying with your face, that's a given. Contactless payment didn't exist three years ago, but today it has become part of our lives. (...) Tomorrow, we will use it as a passport or to pay at restaurants. There is always a delay in securing the technology and a delay in adoption by consumers. You'll find it a little intrusive at first, then you'll find it convenient, and eventually you won't question it."
Jérémy Dahan, interviewed on ADN.eu
Ordering and paying by voice: the wave is coming
McDonald's acquisition ofApprente, a start-up specializing in voice solutions, in order to develop voice ordering in the drive-thru and its mobile application is just the tree that (barely) hides the forest.
Via Google Home and Alexa (but also Google Assistant), daily solutions based on voice commands are gradually entering our daily lives. If we all started by asking for the weather forecast of the day, nothing prevents us from imagining that we will book a table or place an order in a few words from our living room in a few months or years.
Dedicated companies are already working to refine their solutions for restaurants, such as Voix.ai.
If the ordering options are already there and will quickly become the "new normal", it remains of course to optimize the payment methods. Here again, will the all-voice system prevail, or will we still have to draw our wallet when the delivery man approaches? To be continued.
Pizzas and bots: chatbot ordering on social networks
For the past 4-5 years, bots have been making news in various fields, whether they are installed on websites or ready to exchange with us on social networks - Facebook and Twitter in particular.
We come across them when booking a train ticket, when connecting to our online bank... and a little less, it is true, when we want to order at a restaurant.
However, some major retailers have already started using chatbots, such as Domino's Pizza and Pizza Hut. There is plenty of inspiration for the years to come, especially since several innovative companies are working on developing advanced chatbots. However, nothing prevents you from coding your own if you have a double life as a developer and a restaurant owner / entrepreneur ;)
Is this enough to get you excited about Facebook again? You tell us.
Io-what ? IoT, the fabulous world of connected objects
Paying with your smartphone: everyone knows. Paying with your (connected) watch: we're getting used to it.
What if tomorrow, your customers could pay for their meal with a nice connected bracelet, a piece of jewelry (they already exist!) and... why not with their car, as they approach your establishment ?
The suggestions could be smiling if they were not under development, or even already in use.
Theexample of the connected car is the most striking (and in the long run, an incredible strike force to sell more and especially better):
Tomorrow, you will be able to recognize an existing customer as he approaches the parking lot, suggest his favorite menu as he passes by, and why not trigger the preparation of the order exactly according to his arrival time.
So, do you feel ready? Feel free to share this article with your network or contact our team for any payment solution for your restaurant.
