App eases the strain of waiting

Owner Trip Turbyfill fretted he was losing business from guests wary of the sometimes unpredictable wait. In the spring of 2015, he decided to try a guest management program: the Cake Guest Manager, an iPad-based seating app. Guest Manager integrated with Turbyfills point-of-sale system at the time, but since then he’s shifted to Cakes POS, which is cloud-based. Cafe Strudel uses another app called 7 Shifts, which integrates with the Cake system, for scheduling. With about 150 seats, a full bar, private dining and catering, Cafe Strudel is the only restaurant owned by Turbyfill and his wife Marila Turbyfill.

Key Takeaways:

• The app, meanwhile, shows the host a map of tables and where they are in the dining process: seated, orders placed, check dropped, closed out.
• The system texts guests when their table is ready. That frees them to wander off and explore shops in the area, rather than waiting at the restaurant.
• The restaurant pays a monthly fee per station for use of the Cake system, which includes technical support, which amounts to about $120 per month.

“Essentially the app allows Café Strudel to better control and predict table availability by following the status of every table in real time.”

http://www.restaurant-hospitality.com/technology/app-eases-strain-waiting