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