Technology
Diners use new devices to settle tabs at their pace, protect credit identity.
Fatz Cafe, Legal Sea Foods among early users of technology.
By James Scarpa
(Aug. 14) - Seeking to boost server productivity, speed up table turns, reduce credit card acceptance costs and plug a gap in security, some restaurant operators are bringing something new to the table with the guest check—a customer-run wireless credit card payment terminal. These pay-at-table devices let cardholders swipe their own cards and settle tabs on the spot. No longer must they hand over the plastic to a server who hikes to a remote POS workstation.
A wireless credit card terminal is so basic to security it's like "having a well-lit parking lot," said Jerry Skelton, co-owner of Club Red, a nightclub in Jonesboro, Ark., that uses Epson Mobilink wireless POS printers, Symbol MC50 Enterprise Digital Assistants and Digital Dining software. "They both make the environment safer, and the customer feels more secure. You can't put a price tag on that."
Despite such passion for the devices by some operators, they are not yet popular in foodservice or other retail segments, some payments industry observers have indicated.
Two restaurant chains currently using dedicated pay-at-table terminals are Fatz Cafe and Legal Sea Foods. Each is early in its pay-at-table experience and lacking in hard data about the effect on service speed and sales volume. But each is optimistic that the terminals will improve guest service and security and prove popular with customers.
The Fatz Cafe in Winder, Ga., is several weeks into a test of the new VeriFone Vx670 wireless handheld credit card terminal. "Efficiency in the dining room is our main motivation," said Steve Corson, vice president of human resources and training for Taylors, S.C.-based Cafe Enterprises Inc., operator of the 32-unit casual chain. "We want to train our guests to swipe their own cards. We tell them to think of the terminal as an ATM machine."
He noted that Verifone supplied the terminals free of charge for the purpose of conducting the trial.
Also an inspiration for the test, Corson noted, is concern for credit-card security, given the rising incidence of card fraud and identity theft.
The Vx670 is more compact and easier to handle than a predecessor device, the Vx610, which the company tested in recent months. The new version features a 128-pixel-by-128-pixel backlit display and backlit keys, for visibility in all lighting conditions; a vertical magnetic-stripe card reader; and a tip calculator that spares guests the mental math. It works on secure local area wireless with Wi-Fi 802.11g technology.
At first, customer reaction was "mixed," Corson said. "But the comments have become very favorable. Some of our regular customers look forward to using it. Servers like it, too."
Added Corson, "There's obviously some explaining to do when you close out a check at the table for the first time. But people are getting more familiar with it."
For Legal Sea Foods, pay-at-table is "a controlled rollout" rather than a test, said Ken Chaisson, vice president of information technology for the 33-unit, Boston-based casual seafood chain. Three of the company's restaurants in Boston are using Ingenico i7780 pay-at-table handhelds with SIVA software. One is LTK, short for Legal Test Kitchen, a new small-plates dining concept that courts tech-minded young professionals with things like plasma-screen menus and iPod docks at the tables.
Legal lets customers choose whether to swipe at the table or hand the card to the server for take-away processing. "It's an option," said Chaisson. "I don't foresee a restaurant being totally workstation-free."
Chaisson declined to quantify how much pay-at-table is speeding up service, citing the brief history of the terminals —just 60 days in one restaurant, even less in the other two. "We would hope to shave double digits of time from table turns," he said. "Our restaurants run waits at lunch and dinner."
Asked to estimate the proportion of credit payments settled at the table, Chaisson said: "If I had to guess, at LTK only, I'd say 20 to 30 percent."
The Ingenico is a customer-facing, short-range handheld with a range of one-half square mile. About the size of a countertop card terminal, according to Chaisson, it has an easy-to-read display, easy-to-follow menus and a built-in magnetic-stripe reader and receipt printer. It runs on a Bluetooth wireless network, which soon will be changed to Wi-Fi, which Legal already has in place for laptops and other handhelds. "Why have two networks," said Chaisson.
As with Fatz Cafe, Legal's early experience is mixed. "We've heard some very positive results from the waitstaff," Chaisson said. "Some report getting more tips and serving more tables. But not all. Others are struggling with the technology."
The same speed, portability and security that make pay-at-table attractive also apply to curbside payment terminals. An employee toting a wireless terminal with a takeout order can process the credit payment at the vehicle without having to run back into the store. That's the idea at Appleebee's International, the Overland Park, Kan.-based casual chain, which is deploying the Mobilscape wireless credit-card payment terminal by Commerciant LP for its Carside To Go takeout program. To date, 448 of Applebee's 507 company-owned locations use Mobilscape. About 390 of its 1,356 franchised locations have added it as well. "We're trying to drive convenience by pulling seconds off the transaction," said Lee Peterson, director of restaurant systems.
In contrast to terminals that are Wi-Fi-based, Mobilscape operates on a secure Sprint Nextel national wireless cellular network. "We were able to deploy this technology quickly, without a lot of changes to the stores," said Patterson. "We didn't need a new POS or other infrastructure changes."
Even in light of commitments to the new payment technology by the likes of Applebee's, America's largest casual-dining chain, use of the devices is still rare.
"If it was more than 10-percent penetrated in any retail segment, I'd be shocked," said Michael Friedman, director of emerging technologies for Mercator Advisory Group, a payments-industry research firm in Waltham, Mass. "But this stuff is ready to go. It should be in use. There's no reason why it shouldn't."
A Mercator study pegged the potential market for pay-at-table terminals at more than $438 million. The firm said that's a conservative estimate based on an average of two wireless terminals per establishment.
Why are operators hesitant? "One, people have to get over the perception that there is less security with wireless," said Friedman. "Two, it's pretty costly for a restaurant — $350 to $500 per terminal."
