Waitlist Me is Killing the Old Floor Plan Approach to Table Management in the Restaurant Industry
Popular Restaurant App Invents Better Way to Know Where to Seat Customers
CHARLESTON, S.C., Feb. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Waitlist Me, Inc. announced a new set of table management features for its popular iPad and Android apps that helps restaurant staff know the best place to seat the next customer. The solution for managing tables without a spatial floor plan is an industry first, and was developed by combining insights from psychology, data science, and cutting-edge design principles.
Most restaurants still use an old-fashioned laminated floor plan and a grease pen to mark off occupied tables. However, the inability to see key information like how long tables have been occupied makes it difficult for wait staff to optimize table assignments and estimate wait times. There are apps that add in layers of data, but they make the mistake of designing around the old floor map concept.
"Floor plans look simple, but are deceptively complex," said Brian Hutchins, Waitlist Me CEO. "Deciding where to seat the next customer requires a haphazard search across the whole map followed by a complicated process of interpreting a lot of unstructured data. Wait staff don't need a map of the tables. They know where to go. What they need is a fair, easy, intuitive way to know where to seat the next customer."
In the Waitlist Me app, tables are represented by boxes of equal sizes for simple comparisons. Table sections are organized as lines that can be read from top to bottom, and left to right, like a book. Open tables for each section stand out in green on the left. Then tables that have been occupied the longest show next in the row, with the time occupied displayed in the lower left.
Sections of tables can also be organized into different saved layouts to fit varying needs or times of day. For example, a restaurant manager might divide tables into six sections for a busy weekend night, and switch to a layout of only three sections for a regular day.
"With Waitlist Me's table management features, customers get better service, with less waiting. Employees get their fair share of the work, and the tips. And this all leads to a more efficient and profitable business," said Hutchins.
About Waitlist Me:
Waitlist Me was started by ex-Googlers and has been used to seat over 100 million customers since 2012. The app is available for iPad, iPhone, Android devices, and computers. To learn more about Waitlist Me, visit http://www.waitlist.me/.
*VIDEO (YouTube): https://youtu.be/wa56v_iyy1A
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SOURCE Waitlist Me, Inc.
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