Dineout was born with the mission to help foodies discover and visit restaurants across the country. As India’s largest dining out and restaurant tech platform we have always believed in a restaurant first approach. Supporting the hospitality business with cutting edge technology has been our forte. Dineout has inevitably been ahead of the times with innovation for the restaurant business. Our restaurant tech products are the epitome of what is now known as Contactless Dining, COVID has just catapulted the adoption. We don’t wait for a crisis, we build before it hits us.
Contactless Dining removes nonessential human interaction and replaces it with seamless technology. The post COVID world will be a changed one because diners will be skeptical about stepping out and wary about touching unsanitized surfaces. They will also avoid touching things like currency notes, which goes through multiple hand exchanges. To counter that, restaurants will need to build trust and habits that reassures anxious diners.
There are a multitude of touchpoints with a diner that a restaurant can modify and facilitate with the introduction of technology. These can be simple actions like booking a table, pre-ordering meals, takeaway, digital ordering, digital payment, etc. Priority for diners will shift and restaurants need to plan accordingly. The climb ahead will be steep, but if the industry is armed with technology there will be no mountain it can’t scale.
The diner is looking to step into a safe restaurant where he can grab a quick sumptuous meal without worrying about touching a physical menu, a card machine, etc. and Dineout has all the products that fit into such a diner journey.
Enable Safe to Eat Out: Contactless Dining
Imagine a world where diners can look up a restaurant online, check its ratings, and pre-order the meal before even leaving their house. They reach the restaurant to find no queue and conveniently get their car parked through contactless valet. By the time they are seated, their meal is ready to be served. If they feel like adding another item or ordering dessert, they can use a digital menu from their smartphones by simply scanning a QR code, to place the order. After the sumptuous meal, they pay via digital wallet and leave with the comfort and safety provided by the restaurant. This will create a lasting impression and assure them safety and hygiene like never before.
- Discovery – Restaurants can build more confidence and have transparency with their diners by posting videos of hygiene steps and cleanliness steps they have taken. Right from when a restaurant procures raw material is when they can put up videos and photos on Dineout Stories to assure diners how hygiene is the utmost priority.
- Pre-ordering – To cut the wait times at the restaurants, diners will now opt for Dineout’s pre-ordering widget to ensure that the food is ready by the time they reach.
- Contactless Valet – To cut the wait time and avoid crowds, diners will have their cars to be brought in just as they complete payments. inresto valet will cut short the time spent at community areas to curb the spread of infections.
- Contactless Seating– To make reservations online and facilitate digital table allotment. inresto’s Guest & Reserve software will ensure that restaurants aren’t reserving more than what the social distancing norms will dictate. For example: Having a 2m distance between tables.
- Contactless Menu – Dineout’s ‘Dine-In’ digital menu solution will use Data Analytics and AI to offer dynamic pricing and customised offers at partner restaurants besides offering diners the options to place an order without handling physical menu cards.
- Contactless payments – To ease the payment process for both the consumer and the restaurant. Digital payments via Dineout Pay will avoid the exchange of cash and cards, thereby forcing social distancing.
- Contactless Feedback – inresto feedback system will collect real-time feedback on the dining experience.
An extra layer of protection & assurance: Restaurant Safety Kit
That’s not the end of it. There is just so much to prepare for in the post COVID era, and one mistake can toss all our efforts in the air. So going one step further, Dineout has also prepared a safety kit that all restaurants will need in place. This kit includes items like sanitisers, thermometers, visor, gloves, face masks and headgears. It is a one-stop solution to any restaurant looking to confidently open its doors, welcoming diners post the lockdown.
Once the lockdown is lifted, we will not be going back to ‘business as usual’. The quality of food, service and hygiene will be paramount. Use of Technology to ensure cleanliness, social distancing and as a tool to save costs for the restaurants will be paramount. At Dineout, we have been developing Contactless Dining technology over the last 5 years having anticipated the need for both technology and services to co-exist with a B2C marketplace for restaurants. We have been working with partner restaurants who are already using Contactless Dining technology to their advantage. And the results have been phenomenal. Now it is the turn of the rest of the industry to adopt, adapt and survive. Technology which was once considered ‘ good to have’ has now become a ‘must-have’.
This shift is necessary for restaurants to adopt the ‘new normal’ to get their diners knocking on their doors. It won’t be possible without the right data insights and tech. So, our tool for survival is going to be technology. It will pave our path to success and victory, and Dineout intends to be the guiding light.
What we need to remind ourselves is that good food and a good time will never be out of vogue. So the question isn’t if we will, it is how we will overcome this storm. And the answer is technology.
