5 Reasons Restaurant Pagers are Better Than Food Runners
Restaurant Pagers vs Food Runners
If you're a fast-food restaurant owner, you already know how important it is for your business to run as smoothly as possible. In turn, this leaves you with satisfied customers who'll gladly return to you, knowing their food will be delivered promptly. Naturally, if you want your restaurant to keep booming, you have to turn to modern technology. In other words, it's prime time to consider restaurant pagers.
In the past, most fast-casual restaurants relied on food runners to deliver orders to seated customers at tables marked with numbers. While this "system" was pretty successful before, it certainly has its drawbacks today. For one, with the rising inflation, hiring and keeping food runners in your business can be pretty costly. On the other hand, fast casual restaurants have become increasingly popular in the last few decades, drawing in more customers than ever. Although this is great for profit, it results in pretty big crowds. And suppose you don't have a proper system when potential customers see a packed restaurant with long waiting lines. In that case, they're more likely to turn to other choices.
Luckily, restaurant pagers are here to change all that - and more! These smart systems are designed to streamline operations and enhance the experience at your business. With that in mind, we'll list the top reasons why restaurant paging systems are miles better than standard food runners.
1. Less Staff = More Profit
As previously mentioned, keeping food runners in this economy can put quite a nick in your profits. You may not know that restaurant pagers can help you fulfill the same number of orders with fewer staff members! So, let's talk math for a bit, shall we?
Food runners usually get paid around $12.00 per hour and work approximately 20 hours a week, equating to $960.00 monthly. If you add this up for a year, you'll have to pay over $46.000 for four part-time food runners yearly in your operation. Conversely, our 30-Pager Genius system costs only $995.00 and includes no additional fees. Best of all, our pagers do not require any setup - you'll have to plug them into power, and it's good to go!
Another great thing about our restaurant pagers is that they'll always be ready for work. Unlike with food servers, you'll never have to think about delays, sick days, or late arrivals. As soon as you set them up, our restaurant paging system will work for you 24/7, ensuring your business flows seamlessly.
As you slash your employee costs, consider lowering your menu prices, putting you ahead of your competition. If you wish your business to run for a long time, keeping up with the modern times is necessary. That is why our restaurant pagers will help you in your journey toward success and longevity.
2. Customers Prefer To Pick Up Their Orders
As a restaurant owner, you already know the anticipation on your customers' faces once they see a food runner carrying an order. However, this can take a big turn when the order is not actually for them, so they continue sitting, anxiously waiting for their food. When this happens continuously, the anxiety can quickly shift to frustration, which means a bad rep for your business. With our genius restaurant pagers, this will surely be a thing of the past!
Let us briefly explain how a paging system will rapidly improve your restaurant's efficiency. Once customers place their orders, they'll be issued a restaurant pager and find an open table. After your staff works their magic in the kitchen, they need to page the customer's pager to let them know their food is ready. This ensures orders are always delivered hot and fresh, and your customers will always be more satisfied than ever. Simply put, the days of hunting down food runners will be long gone!
3. Improved Customer Service
Customer satisfaction should be of utmost priority for whatever kind of restaurant you're running, be it a fast-food joint or something a bit more sophisticated. However, this might be more difficult to achieve with busy food runners.
Food runners are mainly focused on delivering an order to the correct table, which can be quite challenging in a busy environment. Of course, customers will always be looking for certain extras like condiments or utensils. Since the staff may only sometimes be ready to fulfill these tasks, your customers are more likely to be dissatisfied.
With restaurant pagers, on the other hand, customers will always have an entire order ready to go, even if there are any last-minute requests. Since they'll be notified their food is ready with a restaurant pager, all of their demands will be met at the pickup counter. In other words, you won't have any food runners running around trying to make your customers happy. Instead, the staff at the counter will ensure they have everything they need before returning to their table.
4. Reduced Foot Traffic
5. Customers Can Be Alerted From A Mile Away
This is where restaurant pagers make all the changes. After your customers place an order, they'll be handed a Pager Genius, which has a big range, one mile to be precise. When the food is ready, the pager will start flashing with 19 LED lights, along with a strong vibration. To put it differently, there isn't the slightest chance your customers won't know their order is ready. Even if they don't come up to the pickup counter after the initial notification, your staff can keep hitting the appropriate pager number button on the system until they arrive. In turn, this will save them their nerves (and voices!), making your restaurant run as smoothly as possible.
These were the top five reasons why restaurant pagers are far superior to food runners, and trust us when we say - there's a lot more where that came from! As you already know, the restaurant industry is ever-changing, especially with the rise of modern technology. As an owner or manager, it's your job to keep up with these trends so your business can continue growing and reaching new peaks.
This is exactly what we want you to achieve with the help of the Pager Genius paging system. Transitioning from food runners to pagers will be a breeze, mainly because no setup is required. Once you plug the system in, it will start working immediately. Additionally, we've made our pagers incredibly easy to use, meaning you won't need to train your staff to use them.
Adopting restaurant pagers for your business will not only modernize how your restaurant works but will also put you miles ahead of your competition. Since your costs will be significantly smaller, you can use your saved-up money to introduce new services or even expand to new locations. Your customers will already know how efficiently your restaurant works, and they'll gladly come back for more and even bring some friends along with them. Who would believe this can all be done with just a simple restaurant pager?!
So, go the extra mile and order our Pager Genius paging system. Our customer service is here for you and will gladly answer your questions. In the meantime, if you're wondering how our restaurant pagers can improve your business, check out the rest of our blogs.