Pretty much everyone has visited an eating establishment with some sort of restaurant paging system.We’ve all entered a restaurant only to be given a small plastic coaster-like device that lights up when our table is ready.The purpose of these pagers is to help make the dining experience more pleasant and organized for customers and staff.They typically involve a transmitter set up in a main location that communicate wirelessly with a number of individual pagers.Take a look at some of the reasons a restaurant paging system can benefit your restaurant and why they are worth the investment.

Increased Communication Between Staff and Customers

We’ve all been in a situation where we were waiting for a table and a staff member would shout out the name of whoever’s table was ready. By simply giving guests pagers to hold onto this issue can be eliminated entirely. Guests can have the ability to go outside with their party and comfortably wait until their table is available. No need to remain within earshot of one of the restaurant staff members.

Increased Social Distancing

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a need for social distancing among people, if only temporary. Having a restaurant paging system can help facilitate social distancing during this pandemic and any future ones that may arise.

Increased Communication Between Kitchen Staff and Servers

In some instances pagers can be used by kitchen staffs (cooks, chefs, etc..) to alert servers when table orders are ready. This allows for food to be delivered quicker to customers and at the right temperature.

Having an effective restaurant paging system is an easy and inexpensive way to increase your restaurant’s efficiency. When customers are happier they tend to come back for more. Go ahead and take a look at Pager Genius’s pagers to see how they can help your restaurant, church, retail store or other business you may have.

Reservations used to look like tipped-in chairs and restaurants used to assume the table would be filled every night with their usual faces of businessmen and people who like to take up the same table each night.

Of course, throughout the 20^th century, people realized that this was no longer a dependable way to reserve tables nor fill their seats with new people. Restaurants in the 1980’s found that the concept of no-shows was causing big problems, impossibly long reservation lists, and emptier restaurants with an unhappy and lengthy line. Soon though, a new technology would fix their problem.

Enter - the restaurant pager. Restaurant pagers gave a measured and fair tell of who was where in line without the businessman bias or the no-show issue. Especially when restaurants became chains and the entertainment of the night for families and couples was, in fact, going to dinner.

Themed places like The Cheesecake Factory would have people waiting up until an hour and a half for dinner, making it possible to utilize the technology to make better use of the lines and waits. Now, we see restaurants hand out these palm-sized pagers to let its patrons walk around without worrying that they missed their reservation, or their name being called out.

It also allows customers to wait longer than they might ordinarily because they are not just sitting there waiting for the time, but they can also walk around and look at stores, shops, or other means of entertainment to pass the time.

The Invention Itself

The invention of the restaurant pager actually came along long before its utilization in the dining industry. In the 1950’s, physicians created what we know now as the restaurant pager. It took 42 additional years to use it properly in restaurants on a regular basis.

In 1995, the restaurant coaster-style pager was invented, and the wait times and restaurants collectively took an exhale. Originally, the pagers did not buzz, this was added later on as well as some unnecessary and memorably annoying features were also added.

The pager would buzz and make an alarmingly loud noise if you exited the range of the pager, quite literally shouting at you: “You are out of range!” While some of these kinks have been ironed out by time, others have remained, and some older restaurants don’t have a need to upgrade considering the simple technology doesn’t really age out.

Final Thoughts

The restaurant pager is an integral invention to the flow and movement of lines and restaurants and is the reason why we can have long wait lines today. It is a fool-proof way to make sure that the next order received is the next order filled, everyone is happy, everyone gets a seat.

Of course, you’re already familiar with the four-by-four disks that you’re handed nearly every time you decide to go to a busy restaurant with a wait – but how do they work? Often, we do come across items that we use every day, but we still have no idea how they work. However, today, we’re going to look at how a restaurant pager must work in order to let you know when your table is ready.

Typically, we get handed this small little box that gives us the freedom to wander about while we wait for our table. But how does this technology work? In essence, this tiny box is actually just a pager. By definition, a pager is a very simple radio that listens to one station all the time. The radio transmitter broadcasts signals over a very specific frequency so that the pager can pick it up. All of the pagers for the specific network are tuned into the same frequency broadcast from the transmitter.

Each Pager has its own identification sequence known as a CAP (Channel Access Protocol) code, and each pager listens for its individual and unique code. When it hears its code, it alerts the user and, depending on the pager type, will let the user know additional information. There are 5 basic pager types. The Beeper, VoiceTone, Numeric, Alphanumeric, and Two-Way. They all serve different function in the notification type but for the same goal of alerting the user. Most restaurants use the beeper type. These are the ones that buzz in your hand to let you know your table is ready.

The restaurant will have a small paging system to cover the surrounding area, this is called an on-site paging system like a desktop transmitter. This is the device that sends out the signal for the pager is to be listening to for their unique code. The area range can change based on this device, but restaurants typically like to keep the area small anyway so that customers can make it back to the front desk to claim their table relatively quickly from when they receive their alert.

Pagers usually run on rechargeable batteries, hence the fact that you will usually see them stacked up in a tall pile. This is because they all charge together through the contact of the metal of the connective screws at the corners. They charge through conductive metal electricity and form a charging chain.

So, the next time you wait for a table at a restaurant and patiently (or not so patiently) stare at the pager in your hand, think about how much work goes into you knowing that your table is ready for you. You might just have a whole new appreciation for the technology that gives you the freedom to walk around while you wait.

The moment every patron is waiting for – when the pager buzzes. But before that, the question they ask first is always: “How far can I go to where it still works?” We’re going to look at the answer to that question and any more information about pagers that will help you understand how to best supply your restaurant and more importantly, your patrons.

Best Pager Style

First, let’s talk about the best style of restaurant pager. The classic style of buzzing and light-up pager is truly the way to go. They’re numbered so it’s easy to keep track of all of them, come with a home base console, and easily stack. This is so helpful when considering that you will have many different patrons scattered and will need to categorize them as a number. This variety also typically doesn’t need to connect to the internet or phone lines, is easy to operate, and is a no-setup required version.

How It Works

With a centralized hub system, the pagers are activated by a hub that you dial the number, and it pages the specific pager. This eliminates the need for noisy overhead announcements or cause of confusion with names or anything of that sort. Additionally, with an increased pressure on security in this day and age, this also eliminates the need to offer phone numbers or exchange personal information. It’s much easier and much less personal, which is a priority.

Reach Distance

The typical pager reach is around 805 meters, which is equal to about a half a mile. This is plenty of room for your guests to be spread out but also close enough to make their way back quickly. Additionally, it is unlikely that even in a shopping center setup the patrons will go farther than that distance. It’s really great that there is the perfect amount of distance post-pandemic to allow people both freedom and comfort at the same time.

Additionally, there is also a capability to add extenders to the main hub in order to increase distance if you have a bigger area you need to cover. The half a mile distance is great, but should you need to increase it more, there is always that option. Covering the smallest and biggest of spaces, the pager system is a wonderful solution for any waiting system.

Final Thoughts

The pager system and distance is incredibly ideal for any scenario and allows for the safety of your patrons while keeping them updated and alerted of their place in line.