Ask most people if pagers are still a thing and many of them will say no. However, they couldn’t be more wrong. Not only are pagers still a thing they are actually growing in popularity. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed ways restaurants and other businesses help customers with many only allowing a certain amount of people inside the building at any given time.

As you may have noticed, some restaurants use text messaging as a way to alert customers when their tables are ready. This may have you thinking, if you can just text customers about their tables then what’s the point in handing out pagers? Well, text messages definitely have some disadvantages. Let’s go over a few of them right here.

Guests Can Add Their Names To Several Waitlists At a Time

The first problem with using text messages to notify customers about their tables is that they can add their names to several restaurant waitlists at the same time. If your restaurant is located near several others customers can easily add their name to other waitlists and then go to the one that contacts them the quickest. This causes inflated wait times and causes more serious customers to be left waiting when they should already be seated.

Guests Can Travel Further Away From Your Restaurant

Although modern-day pagers can have a fairly long range there is no distance that a customer can travel to be out of the range of a text message. This can cause customers to travel farther away from your restaurant and have to travel further to get back. This can also inflate wait times and leave other customers waiting. Over time this can result in less table per hour being served and less revenue being brought in to the restaurant.

Abandon Rates Are Higher As Guests Get Tired of Waiting

Although notifying customers via text messages has no direct impact on the amount of time they wait there is less of a commitment on their part. Customers have a much easier time ignoring a text message as there is no response required by them and there is nothing to return. When customers have to return a pager to the restaurant they feel more of an obligation to stay and wait for their table to be called.

Pagers are a great way to allow customers the freedom to leave the business while helping them stick around and come back when their table is ready. Although text messages may seem more convenient in the eyes of customers, ultimately pagers are the better option for the business.

Having an efficient restaurant paging system helps improve the overall organization of your restaurant. From the seating to the communication between kitchen staff and floor staff the entire production of a restaurant becomes more seamless and easier to navigate. Probably the best thing about having a restaurant paging system is the increased customer satisfaction among customers.

Let’s go over in a bit more detail some of the ways that restaurant pagers can increase customer satisfaction.

Increased Productivity and Communication Between Staff

It can be difficult to communicate between so many different people in even the smallest of restaurant settings. Servers have to communicate with kitchen staff and also with customers. This can cause staff to be overwhelmed and ultimately results in frustrated customers, staff and late orders. If a restaurant has a reliable paging system in place however wait staff can immediately know when kitchen staff has finished an order and get it out to the client in a reasonable time frame.

Increased Profits

Although it may not necessarily seem like it at first a proper restaurant paging system can result better profits for your restaurant. By increasing productivity among all staff more orders get completed each hour. This means valuable minutes are shaved off of customers’ wait time. This can add up to extra hours each day and as we all know, time is money.

Better Customer Retention

Almost as important as the actual food itself is the dining experience. Customers want to feel cared for and waited on more so at a restaurant than probably anywhere else. If a customer enters your restaurant and there aren’t any tables currently available they can easily receive a pager that’ll make them aware of the next available table. This allows customers to leave the restaurant and be notified when their table is available. This leads to a more pleasant experience for the customer which increases the likelihood that they will return in the future or even recommend your restaurant to they know.

With a shell made from polycarbonate material the Pager Genius pagers are quite durable. However, it’s still important to properly care for them so that they last as long as they can. From making sure to charge your pagers when not in use to cleaning them with approved cleaners, here are some ways you can keep your pagers in good shape.

Keeping Your Pagers Charged

Before using your pagers for the first time it’s important to charge them for at least eight hours. When not in use, you can keep them on the charger. This is true even if you are using them for an extended period of time. The power voltage input would be from 110v to 240v 50Hz or 60Hz.

Keeping Your Pagers Clean

With all the people that you may be handing your pagers out to it’s definitely a good idea to keep them clean. This is not only true for sanitary reasons, but also to keep you from having to replace your pagers earlier than you would have to otherwise.

To properly clean your pager take a clean cloth and add some isopropyl alcohol to it and wipe down the pager until clean. Don’t overdue it by adding too much alcohol to the cloth. Just add enough to get the job done. Using other types of cleaners can sometimes weak the plastic and cause small hairline cracks. This of course can lead to further damage to your pagers.

Taking good care of your pagers can increase their lifespan and prevent you from having to buy new ones sooner than you may normally have to. Keep them charged and clean and both you and your customers will both be happy with your pagers.

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.