According to Nation’s Restaurant News, fast-casual restaurants only account for 6 percent of all eating establishments; however, they are growing at a rate that outpaces their peers. This growth has resulted in changes across the industry including revamped menus, transformed interior décor, and new technologies. On the technology front, JTECH guest pagers continue to improve the level of customer service at both traditional casual dining and fast-casual establishments, as well as in other restaurant segments. Differentiation between segments is changing as quick-service and full-service brands are led to change models in accommodation of financially strapped customers. Retaining guests and creating lifelong customers has always been important, but it’s increasingly important during economic downturns. Guest pagers encourage guests to actually wait the time necessary for a table to become available while simultaneously increasing guest satisfaction and comfort.

The restaurant industry has adopted a plethora of ways to meet customer needs including online ordering, curbside delivery, and lucrative happy hour specials. JTECH pagers complement these various approaches and further increase efficiency for host and hostess staff. Guests are seated more quickly, accuracy in table placement is improved, and the overall ease of operation is evident across the enterprise. Guests have many dining options available to them, which is why the “wow factor” is imperative for your business success. JTECH pagers are easy to use, designed Restaurant Tough™ thereby protecting your investment, scalable to the size of your establishment, and have an out-of-range feature so your guests are never out of reach. Whether your restaurant is traditional casual dining, fast-casual, upscale-casual, global cuisine or Texas Bar-B-Que, creating the most pleasurable dining experience is key.

Restaurants are in the unique position of needing to maximize revenues during often brief and precise times of day. Depending on your restaurant and the type of food you offer, you may only have one or two meal times to earn the bulk of your revenue. This is why it’s imperative that the flow of guests is coordinated in the most efficient and profit maximizing manner. Meanwhile though, efficiently seating incoming guests should not distract hosts and waiters from providing the highest level of customer service to the guests already seated.

Managing the waiting guest queue, seating people quickly and maximizing seat utilization is made all the more manageable with JTECH’s GuestAlert paging system and a restaurant table management system such as ConnectSmart Hostess. Your hosts will be able to quote more accurate wait times for incoming guests, which will result in happier customers when they are actually seated. In addition, ConnectSmart® Hostess informs hosts and hostesses where to seat incoming guests to maximize seat utilization and more evenly balance workload between servers. This automation of wait lists, reservations party distribution and overall table management frees up the host to attend to the needs of surrounding guests. Your hosts will be more pleasant and relaxed, making them more welcoming to guests walking into your restaurant for the first time. Everyone loves to be greeted by a friendly and relaxed face. It shows that your business is being run like a well-oiled machine and instills a level of confidence that the meal will be expertly prepared. By establishing a level of ease from the outset it prepares the stage for a positive dining experience. The end result will be an overall positive perception of your restaurant and will encourage greater repeat business, which many restaurant owners say is vital to their financial health.

Sometimes a product’s full value and usefulness goes unrecognized until it’s actually put into use. While it’s obvious that the Motorola CLS and RDX two-way radios from JTECH are great for communication within the restaurant between bussers and hostesses, , they also have additional outside applications. Outside catering events, for example, are often much more difficult to coordinate, making wireless voice communication more than a mere convenience. Two-way radios enable more seamless communication when trying to operate a food service operation in a foreign environment. Even if you are hosting an event on the restaurant property but outside the normal business parameters, two-way radios will make the operation of the event that much easier to coordinate. Parking lot events have become a popular option to draw added attention from people driving or walking by.

Two-way radios are also very valuable for catering or publicity events off the premises, such as farmer’s markets, private parties, conventions, music events, etc. In that instance, communication might be needed between a refrigeration truck and the cooking staff, or between the Bar-B-Q operators and the staging staff. Of course if your catering events take place in larger venues, the RDX Series offers enough power and range to be utilized in spaces up to 350,000 square feet or 30 floors. If you are more likely to do business in smaller venues, the popular CLS Series might be enough to meet your needs, with coverage for up to 200,000 square feet or 15 floors. Even if this isn’t an avenue that your restaurant currently pursues, it may be an opportunity for future growth. When the time is right, JTECH has the right communication tools to help you be successful.

Running the front end of a restaurant is somewhat like playing a game of chess. Victory comes when all the right pieces are in the right places at the most opportune time. Restaurant managers and restaurant owners know this is a lot harder than it sounds. To make this process simpler, and subsequently much more efficient from both a labor and a profits standpoint, JTECH delivers the ConnectSmart® Hostess seating and wait list management system. The main interface gives you all the information you need to maximize seating capacity and help you identify actionable areas for performance improvement. The integrated JTECH guest paging and staff alerts complete the offering providing a truly intuitive system to efficiently direct all front-of-house operations and maximize the seating capacity of your restaurant.

While having a line can be a sign that business is good, it may also mean that your seating process is missing the mark on efficiency and maximizing profits. Not only will ConnectSmart Hostess utilize your servers in the best manner possible, it will also increase the quality of service by appropriately distributing tables to available servers. It’s not helpful for your staff or for your guests to have one or two servers swamped and three servers standing around idle. This creates contention amongst staff and confusion amongst your guests. While your service will be evenly distributed with ConnectSmart Hostess, your guest loyalty is also ripe to improve. The CRM database can be utilized to capture reservations, the dining preferences of repeat guests and details regarding your most valuable guest’s last visit. It has been said that it’s more financially lucrative to retain and re-serve existing guests than it is to constantly be seeking new guests. Therefore, it’s important to know things like a guest’s favorite server, what table they like to sit at and what red wine they prefer with their favorite entrée. In a world where knowledge is power, ConnectSmart Hostess is the smart and powerful way to go.

We live in a world of instant gratification mired with constant notification. This is evident many times throughout the day as people engage with their various forms of technology – for example, receiving updates on your cell phone regarding the latest major league baseball homerun or receiving text message updates detailing your stock portfolio’s performance for the day. Successfully operating a business within this type of framework requires adapting to the changing trends of consumers. The restaurant industry is not immune from the constant wave of changing consumer preferences. As a means of giving guests that sense of instant gratification and constant notification, coaster and handheld pagers are a great tool.

For example, JTECH’s GuestPass™ handheld pagers and Glowster® Plus coaster pagers are simple, yet well-designed for any restaurant. Meanwhile, not only does the guest benefit from knowing they will be seated in an efficient and speedy manner, the restaurant benefits greatly by using guest pagers by “capturing” more guests. Pagers effectively reduce the number of walk-away guests – those who had already checked in with the host or hostess but later decide to abandon their wait. It seems that the “electronic tether” created by the pager communicates an unspoken agreement to provide a service, or a partnership with a waiting guest. Pagers simply give waiting guests a sense of comfort, which further leads to a more pleasurable dining experience. Many times astute business decisions require “going with the flow,” and this trend of “me – me – me – and now” appears to be sticking around, so adaptation in the business community is vital for staying afloat.

Casual dining can quickly feel a little more luxurious when guest pagers are in use. While not everyone can afford to, or chooses to, dine in five star restaurants, a high level of service can be achieved at a much more reasonable price and at a level of comfort often found only in casual, fast casual and upscale casual restaurants. JTECH GuestAlert® paging and messaging systems bring that extra level of service to your casual dining restaurant. When a guest is handed a GuestPass pager™ they can be assured that they will be seated at the most earliest convenience. The GuestPass pager is silent, durable and effective at conveying a level of service that is a step above. The Restaurant Tough™ design ensures that your investment is protected from the wear and tear of your guests, which often includes large families with rambunctious children. These pagers are made to withstand the whole family, from playful grandpa to active grandchildren.

JTECH pagers also have a voice alert to let guests know they have traveled out of range, which protects against guests inadvertently missing their table call. This alert also reduces pager loss from guests mistakenly taking a pager home in their purse should they change their mind and decide not to wait for their table. In reality though, pagers reduce the likelihood that people will walk-away anyhow, but just in case, the alert is there for backup. Norman Brinker is known as the “father” of casual dining. He understood how to create a welcoming and casual environment while providing great service. The word casual does not have to be synonymous with a lesser level of service, and using wireless pagers in your restaurant will ensure that is not the case. So, casual is the new hip, and pagers make it even more so.

One of the first things that business and business marketing professors teach their incoming students is the importance of knowing what business you are in. Some businesses are a little easier to discern, for example, a small business owner opening an auto mechanic shop is in the business of fixing cars. On the other hand, some are a little more difficult to hone in on. For example, consider a restaurant. At first glance a restaurant is in the business of providing food. But a closer examination reveals that a restaurant is really in the entertainment industry. You might say, “Now wait,” but it’s true. People have many options for obtaining food, and if restaurants were just about feeding people they would be at a sore loss to grocery stores, especially those with vast service counters and growing options of prepared food. Therefore, understanding that a restaurant is in the entertainment industry will help managers and owners focus on what really matters. Of course the taste and quality of the food is important, but improving other factors such as environment, ambiance and service can also be quite impactful.

First impressions are significant. If a guest walks into a restaurant and sees chaos surrounding the reception area and host stand, some may be turned off enough to simply leave. Guests have come to be entertained, to relax, to celebrate a birthday, to reconnect with a spouse, or other important occasion. They certainly didn’t come to face the headache of crowds, noise and chaos. Such a scenario can be easily adverted with a simple guest paging system. JTECH’s GuestPass™ pagers encourage people to move away from the reception area and host stand and find a more comfortable place to wait for their table. By subconsciously encouraging guests to move out of the entryway, guest pagers clear the way for new incoming guests looking for an evening of entertainment, not just full bellies.

Hospitality, now a $460 billion industry, is growing so quickly that it creates 300,000 new jobs each year. This creates enormous opportunity of advancement for those with the right skills and attitude. By 2011, the industry will need 100,000 more managers just to keep pace. This translates into great opportunities for those learning the hospitality business today. According to the U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration, tourism is now the world’s largest industry with sales of $3.6 trillion dollars. New research conducted by the National Restaurant Association also shows significant increases in restaurant industry salaries. In addition to providing a wealth of available positions, the industry is paying its employees competitively.  

Fueled by improving same-store sales and customer traffic levels, the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index (RPI) recently rose to its highest level in more than three years. This growth is also partly attributed to the increased use of technology in the restaurant industry. Using waiter pagers, such as those by JTECH, demonstrates than your establishment is using technology to improve the customer’s experience. ServAlert® waiter pagers are an investment you can make that not only has the potential to increase profits, but more specifically, it enables your waitstaff to get meals on their tables while the food is at its’ peak, making a strong statement that your restaurant focuses on the guests’ experience. “In addition to improving current situation indicators, restaurant operators are increasingly optimistic about sales growth in the coming months, and also reported a positive outlook for staffing levels for the first time in six months,” Hudson Riehle added, senior vice president of the Research and Knowledge Group for the Association.

While some sectors of the food service industry, such as low cost quick serve establishments, have survived the economic downturn relatively unscathed, others have not been so lucky. Higher-end and mid-range restaurants have had to trudge through some very trying times economically. After more than two years of sluggish sales brought on by an extended recession, restaurateurs say business is beginning to improve and that they’re optimistic about a rebound in 2011. Restaurant operators point to an increase in private parties and corporate functions, which they expect to continue as the holiday season nears. JTECH’s StaffComm™ paging system is a valuable tool for meeting the needs of these “non-standard” small parties.

Kevin Rathbun, chef and co-owner of the upscale Rathbun’s, Krog Bar and Kevin Rathbun Steak restaurants in midtown Atlanta said, “The economy is starting to come back. I’m seeing an upward trend as opposed to downward. We’re starting to move in the right direction.” Rathbun also said he is seeing more customers frequenting his restaurants for special occasions as well as business meals. “We’re seeing some private parties come back, and a lot of companies are coming back into play; that’s helped us,” he said. This is the opportune time to wow business guests with superior customer service with the help of JTECH’s scalable wireless messaging solutions. Robby Kukler, a partner at Fifth Group Restaurants, which operates upscale establishments as South City Kitchen, La Tavola and Ecco, said he expects 2010 to end on a strong note, thanks to the upcoming holiday season. Having a wireless staffing paging system in place will allow for a smoother running operation and better serviced parties. “For us, my gut feeling is that holiday dining and group dining is going to be pretty good,” Kukler said. “This year, I think, there is some pent-up demand for corporations who maybe haven’t done anything for the last two years.”

According to the publication Hospitality Technology, innovations in communication are helping operators speed service and satisfy guests. “Just like any relationship, restaurant communication is essential to maintaining a successful experience for the customers and employees. Technology plays a large part in helping to close the gaps for seamless service and empowering employees with real-time information.” On the other hand, an over-reliance on technology can also be a turn-off for some guests. According to Alex Brennan-Martin, president of Brennan’s of Houston and related to the famed New Orleans restaurant family, “people crave good human contact in this email/ATM world and using high tech allows us to be in high touch and pamper our customers more.” Being able to find a balance between the two is key for the success of your restaurant.

When technology is used effectively and efficiently it can increase potential revenue by reducing no-shows and walkaways, seat more people more quickly, quote accurate wait times, and run an overall smoother operation. JTECH’s messaging systems and pagers are designed Restaurant Tough® so your concerns about durability can be eased. The wireless pagers also include an out of range feature that captures guests and reduces pager loss. These are the type of concerns managers typically use as reasons for why to not implement a communication system in their restaurant. With these concerns alleviated, communication technology in the workplace is a no-brainer. Research shows “it absolutely helps with customer retention, gets customers into chairs faster, and increases table turns.” However, it’s important to emphasize that at the end of the day the guest is the reason for this – the focus is not on the technology, but on providing a superior customer experience.