The Problem In Restaurant Booking Apps
Gone are the days of calling and making appointments or reservations because now everyone expects, even simple tasks, to be done instantly with the click of a button. Over 75% of Americans now own a smartphone, which makes digital applications crucial to the success of any business, including bars and restaurants. Understanding this new trend and utilizing the reach of smartphones can play an important role in the overall success of your establishment.
- Issues with booking the tables at the restaurant
- Not having the facility to pre-order from the menu
- Losing customers because of the lack of a delivery service
- The hassles faced by guests when ordering online
- The lack of major steps to improve user experience
Booking systems: Advantages for restaurants and customers In restaurant — Open table is a trend in Restaurants now a days. How it work? Every restaurant have to pay electricty bills & taxes. Keeping profit low a restaurant owner needs to find a way fill the empty seats at their restaurants. It’s possible to do with a mobile application for restaurant bookings.
Solution for restaurant owners
- Taking bookings 24/7
- Manage waiting list easily
- Easy tracking of booked tables, customers, and menus
- Reducing the workload
- Notify customers for their booking via mobile app without any hassel
- Customer retention via showing offers and various loyalty programs
Solution for customers
- No refusing from phone calls
- Reading reviews before booking
- Booking tables at any time
- Preordering food and drinks from the menu
- Paying in advance
- Guests can easily plan their time
Market Analysis
In my competitors' analysis, I found that other solutions just offer benefits its failed to touch the main user's pain points. the solutions available in the market are very expensive and not easy to use. The market needs a simple/elegant/usable restaurant booking software that can boost sales.
Problems in existing applications:
- Hard-to-use because of a bad UX
- Delete negative reviews
- Add extra changes to the bill
- Cancel reservation without any notice
Target Audience
Book a table in restaurants, designed for women and men aged 24 to 55, living mainly in large cities, and a target audience with an average and above average-salary:
- Office workers and managers (trips on business trips)
- Entrepreneurs (Booking a table for meeting with partners)
- People living a luxury lifestyle
- Freelancers
- People working in small and medium-sized businesses (Employees of those companies who gives food vouchers)
- People with irregular working hours (who have limited time for cooking).
Information Architecture
App Features For Guests
- Quick registration — App users should be able to register and sign in via telephone number, email, or an account on social media.
- Profiles — They should give access to favorites and history of bookings.
- Menu — A really good application gives access to the actual restaurant menu with the ability to change some ingredients.
- GPS navigator — It is a must for guiding visitors to new restaurants.
- Floor map — It’s often referred to as a floor/seating map to reserve seats according to their preferences.
- Online payment — Allow your customers to make transactions beforehand via a reservation application in order to skip the need to wait for the check.
- Discounts — They are the core of the restaurant’s loyalty program. You can offer discounts to regular users and make special offers on some special occasions.
- Notifications — They are sent for reservation confirmation and as reminders before the due date.
App Features For Restaurants
- Calendar — For scheduling working hours
- Floor map and a seating chart — To manage tables, have a full picture of open and reserved tables
- Search — It should offer filters by bookings, time, and customers
- Seat combination — It is a must for optimizing the floor plan
- Payment dashboard — With it, a manager can track payments, check old and new money transactions
- Diner book — It includes customer information including reservation history that allows administrators to suggest dishes depending on guests’ preferences during previous orders
- Messaging — For sending emails or SMS to confirm reservations
- Push notification — They are sent whenever a table is booked
- Updating — It allows a manager to update or change the menu, images, or customer details
- Cancellation — To cancel bookings
- PoS system integration — It allows to handle online transactions and optimize the workflow
