New research from the hospitality-app provider, Ubamarket has found that a staggering 60% of Brits said their biggest concern in returning to indoor hospitality is having to be in a crowded queue for the bar.
As the hospitality sector continues to battle with the impacts of the pandemic, research from the card payment company, Dojo has shown that 95% of venues in the UK are seeking to implement technology into their premises.
Catalysed by the events of the last 12 months, hospitality technology has gone from a niche product, to an absolute necessity.
Whilst solutions were heralded as a vehicle to allow guests back into their favourite venues along Britain's roadmap out of lockdown, the relative infancy of the industry has meant that teething problems have arisen, potentially fuelling the reticence to return to venues.
New national research from Ubamarket, the creators of hospitality tech app, NOMM (New Order Magic Menu), has unveiled that there are a number of teething issues experienced by guests.
The greatest pet peeve of British consumers has been unveiled to be the inefficiencies of technology implemented at hospitality venues. 44% of Brits said that when visiting pubs in the last 72 hours, they found the apps and QR codes available as a source of frustration as the whole menu was not provided.
Further to this, a further 32% agreed that ordering from QR codes in venues was too unreliable.
Key statistics:
• 60% of Brits (22,803,000) said their biggest concern in returning to indoor hospitality is having to be in a crowded queue for the bar
• 44% of Brits (9,995,000) agreed that they have found it frustrating that apps and QR codes at hospitality venues do not show the entire menu
• 32% agreed (6,495,000) that since returning to hospitality venues, they have found ordering from QR codes in pubs/bars/restaurants too unreliable
• 17% of Brits (4,192,000) who dined in were put off ordering particular meals because the digital menu did not state all the ingredients in the dish
• 43% of Brits have said that when going back to indoor dining, they do not want to wait more than five minutes for their server to take their order
Within the study, over 4 million Brits have been prevented from ordering meals due to a lack of detail in listing all ingredients present, suggesting that technology solutions have been unable to account for the dietary requirements of Brits.
Further to this, time and safety are still deeply important to consumers, with crowded venues still the greatest concern for over 22 million patrons of hospitality venues across the UK.
In a market that matured almost overnight, there’s no longer any room for an MVP (minimum viable product) as every food & beverage-based establishment now needs a sophisticated digital menu to facilitate a fully integrated end-to-end ‘order and pay’ solution.
In creating NOMM, Ubamarket went a step further with their ‘magic menu' technology which brings the traditional menu to life, enabling customers to browse, build and even customise their order whilst choosing between table service, collection points, take-away or even home delivery.
A key differentiator is that the app is seamlessly and completely linked with the venue’s POS system and back office as well as being entirely modular, therefore compatible with loyalty and membership systems too. The benefit of this is two-fold.
Firstly, every customer order is automatically routed to the main till system and kitchen so there’s no need for staff to use a tablet or manually ‘key in’ any orders.
Secondly, venues can manage the app simultaneously with their POS so if staff update a menu, price or even ‘specials’ or offers, it’s immediately reflected in the app, in real time and can be pro-actively communicated as well.
Founder Will Broome commented, 'Venues and technology providers have responded quickly by pivoting and creating an array of apps. However, as pinpointed in our research, there have undoubtedly been some frustrations that have surfaced.
'Now that indoor hospitality has reopened, our research has shown that of course, there will be a sense of trepidation as we return back to normality, but through NOMM, we are providing applications that will bring reassurances and comfort to customers and retailers alike.
'Once the lockdown measures are totally lifted, we will have produced the fastest, cheapest and most tech-enabled solution to many of the problems Covid has highlighted.'