Half of diners ready for mobile payments in restaurants

Additionally, a third of consumers (34 per cent) said they would be interested in using their mobiles to speed up ordering—and the figure rose to 54 per cent among 18 to 24 year-olds.

This shows the potential of mobile payments to increase restaurants’ business, despite the fact the technology is still very rare – only 6 per cent of diners have already used their smartphones or tablets to speed up ordering or payment so far.               

Zonal Retail Data Systems chief executive Stuart McLean said: “What is crystal clear from this research is that consumers won’t wait. Competition is fierce, and people know that if their restaurant or pub doesn’t give them speed and convenience, there are plenty of others who will.

“We need to make life for our customers as easy as possible, and the brands that identify the systems and processes to achieve that will be the ones that win the race.”

Pet peeves​

The survey of 5,000 people revealed that guests hate waiting when ordering and paying, but mostly get frustrated when their food takes too long to arrive.

Nearly half (47 per cent) of consumers said food not arriving quickly enough was their biggest frustration when going out for a meal, while 24 per cent saying their order being taken incorrectly annoys them most.
Furthermore, one in six (17 per cent) 25 to 34 year-olds said that not being able to pay quickly and move on was a major frustration.

Revenue boost​

Another study, released earlier this month​​, showed that mobile payments could boost restaurant revenues by £5.6bn by reducing the current average 11-minute wait for the bill.

Mobile technology could increase turnover and sales by 14.1 per cent, as well as boost eating out in the UK.