Why is waiting time important?

You know it for sure; waiting time is wasted time. Be it everywhere you are waiting. At the doctor, at the store and especially at the restaurant or cafe where people are waiting for dinner or queued to get their food or table.

Do you know anyone who thinks it is fun to wait? No? Well, nor in your business.

Here are three reasons why you should focus on your waiting time in your restaurant;

1.If guests are waiting for a long time or standing in line, it is your risk that they not only leave the business before they have bought anything, but worse that they will not be back another day. According to Harvard Business Review it costs between 5 and 25 times as much to catch a new customer compared to holding an existing customer. Furthermore, returning customers can mean up to 25% increase your profit! https://hbr.org/2014/10/the-value-of-keeping-the-right-customers

2.If your employees are overloaded or stressed, it often means that customers have to wait for their service. It is always a balance to have the right number of employees in relation to the number of guests and tasks. and this is a constant challenge for restaurants. Sickness among the staff means that you should constantly have excess of staff, or be able to call someone in, which is not always possible. The guests in the restaurant do not know if you have these staff problems, and only consider the visit from the service they receive.

3.Strange enough, too short a wait can also be bad for your restaurant!!! Sounds strange, but if the burger comes too fast, the guests are also out of the store too quickly, which means losing the opportunity for more sales. It is about finding the right balance between customer and workflow that will ultimately provide the right wait for guests, employees and business earnings.

Discover Systems has advised our customers about their waiting time in their restaurant for 17 years. We serve thousands of customers across Europe and the Middle East every day, helping them daily to have the right wait and workflow to suit their guests and the optimal earnings of the restaurant. Contact us for a waiting time check of your business.