How Restaurants Can Meet the Needs of Today’s Diners with Raydiant’s Toast Integration

As many restaurants across the US return to dine-in services, customers are slowly trickling back in. This slow but steady increase is heartening to restaurants, many of which have struggled to survive during the pandemic. But with this influx of “pent up diners” looking to return to the normalcy of eating at a restaurant comes a few differences, compared to pre-COVID times.

Today’s diners are looking for a safe and enjoyable dining experience, and one that offers convenience. Raydiant’s Toast app integration gives restaurants the tools to meet these needs. Here’s how:

Paper to Digital: Menus Get Safer and More Manageable

One poll of restaurant customers revealed that 58% of them said disposable, single-use menus were important to them. In fact, the CDC has even given clear direction to restaurants, stating that they should avoid using paper menus as much as possible, opting for digital instead. Contactless ordering methods using QR codes and other technology are also recommended. Many restaurants have already opted for easy-to-read, dynamic digital menu boards in pre-pandemic days. They’ve found that the convenience and interactivity of these screens help to inform, engage, and entertain diners as they wait to order or while dining. But Raydiant’s Toast app also gives restaurants the ability to create and manage drive-thru and curbside menus, table self-service kiosks, and contactless ordering and payment technology using one management platform. 

Integrated Restaurant Ecosystem = Better Dining Experience

Toast’s digital menus do more than make your menus easier to read and eye catching. They also offer a better customer experience with always up-to-date items. Customers won’t be disappointed when they reach the front of the line and can’t order what they want. Instead, the Toast system integrates back-of-house data, like inventory and pricing, automatically updating your menu boards as things change. Did you 86 a dish? It no longer will appear on your digital menus anywhere. Change a price? It’s already on your menu boards, drive-thru menu boards, and self-service kiosks. No more irate customers—everyone gets what they want (you get a smoother-running restaurant, and they get to order what they want without false menu promises). 

Contactless Services Went from Need to Must

Contactless services are less a novelty and more a necessity for restaurants in 2021. It’s no wonder that at least 75% of US merchants are projected to adopt contactless services in some form by the end of this year. With some customers still hesitant to dine indoors, the ability to order and pay on a table-top kiosk (without close proximity to a server) may mean the difference between customers choosing to dine out or stay at home. Plus, pushing promotions to your digital screens allows you to upsell seasonal and add-on menu items using mouth-watering visuals and “tap to add” customer convenience. 

Toast makes contactless even easier with a centralized database that tracks your inventory, pricing, and other data in real time, so you don’t have to update everything manually. Your table touchscreens will always reflect what you have to offer—and when an ingredient is sold out or a price has changed, it automatically updates your entire system, across the board.

Less Wait Time and Touch Points for Quick-Service Eateries

Did you know that 65% of diners say they would dine at a restaurant more often if it offered self-service kiosks? And three out of four diners said they would leave the line if there were seven people waiting to order?

The draw of quick-service and fast casual eateries has always been convenience and speed: customers want to get in and out without hassle and long wait times. Many of these restaurants are adding mobile ordering and payment and other self-service options to encourage customers to dine-in, assuring them with a safer, more efficient experience.  

Since Toast works with your POS system, you can easily integrate and manage contactless services as part of this all-in-one restaurant management system. Together with Raydiant, Toast lets you offer scan-and-go QR codes for table ordering, contactless mobile ordering and checkout options, and self-service kiosks. That means customers spend less time in the restaurant, less time in line, and have less direct contact with restaurant staff. And it means more customers feeling comfortable returning to dine with you.  

Deliver Directly for More Revenue with Toast 

The statistics are staggering: since the pandemic started, restaurant delivery services have more than doubled. But if you’re looking for where that money’s gone, it may be in the pocket of third-party delivery services like Grubhub, DoorDash, and Uber Eats. 

Sick of losing money on third-party apps’ exorbitant fees? Now you can easily set up your very own takeout and delivery solution with Toast. As part of Raydiant’s Toast integration, you get to create your very own delivery system—and you get to control the delivery fees, minimum ticket orders, and quality control. As part of the POS integration, Toast lets you create an online delivery system. Moving from third-party apps to your own system lets you keep your commission and control the customer experience, ensuring that its up to your standards. It also gives you access to reporting and analytics that can inform your marketing and business efforts. Plus, Toast is one, centralized restaurant management system that allows you to share data between components, meaning your delivery options will always reflect what’s on the menu (not what’s run out).

Invest in a Better Dining Experience with Toast 

Today’s customers are looking for safe ways to feel “normal” again—and most cite dining at a restaurant as that benchmark. To make that happen, most restaurants must re-evaluate their services as a whole; dine-in, outdoor dining, takeout, delivery, curbside, and contactless services are all part of a complete ecosystem. While some diners are dining indoors without hesitation, others are more comfortable with grabbing food on the go, or only dining in places that offer contact-free service. Others stick to the drive-thru, or would rather make mobile payments and pick their food up curbside. Toast is a complete restaurant management system that lets you manage all of it, and offers all this functionality in a cloud-based system. To learn more about our Toast app integration, visit the Raydiant Marketplace.