Wahaca, the Mark Selby-led Mexican street food concept, is piloting a new app allowing customers to use table numbers instead of a QR code to retrieve their bill.
The company, which earlier this week won the Best use of Technology Awards at M&C Report’s Retailers’ Retailer Awards, has again teamed up with Flypay to pilot the new technology at its Waterloo site.
So far during the pilot 35% of card transactions have been taken through the app accounting for 18% of the net spend in the site.
Previously, Wahaca used QR codes on tables across the estate, which allowed customers to connect to their bills without needing to find a waiter when they were ready to pay and leave. Customers simply had to download the Wahaca app, scan the QR code, the bill appeared on their screen and they were then given the option to split the bill, pay and go in under a minute
The introduction of Flypay’s new technology on the Wahaca app will now allow customers to use table numbers instead of a QR code to retrieve their bill, making the experience of paying even easier for the whole table. In the case of Wahaca, this forms part of the waiter’s introduction to the table by writing the table number on the paper menus.
Tom Weaver, chief executive of Flypay, said: “What a result! We are absolutely thrilled that Wahaca has been recognised for this award. They continue to be exceptional in their willingness to be truly innovative and try new things. They are completely committed to delivering an exceptional customer experience by reducing the pain points and we’re now seeing excellent traction in their top sites through a mixture of the Pay-at-Table within Flypay and Wahaca’s QuickPay app powered by Flypay technology.”
“As a business, we continually look at how we can make life simpler for operators, whilst also looking to greatly enhance the experience for their customers. The key is ensuring customers do not need to flag down their waiter to give them information; rather the customer already has what they need to retrieve the bill. QR codes were a great method of doing this, but the shift to table numbers has been even more successful.”
Selby said: “We have always wanted to push the boundaries at Wahaca and innovation is key to this, so we couldn’t be happier to be recognised for the ‘Best use of Technology’ award at Retailers’ Retailer. Flypay has and continues to be an intrinsic part of our strategy to ensure we always deliver a very unique experience for our customers. Their technology is by far the most impressive of all the mobile technologies that we have seen, and we’re committed to continuing to innovate with them to further enhance the experience for our customers.”
