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With the Covid-19 pandemic accelerating restaurants’ transition to digital payment technology, processors Shift4 Payments Inc. and SpotOn Transact Inc. have beefed up their platforms through deals to add third-party applications.
Allentown, Pa.-based Shift4 has agreed to integrate San Francisco-based Uber Technologies Inc.’s Uber Eats delivery app to its point-of-sale platform. The integration will allow restaurants using Shift4’s platform to have delivery orders placed through Uber Eats automatically flow into their POS system.
The integration will allow all orders, including delivery orders, to be managed from a central device, eliminating the need for restaurants to manage delivery orders through a separate tablet computer or device, says Nate Hirshberg, vice president of marketing for Shift4.
“A lot of restaurants using online order-and delivery apps are managing those orders through separate devices,” Hirshberg says. “Managing all orders through a single device is more efficient and allows for reporting through a single system. It streamlines operations.”
Shift4, which has also integrated online ordering app Door Dash to its platform, will offer the Uber Eats option at no charge to customers. Restaurants using Uber Eats will have to pay service fees charged by the delivery service, Shift4 says.
Shift4 says it opted to add Uber Eats to the mix to provide restaurants with as many online delivery options as possible.
“We are seeing a lot more of these applications become table stakes, especially in urban markets, as restaurants look to add value for customers and create a more contactless environment when it comes to ordering and payment,” Hirshberg says.
In related news, San Francisco-based SpotOn Transact Inc. announced it acquired SeatNinja, a reservation-management provider, for an undisclosed sum. Roseville, Calif.-based SeatNinja says it has hundreds of clients, including such chains as Maggiano’s and Outback Steakhouse, regional brands such as Dewey’s Pizza and Mikuni Sushi, and independent restaurants.
SpotOn plans to offer the SeatNinja app, which will be rebranded as SpotOn Reserve, as an integrated feature of its POS system and as a standalone application that can be integrated into existing POS systems that lack reservation-management capabilities.
In addition to accepting and managing reservations through their POS platform, restaurants can use the application to communicate with customers throughout the dining experience. While pricing for the application has yet to be determined, SpotOn is waiving subscription fees for all new clients through the end of 2020.
SpotOn has been making a concerted push in recent months to equip restaurants with technology such as online ordering, contactless ordering and payment, and reservation management.
“The transition to a digital world has been happening for years, but the Covid pandemic has accelerated the pace,” says SpotOn chief executive RJ Horsley. “Restaurants, and businesses in general, are not running their business the same way they were six months ago. When it comes to table management, restaurants need to be smarter about it, because they are not going get the walk-in traffic they did previously.”
