In case you missed it: our very own Brian Hassan made a recent guest appearance on PYMNTS.com’s “On the Agenda.” Brian spoke with Ingo Money CEO Drew Edwards and Reed Daniels, CEO of Minnesota-based pizza chain (and Kickfin customer!) Red’s Savoy, about how employee tip outs are going digital.
The big takeaways:
- Restaurants are embracing change. Restaurant owners are being proactive about making strategic shifts to their operations right now — not in spite of Covid-19, but because of it. According to Brian, restaurants previously had little bandwidth to evaluate what’s working, what’s not, and where they can find efficiencies, but they now have a reason to double-down on making improvements that will serve them well in the pandemic and beyond.
- Customers are adapting well: Change can be unpredictable, and quite frankly, a little scary. But another silver lining of Covid-19 is that customers seem to be extremely understanding and willing to adapt, Reed said. That’s yet another reason restaurateurs are finding that now is a great time to make strategic changes not only to their day-to-day systems and processes, but to their entire model.
- Digital tip payments are on the rise: One of the key changes we’re seeing is a shift in the way restaurants pay out tips. This trend started long before the pandemic, but there’s now a greater sense of urgency around enabling cashless, contactless tip payments. Concerns about viral transmission are driving up credit card transactions and off-premise sales. As a result, there’s less cash on hand to pay out tips. That means more bank runs — which take even longer now, with Covid restrictions in place. And on the employee side, with a shaky economy and shifts being cut, workers need immediate access to their earnings now more than ever.
To hear more from Brian, Reed and Drew, watch the full interview here!
