Edinburgh fintech unveils product to help hospitality customers order and pay at table

An Edinburgh-based hospitality tech start-up says it is offering bar and restaurant owners a way of introducing safe, contactless way for customers to order and pay, helping meet physical distancing guidelines.

Customers scan a QR code at their table with their phone. Picture: contributed.

ePOS Hybrid has been working on developing new software to help the hospitality industry rebuild as lockdown restrictions ease.

The new product – to be launched on 22 June – is billed as a contactless self-ordering system that will allow customers to process their full orders from their phone without leaving their seats. The system costs business owners £25 a month and the tech firm said it will help reassure customers as the hospitality industry looks to bounce back.

Head of growth Andrew Gibbon said: “As soon as the UK went into lockdown, we knew the hospitality sector would need to quickly adapt – not only to meet the changing market conditions, but to meet a range of new legislation and strict guidelines put in place by the government in light of Covid-19.

The firm's founder and CEO Bhas Kalangi with head of growth Andrew Gibbon. Picture: contributed.

“Being an agile start-up, we were able to quickly identify the future need of a contactless ordering platform, and we were able to develop the technology and take it to market in just a few short months. We’re helping our clients react to the changing circumstances, and enabling them to reopen safely and in compliance with social distancing guidelines. Without this technology, many hospitality businesses would struggle to reopen.”

The firm, which raised £400,000 from backers and a crowdfunding campaign this year, says it has developed one of the most advanced and fully integrated electronic point of sale platforms in the world, “redefining how businesses in the sector operate and interact with customers”.

The new product works in three steps: customers scan a QR code at their table with their phone, select their table number, place an order and pay, and then orders are sent directly to the kitchen.

The product implementation is fully electronic, and once customers are signed up, venues upload their menus and can use the product instantly. Existing customers can add contactless ordering to their systems and it will be fully integrated, while new customers can review and process orders from any Android tablet.

ePOS Hybrid said contactless ordering means customers can easily view a bar, restaurant or café menu, order, and even pay directly from their phones, all by scanning a QR code – eliminating the need to download an app. For restaurant and bar staff, they can manage all of the orders from the point of sale systems or tablets, allowing them to maintain physical distancing and reduce customer contact.

This product accompanies a range of other products already offered by the tech company to reduce customer contact, including customer self-ordering kiosks and online ordering and delivery management platforms.

ePOS Hybrid added that it has “propelled itself to the forefront of” the food tech sector over the past year by spotting the gaps in current point-of-sale offerings, and is now the only ePOS provider to offer “ seamlessly” connected products to control and manage every area of a hospitality food business.

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