[2017-06-30 08:31:21] [Hello?] Is there anybody in there? I'm trying to ask questions about Payfrit.
[2017-06-30 08:32:32] [David Egan] Good morning!  How may I help you?
[2017-06-30 08:32:47] [Hello?] How many restaurants have adopted payfrit?
[2017-06-30 08:34:49] [David Egan] We currently have six retail locations in greater Los Angeles that are beta testing, two of them are scheduled to offer Payfrit for regular customers starting Thursday, July 6
[2017-06-30 08:35:35] [Hello?] When you say "Open a chat with an employee to ask about a menu item, specials, store hours, etc," isn't that something that's going to put extra strain on restaurant wait staff?
[2017-06-30 08:35:41] [David Egan] The system is very recently fully live and available for testing of your own.
[2017-06-30 08:36:58] [David Egan] Chats do not have to be answered by traditional wait staff.  They can be answered remotely, from the comfort of your own living room even.
[2017-06-30 08:37:18] [David Egan] anyone with an android device and an Internet connection can accept chats
[2017-06-30 08:37:35] [Hello?] But in the end the restaurant still has to pay another person to take chats.
[2017-06-30 08:38:28] [David Egan] no, the restaurant doesn't pay additional staff.  currently the restaurant responds when a customer has a question.  The current response is simply streamlined for those customers who prefer a quicker response.
[2017-06-30 08:38:41] [Hello?] So it's an automated response?
[2017-06-30 08:39:58] [David Egan] no it is a live person, typically as you described, a restaurant employee.  The difference is that with Payfrit, it's not necessary for your employee to physically go to the table, chat with the patron, then return to their POS station, etc.  The question can be handled without all the extra overhead, if your customer would prefer that.
[2017-06-30 08:40:54] [Hello?] Okay. But like I said, that will either require A) An existing worker to take on more work, or B) Another worker to be hired. No other way about it, right?
[2017-06-30 08:40:57] [David Egan] alternatively, your customer can tap to request a server come to the table in person.  either way it doesn't increas total workload, it simply offers the opportunity to lessen it.
[2017-06-30 08:41:33] [Hello?] Answering questions, whether in person or via an app, is by definition increasing the workload.
[2017-06-30 08:42:18] [David Egan] your assumption is not totally correct though, you are positing that there is currently zero work involved with responding to customer requests.
[2017-06-30 08:43:23] [Hello?] If your plan is to make it easier for customers to ask questions, that implies that customers will be asking *more* questions with your app. Otherwise, you believe that your app won't make a difference in how willing customers are to ask questions.
[2017-06-30 08:43:37] [David Egan] right now your customers ask questions.  right now the only way to answer them is for you to pay en employee to walk over to the table and answer them.  Payfrit offers a much more efficient alternative for questions, if your customer wished to use it.  Please not these questions can come from other sources, they are not necessarily patrons in your building.
[2017-06-30 08:44:09] [Hello?] Adding in questions from outside sources will *definitely* increase the amount of questions, as well.
[2017-06-30 08:44:19] [David Egan] no restaurant is required to utilize our chat feature :)
[2017-06-30 08:44:29] [Hello?] But it's a part of your product.
[2017-06-30 08:44:47] [David Egan] it's an offering, as a feature of our app  :)
[2017-06-30 08:45:43] [Hello?] When you said earlier that someone could answer these questions from a living room on an app, you make the assumption that this person is being paid, yes?
[2017-06-30 08:46:12] [David Egan] absolutely.  please understand that Payfrit totally redefines how restaurant service works.
[2017-06-30 08:46:40] [David Egan] we apply Activity Based Compensation to all employee activities.
[2017-06-30 08:47:31] [David Egan] bussing a four-top for example, is now equivalent to a very short Uber trip, and the employee is compensated for such, based on variable factors about the task.
[2017-06-30 08:47:54] [David Egan] answering a chat, adds to the completed activities for that employee, for that particular day.
[2017-06-30 08:48:15] [Hello?] Your plan is to redefine the way wages are paid to workers from the restaurants?
[2017-06-30 08:48:38] [David Egan] so now with Payfrit, at the end of the day, there's a perfectly objective way to distribute tips or service fees.
[2017-06-30 08:49:07] [David Egan] Payfrit provides that as an option to customers that wish to experiment with it, yes.
[2017-06-30 08:49:30] [Hello?] Why are customers being asked to get involved in the employment payment process?
[2017-06-30 08:49:32] [David Egan] alternatively, it runs as an independent layer on top of any existing systems a restaurant already has in place.
[2017-06-30 08:50:01] [David Egan] this process is totally transparent to the customer.
[2017-06-30 08:50:13] [David Egan] all they see is a quick response to the chat.
[2017-06-30 08:50:26] [Hello?] Did you mean to say transparent?
[2017-06-30 08:50:34] [Hello?] Sounds like you meant the opposite.
[2017-06-30 08:50:44] [David Egan] or an employee showing up at their table immediately.  there are no assigned server areas anymore, only tasks.
[2017-06-30 08:51:19] [Hello?] Wait. No assigned areas? Why do you think the industry needs this change?
[2017-06-30 08:51:46] [Hello?] Also, how does this help your app? It seems like an unnecessary hand in the pot.
[2017-06-30 08:52:00] [David Egan] because assigning server areas is a horribly inefficient way to provide customer service.
[2017-06-30 08:52:01] [Hello?] Assigned areas make sense in a restaurant setting.
[2017-06-30 08:52:23] [David Egan] they make perfect sense in a restaurant setting, barring a better solution.
[2017-06-30 08:52:40] [David Egan] taxis used to make sense also  :)
[2017-06-30 08:52:47] [Hello?] Out of curiosity, how much experience in restaurant service do you have?
[2017-06-30 08:53:23] [David Egan] me personally, none.  our seed investors own very successful restaurants.
[2017-06-30 08:53:42] [Hello?] Eye-opening, thank you.
[2017-06-30 08:54:18] [David Egan] please feel free to let us know if you have additional questions!  As mentioned, our software is fully live right now.