Here are a few reasons why:

1. The EMV standard was adopted by credit card issuing banks in Europe to reduce fraud. Cards with magnetic swipes where replaced with “smart cards” – cards containing a computer chip that require the input of a PIN to complete a transaction. The campaign to use these smart cards (called “Chip and PIN” in the UK and Ireland) was successful in reducing fraud in England and spread across Europe. In the US, Walmart is the largest retail voice singing the praises of EMV including fraud reduction and lower rates it would pay to processors – they’d like the rest of the retailers to join them in promoting its use.

2. Laws and regulations were passed that essentially shifted the risk of credit card fraud from the banks to the retailers and consumers. Retailers had a major incentive to upgrade their hardware and systems to meet EMV payment standards. They purchased new payment processing equipment to reduce their liability.

3. Tips are set at a certain percentage or are not expected in many European restaurants. This eliminates a behavioral change now necessary for pay-at-the-table to  flourish in the USA. Servers need to learn how to prompt customers to enter a tip before closing out the transaction. Although simple training can offset this change, it’s amazing how reluctant some servers are.

OpenTable has truly been an innovator in the restaurant and hospitality market. It pioneered linking online consumers to restaurants and in many cases was the driving force for restaurants to establish a decent web presence.  It continues to innovate by developing and rolling out new features for opentable.com (including diner reviews which has been the dominate value provided by a number of social network sites including Yelp!) and by acquiring companies (most recently Table Maestro, which manages “off-line” phone reservations). It is broadening its geographic footprint by targeting Europe which has been a tough market to crack.

OpenTable makes money a number of ways today, and with a growing consumer network (it sat over 15M diners in the last year), will have a number more options in the future. The company charges an upfront installation fee of $500 to $600 for its system and $199/month for use of its software. It charges $1 for every seat filled via its web site and 25 cents if it’s booked through the restaurant’s site.

Will most reservation-taking restaurants continue with “2 screens” at the host station – POS and Reservation/Table Management – or will the two eventually become one?

Times have changed. More and more companies, from the largest chains to local independent restaurants, now have the option to bypass this traditional method of delivering value added services. Restaurants no longer have to locally host their own applications and information – customer databases, text and email messaging, accounting, even their POS system can now be hosted and maintained off-site by a service provider.

Leading POS system providers including Micros provide a a single hosted solution to serve multiple restaurants. The application can be hosted by the restaurant chain in one of its locations, or hosted in a Micros datacenter. Emerging POS providers including Vivonet are only hosted in their datacenters.

Online menu and ordering providers like  DashOrder, GrubHub and dozens of others eliminate the burden of maintaining and upgrading menu pages on the restaurant’s website and allow for order payment online. Mobile marketing, coupon and rewards providers including StreetSavings are all promoting the benefits of their hosted services.

The benefits of hosted or Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery include:

• Ability to access reports remotely at anytime
• Lower costs upfront and ongoing costs
• Seamless integration for multiple locations
• Real-time, up-to-date info accessed through an online management portal wherever Internet access is availalble

The number one concern is “If my Internet goes done then my POS/email/coupon system is down”. This is analogous to today’s “My POS system crashed and is down”. Owners and operators need to determine how often do either of these events occur to weigh the benefits.

1. Restaurant Reservation Systems – market leader OpenTable has an app for the iPad, but challengers are looking to displace the company with a full-featured iPad reservation system.

2. Menu Replacement – this application is a natural for the large-screen device. Questions on durability will be addressed by third party manufacturers of protective cases. Keeping customers from walking out with the units in the near term is a concern.

3. Restaurant Management System (POS replacement) – eventually an open development environment like the iPad should enable innovation that dwarfs what is currently  possible with existing closed systems. Several Software as a Service (SaaS) companies are offering a hosted POS solution to challenge long entrenched incumbents.

The list will certainly grow. What are your thoughts?

According to the operators and customers of some of the restaurants that have deployed Pay-at-Table, most generally have positive reactions to the service when its benefits are communicated (security, speed, convenience). Other customers feel strongly that the server , not the customer, should slide the card and select the appropriate buttons to complete the transaction; others felt uncomfortable entering the tip amount when the waiter was nearby. Most agreed that it was far safer to never loose sight of their credit card and that the chances of fraud where significantly reduced.

Ingenico and VeriFone, leading worldwide manufactures of payment terminals, have benefitted from international adoption of wireless systems. Both systems can be programmed to address the concerns of those customers that prefer not to slide the card themselves (servers can do this) and not to input the tip (although the credit card never leaves the site of the customer, eliminating this step does require a little more work by the server to close out the ticket).

We believe the market in the USA will begin to adopt wireless terminals at a much faster rate over the next few years. The benefits outweigh the slight change in behavior the customer experiences… and once customer become adjusted to the new service, there will be no going back.

Facebook and Twitter accounts can instantaneously reach existing customers and millions of new prospects, putting managers and operators in an interesting situation. Should they allow all employees to speak for their place of employment? Or should a select one or few be chosen to post, reply and generally manage online communication? How do owners seize the great opportunity represented by energizing their staff and friends to communicate online about specials, promotions and new menu items, without crossing the line into self-promotion which often rings hollow?  Perhaps a more pressing matter is how to reduce the probability that a rouge employee may release a damaging post, image or video with long-term negative effects on your business? Domino Pizza, the latest victim of negative publicity on the Internet, recently launched a Twitter account in response to a widely circulated video that showed, among other things, an employee getting cheese on his nose before putting it onto a sandwich.

BRILLIAN advises restaurants to identify an employee or third party to maintain, enhance, and often defend customer relationships online. A community manager for your restaurant identifies fans of your brand and should closely care for and communicate with these influencers. A community manager solicits input from employees, customers, and suppliers to develop and launch online programs to capture attention and drive traffic – online and to your location. As this go-to role is established as the center of your social network activities, web-savvy employees will join in and contribute – growing your social presence.

The options to attract more customers through social networks are too great to ignore. Employers must gain the trust and respect of their employees to maximize the collective impact this network of people can have to benefit the business. What are you doing to gain and build trust with and among your employees?

Consumers continued to favor PIN debit over other types of payment. It’s being used more and more wherever possible in convenience, grocery and retail stores. We’d like to see restaurants begin to accept PIN debit. Yes, it will require a change in the operating procedure of many restaurants – but there is a major benefit. PIN debit is the least expensive payment method for owners and operators – they save money when customers use PIN debit in lieu of signature credit and debit. How much money is dependent upon the rate structure and the average amount of purchase.

Accepting PIN debit requires that a PIN pad be used. Handheld wireless terminals with built in PIN pads are available now. These terminals can be brought to the table or be available at the counter for customers to enter their PIN.

What do you think?

Second, the research…after returning from my trip I sought out payment industry experts. Turns out, the technology to “pay-at-the-table” was introduced in America years ago. There were some trials, some successes, a little hoopla, but generally little awareness and acceptance. The basic notion was “that’s not the way we do things” and “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. But I felt it was broke – credit card fraud originating in restaurants was and is a major concern among all industry players, waiting for the bill is one of the top three irritants among dining customers, and excessive trips from the table to the point of sale (POS) system remains a compliant among servers – and I was never comfortable with “that’s not the way we do things” – not with the relentless march of technology, innovation and the desire to improve efficiency that are part of the American way.

Third, the company…I founded BRILLIAN when I realized that not only was pay at the table an exciting solution to market and sell, but that the rapid pace of product and service innovation (wireless technologies, hosted services, etc.) was challenging existing channels to adequately communicate, sell and deliver long-term value to restaurant operators and to other merchants. Additionally, there was a host of emerging companies with innovative products and services targeting these businesses who often lacked the resources to have an outside sales team required to effectively reach this audience.

With these beliefs, BRIILIAN was born with the goal to become a trusted “innovation expert”.

Finally, the name…BRILLIAN Technologies…BRILLIAN? No deep innovative rationale here – strictly personal. It’s a combination of the first names of my two children…I’ll leave it to you to guess the names. And I like how when BRILLIAN is smashed together with Technologies in the logo it reads BRILLIANT. Something each of us at the company strives to be from time to time!

Here are three ways to make it easy for patrons to hear about and order from you.

1. Online Menus and Ordering

Allow your customers can visit your restaurant without leaving home. They can view your menu options online, select what dishes to order, and pay for their purchase. They can select whether to pick up their purchase or have it delivered. Don’t stop at just listing your menu on a website – allow customers to complete the transaction.

2. Social Media Marketing

A new and more efficient way to advertise and to communicate with your customers and prospects. Reach your customers using an information channel they depend more and more upon every day – via social media. Facebook and Twitter are huge – don’t ignore their potential. The goal is not customer satisfaction – it is energizing your customers to become extroverted advocates of your restaurant. You want them to tell the world about your great sushi or your thoughtful waiters – using social media is a cost effective platform for you to reach your existing and new customers.

3. Mobile and Text Messaging

This is a communication tool for customers and others who are registered in the restaurant database. The moment in which your customer receives information about a special event, a promotion, an interesting menu addition or a special service you provide is critical. If the right message is received at the right time (e.g. days before a birthday), the chance that your customer visits your business will be higher.

Do not miss a unique opportunity to improve the success of your marketing investments!

Interesting Fact:

In New York City, visitors can have a great weekend attending special events and promotions offered by merchants that often include discounts for meals and for products and services.

Here is how identity theft originates in restaurants and what you can do to stop it.

Typically, a single or a few rouge employees set themselves up to commit fraud. In some cases, these individuals may be linked to larger organizations. The employees use small electronic devices to read the information off a customer’s credit card. A customer’s card is swiped through a small handheld card reader. The thief, with a single swipe, obtains all of the customer’s personal information found on the magnetic strip including name, address, etc. This practice is known as “skimming.” Often in just a few moments, this information is sold to an accomplish or is used directly by the thief to run up the bills on the stolen credit card.

Identity and credit card theft by the numbers:

• 70% of skimming cases begin in restaurants
• Approximately 10 million Americans are victims of identity theft each year
• The largest identity theft and hacking was 130 million credit and debit card numbers stolen.
• Just over 30% of identity theft victims discover what happened in a period of three months. Nearly 20% of the people discover the fraud after four years!

Restaurant Owners: Two Things you can do to stop identity theft and skimming at your restaurant

• Customers should never loose sight of their credit or debit cards. This simple action is the most effective deterrent to this crime.

• Implement a Pay-at-the-Table solution. Restaurants with Pay-at-the-Table can assure customers of a safe transaction by using handheld wireless devices that are brought to the table to conduct the payment transaction. Customer do not give credit cards to the server to take away, they simply swipe their card on the wireless terminal to complete the transaction.

Pay-at-the-Table was initially introduced in restaurants overseas, and has been in the USA since 2007.  Today it provides the best protection against credit card fraud in restaurants. There are over 800,000 devices in hundreds of thousands of restaurants using Pay-at-the-Table.