How A Backup Internet Connection Can Save Your Restaurant Money
Wireless connectivity has become an integral part of making your restaurant hum and an expected convenience for guests. But when the Internet goes down, it could send your entire restaurant into upheaval and create several small inconveniences that threaten your profits.
One of the first noticeable signs of an Internet outage is the lack of music, then meal orders aren’t getting through to the kitchen, the TV feed has frozen and credit cards are coming back “declined” even though they shouldn’t be. It is an operational nightmare likely to result in customer complaints and negative feedback. If your restaurant offers to-go orders, online reservations or uses Internet-based phone system; that’s, even more, business lost.
All these service problems add up the longer the outage lasts, both in reputation and the bottom line. A weekend-long outage results in hundreds of stored credit card transactions that must be run once service returns. This helps the business stay open, but there is some risk if the payment is declined and results in a chargeback due to a lack of funds on the credit card, further cutting into the slim margins of business.
An interruption in your online service also throws a wrench in the working rhythm of your restaurant. With the point of sale unable to send orders to the kitchen, there’s a sudden need for a runner or expeditor to transfer orders between the front and back of house. Otherwise, it returns to the waitstaff taking each order back into the kitchen — a process a modern staff is likely unfamiliar with.
Since most workers use a POS to clock-in and clock-out, those work hours could be delayed and disrupt your normal payroll calculation. Managers usually have a workaround for this, but those are more time-intensive and another strain is the last thing the managers need when they are already stressed by the other problems caused by the outage.
Backup Internet Connection for Business:
A Better Option
With FlyghtProtect, the first thing you do when there is an Internet outage is…nothing. In fact, you may never even notice. When your restaurant’s primary internet connection is lost (i.e. Comcast or AT&T fail), the connected devices in your business will automatically “failover” to a mobile broadband network — connecting to an LTE or 4G connection to maintain an internet connection inside the business much the same way a mobile phone does when leaving a WiFi spot.
Unlike a mobile phone — and other Point of Sale systems — FlyghtProtect doesn’t come with a data limit that triggers a higher rate once you inevitably exceed it.
What is a Failover?
During the primary outage, the failover service would support more than just the essentials like credit card processing, order tracking, and employee clock times. It would include remote support, overhead music, digital signage, public WiFi, some television services, online, and keep the business running at 100 percent.
In short, FlyghtProtect minimizes — if not negates — the disruption of an Internet outage. Once the primary internet connection returns, the 4G connection will automatically “fail-back” to the primary connection and you will receive a notification. The likelihood that customers or even your employees noticing are minimal, and the natural rhythm of the restaurant would be maintained.
Many restaurant owners are unknowingly putting their revenue and reputation at risk by not having a backup internet connection. We’ve had plenty of clients who have learned the hard way how disruptive and expensive an internet outage can be without any kind of backup internet connection for business. Instead of waiting for an inevitable disruption in your internet connection, do yourself a favor and get a backup internet connection like FlyghtProtect so you never have to deal with this messy and stressful situation.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”Wireless connectivity has become an integral part of any restaurant and an expected convenience for guests. But when the Internet goes down, it could send your entire restaurant into upheaval and create several inconveniences that threaten your profits.” quote=”Wireless connectivity has become an integral part of any restaurant and an expected convenience for guests. But when the Internet goes down, it could send your entire restaurant into upheaval and create several inconveniences that threaten your profits.”]