From reservation to payment via app: Tilby joins forces with TheFork to make restaurant full digital

The ability to reserve a table is a shrewdness that has revolutionized the restaurant experience: on the one hand, customers can enjoy the experience to the fullest without the risk of waiting, and on the other hand, managers can better organize the service.
Over time, phone calls to the restaurant have been joined or replaced by reservations through website or app, increasingly adopted by restaurateurs with the intent of developing an omnichannel strategy that can effectively link physical and digital means.
That's the direction taken by the innovative tools made available to restaurateurs by Tilby, the cloud point of sale of the Zucchetti Group, which now also integrates TheFork Manager, the restaurant management software from TheFork, Europe's leading online reservation platform with more than 60,000 partner restaurants that allows customers to search, book and review restaurants from app or site.

With this integration, restaurateurs will also be able to get reservations received through TheFork directly into Tilby's point of sale software and give customers the option of settling their bill via TheFork PAY, the commission-free payment method accessible from the TheFork app or by QR code. The payment that is made within TheFork app, is sent to Tilby and the merchant can issue the receipt automatically upon payment by the customer or be issued secondarily at the merchant's option.

"Today it is essential to go through a digitization process. A full digital restaurant makes it possible to meet the new needs of consumers by ensuring an easier and smoother customer experience. The integration with TheFork, which will soon be extended to other Zucchetti Group systems, is an opportunity to provide merchants with increasingly innovative tools," says Francesco Medda, CEO of Tilby. "In particular, thanks to TheFork PAY and the new reservation system, it will be possible to reduce waiting times and queues to zero, in the interest of customers and restaurateurs."

In this way, agenda and room management will become even more convenient and automated, and at the same time restaurateurs will be able to increase the efficiency of their restaurants: in fact, TheFork helps to expand visibility and build customer loyalty. In addition, through TheFork Manager, the staff has full access to the agenda and, combined with Tilby's system technology, it will be possible to check, in one place and in real time, all reservations - made by phone call, online or in person - keeping track of any changes.

"This partnership allows to advance the digitization of restaurants, which brings a lot of benefits to merchants especially in today's still very challenging economic situation. In addition to all the benefits of joining TheFork, we are thus able to further speed up payment transactions. This is an added value both for restaurant customers, because it is the slightly more tedious part of the experience, and for restaurateurs, because especially on certain shifts and peak days it facilitates table rotation," commented Valentina Quattro, Industry Relations Director TheFork.
A solution that also helps restaurateurs combat the no-show phenomenon of not showing up at the place despite having made a reservation. In fact, by e-mail or text message, managers can remind customers of the appointment, as well as the option to cancel. In addition, the operator can use reliability indicators, to keep track of user habits on their management system.