Barclaycard Makes ‘Dine & Dash’ Easy, Legal
Barclaycard, part of Barclays Bank PLC, a global payment business that helps consumers, retailers and businesses to make and take payments flexibly, said it developed ‘Dine & Dash,’ a new solution enabling diners to simply walk out after eating – bypassing the traditional bill-paying process. It will be unveiled with a consumer trial at high-street chain Prezzo. The launch comes in response to research conducted by Barclaycard that reveals that 38 percent of diners want to avoid waiting for the bill and 67 percent of restaurant owners are in favor of an ‘invisibill’ way to pay to improve service and customer satisfaction.
Barclaycard, which is committed to developing innovations that make payments quicker and easier for both consumers and merchants, said its research uncovered that waiting for the bill is the most frustrating part of eating out for over a third (36 percent) of Brits. The frustration is so great that 25 percent would consider walking out without paying and two-thirds (65 per cent) say they would not return to a restaurant if they had to wait too long for the bill.
Taking away the need to ask, wait and pay for the bill in the restaurant, Barclaycard partnered with Prezzo to launch Dine & Dash to make eating out even more enjoyable.
How does it work?
- Powered by a new Barclaycard app called ‘Dine & Dash’; users store their payment details once in the app.
- Each table in a Dine & Dash restaurant will have a small totem with color-coded lights which consumers will use to ‘check in’ to their table, via the app. The totem will flash upon check-in, indicating to diners and wait staff that the table is using Dine & Dash
- Diners can leave when they have finished eating and based on proximity tracking, the Dine & Dash app will sense when they have departed from the restaurant. They will then be checked out, with payment automatically taken from their stored credentials and the totem will flash – and stay – green for an extended period of time to indicate the bill has been settled.
- Diners can also check out in the app where they will have the option to split the bill, add a tip and apply a discount code. No matter which method they use, all diners can see their bill total in real time and receive a digital receipt, so they can keep track of their spending.
Dine & Dash builds on the ‘invisible payments’ technology Barclaycard trialed in 2017 with Grab + Go. The pilot enabled employees to turn their mobile phones into pocket checkouts to scan and pay for goods in the Barclays’ staff restaurants.
Restaurant staff won’t think customers have run either, as the totem on the table will change color to show successful payment. Diners can also check out in an app where they will have the option to split the bill, add a tip, apply a discount. No matter which method they use, all diners can see their bill total in real time and receive a digital receipt, so they can keep track of their spending.
This ‘just walk out’ technology will be welcome news to Brits who eat out regularly; Barclaycard’s research revealed that their longest wait-time to receive and pay the bill in restaurants is a whopping 19 minutes. Already, more than half (55 percent) predict a future where the physical bill no longer exists, and no doubt many will welcome technology which speeds up table turnover – helping them get seated even more quickly.
It’s not only customers but the restaurant industry itself calling for more technological solutions to continually improve the dining experience. Six in ten (60 percent) restaurant owners have seen customers leave without paying so it’s no surprise that 90 percent are interested in seeing new technology improve ways to pay.
Two in three (67 percent) feel that paying automatically or ‘invisibly’, rather than physically, would improve customer satisfaction and 95 percent of restauranteurs would prefer if their staff could focus on delivering good service, rather than spending time on taking payment.
“Finding better ways to serve our customers is at the top of the agenda for Prezzo," said Dave Broom, IT Director at Prezzo. "We believe we have found a unique opportunity with Barclaycard’s Dine & Dash solution as it makes payment simpler and quicker. We’re really looking forward to testing this exciting new technology in our restaurants.”