By David Payet, Grocery Retail & QSR Offer Manager, GSV at Worldline

There is no denying that the quick service restaurant (QSR) industry has been hit hard over the last year with social distancing, contact tracing and a shift to sales and payments online. ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ went some way to getting people back into QSRs and other food-service venues, but it couldn’t be sustained over the long term.

Although hit hard, the QSR sector is weathering the pandemic better than other sections of the food service industry and it is already at the forefront of digitalisation through the widespread adoption of click and collect. Although, unfortunately, there was no way to make up for the loss in eat-in sales.

As to be expected, McDonalds is the best performer in the field, despite a 30% worldwide drop in income and a 68% drop in net profit in the second quarter of 2020. The company was investing heavily in digital engagement before the pandemic and  in early 2019 one tenth of its orders were for Uber Eats delivery.

Delivery apps could stop QSRs from other digital innovation

Over the course of the last year, QSRs have adopted increased digital technologies into their operations, such as extensive ordering kiosks and bespoke apps, as well as the adoption of delivery apps such as Just Eat and Deliveroo.

This dependency on third party delivery apps for taking orders, processing payments and arranging delivery could be potentially harmful in the long run. Of course, the cost of using such delivery apps cuts into profits at a time when restaurants are already strapped for cash. It also means that restaurants can’t take payments directly as everything has to be processed by an intermediary, which could add an extra layer of complexity to a company’s payment technologies.

Therefore, some brands may struggle to integrate all aspects of their business with new digital systems. There are still gaps in contactless wallet acceptance, for example, and difficulties in integrating loyalty programs. Starbucks, for example, has a digital version of its loyalty card, but does not allow customers who order on Uber Eats or Just Eat to collect rewards. Allowing customers access to a number of apps to access one restaurant creates a disjointed customer experience, when in fact the app should be there to provide a fully cohesive journey.

Although the industry has come a long way in a very short amount of time, there is still room for improvements that will benefit both QSR companies and customers, particularly as lockdowns end and restaurants can return to normal.

Adapting to the post-pandemic sector with innovative payment systems

When restaurants are allowed to re-open to full capacity they will not operate quite the same as they did pre-pandemic and instead innovations will be adopted to help the sector to adapt to changes occurred as a result of the pandemic. QSRs can use technology that expands upon their digital capabilities such as payments with Apple Pay and Google Pay which enable 1-click mobile loyalty subscription, bypassing the need for plastic cards or for merchants to have individual apps by deploying the loyalty card directly to a customer’s digital wallet.

Another technology that the QSR sector could adopt is scan and pay which was originally developed for the retail industry. It benefits from providing a socially distanced service, for example in self-service restaurants, like Pret-A-Manger, it could allow customers to bypass the checkout and payment process entirely by scanning the QR code to log in to the store itself, then scanning the barcode of each item before paying, with no interaction needed with staff, freeing them up for more valuable activities. Technology like this could even QSRs to bring restaurant-style eat-in experiences to customers, allowing them to scan their table and make an order through an app.

Getting the correct balance between online and in-store offerings

These digital solutions alone won’t be truly effective without an integrated, omnichannel solution that connects the dots between a customer’s online and in-store ordering. It will allow for a far richer customer experience leveraging tokenised payments and key features like reward cards to customer accounts seamlessly and across all platforms. This is vital for QSRs large or small, as it creates a solid foundation on which to build the next innovations that are to come in the QRS sector.

ENDS

About the Author

David Payet, Grocery Retail & QSR Offer Manager, GSV at Worldline.

David joined Wordline as Grocery Retail and QSR offer manager in 2020, with over 14 years’ experience mainly in the retail industry. In his role, David brings vertical expertise to help grocery retailers and quick-service restaurants (QSRs) deliver best-in-class checkout experience making their customers’ lives much easier.

Prior to this role, David spent nine years working for Carrefour Group and held a variety of roles related to digital and omnichannel customer experience. Most recently, he was part of the executive committee of Market Pay (Carrefour’s payment institution operating internationally) where he was in charge of marketing and products.

About Worldline

Worldline [Euronext: WLN] is the European leader in the payments and transactional services industry and #4 player worldwide. With its global reach and its commitment to innovation, Worldline is the technology partner of choice for merchants, banks and third-party acquirers as well as public transport operators, government agencies and industrial companies in all sectors. Powered by over 20,000 employees in more than 50 countries, Worldline provides its clients with sustainable, trusted and secure solutions across the payment value chain, fostering their business growth wherever they are. Services offered by Worldline in the areas of Merchant Services; Terminals, Solutions & Services; Financial Services and Mobility & e-Transactional Services include domestic and cross-border commercial acquiring, both in-store and online, highly-secure payment transaction processing, a broad portfolio of payment terminals as well as e-ticketing and digital services in the industrial environment. In 2019 Worldline generated a proforma revenue of 5.3 billion euros. worldline.com