NoWait Seats 16 Million Diners, on Par to Surpass 20 Million in 2013
New York, NY (PRWEB) August 12, 2013 -- The rapidly growing technology company, NoWait, today announces that restaurants across the country have used its product to seat more than 16 million diners and are currently seating more than 2 million diners monthly. In 2013, NoWait will seat over 20 million diners, and by the end of the year will reach an annual rate of 36 million.
NoWait, an iPad based wait list and seating management system, has been exceedingly well received and quickly adopted by restaurants in most major metropolitan areas. In a market significantly larger than that of OpenTable’s (3 billion consumers wait on line at non-reservation restaurants every year), NoWait will surpass OpenTable in terms of diners seated per month in 2014.
"We've used NoWait for over a year in our Twin Peaks restaurants. The system helped us streamline our operations and raise our level of hospitality. Our guests love the experience,” said Joe Hummel, COO La Cima Restaurants (Twin Peaks Franchise). “NoWait's new table management features are a significant addition, providing us a full service front-of-house management tool."
While impressive, the numbers don’t tell the whole story. NoWait has doubled the size of its engineering team in the past two months to keep up with demand from restaurants and consumers to develop new features and products.
NoWait is currently beta testing a new consumer application in the city of Pittsburgh, which it will launch nationally later this year. The app will be the only one of its kind, and consumers in Pittsburgh are responding very well. “With two million diners a month using our product, our new app will change the waiting experience forever,” said CEO Ware Sykes.
NoWait’s customer base is rapidly expanding, and in the coming months, the company will be rolling out its service to a number of national chains, adding to the popular independent restaurants already using the product from Iron Chef Jose Garces’ Village Whiskey to Chef Hubert Keller’s Burger Bar in Las Vegas. In addition to its seating management services, NoWait is enhancing its product line to include CRM programs.
According to The New York Times over 37 billion hours of time are lost domestically every year waiting in line. Making the experience more efficient -- and less frustrating -- helps restaurant operators seat more customers and increase revenue. At the same time, it dramatically improves the customer experience, and gives valuable time back to consumers.
Here’s how NoWait’s system works:
• Once a diner enters the restaurant, the host inputs the customer’s name and mobile phone number into an iPad running the NoWait Host application.
• Within seconds, guests receive a text message indicating the wait time until their table is available.
• Smartphone holders also may view their place in line via a link inserted in the instant confirmation text.
• Guests are free to visit retailers or bars nearby – giving them a “Wait Where You Want” experience -- reducing both congestion and the frustration of waiting.
• Once the table is ready, the diner receives a text to return to the restaurant to be seated without delay.
CEO Ware Sykes says the explosive growth is coming from a combination of forces: owners looking for technology to help drive customer experience, sales, efficiency and profit, as well the increasing adoption of smart phones and tablet computing. “In the end, it just makes sense,” said Sykes. “The world has gone mobile, and so will the casual dining market.”
To learn more about NoWait, visit http://www.nowaitapp.com
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About NoWait
NoWait is a mobile seating management service that enables restaurant owners and managers to get a view of the queue and optimize turnover, while diners have the freedom to “Wait Where You Want” until their table is ready for seating. The company is backed by Birchmere Ventures. Based in Pittsburgh, PA, NoWait was built with seed funding from IW’s AlphaLab Tech Accelerator and Carnegie Mellon University Open Field Entrepreneurs Fund. More information is available at: http://www.nowaitapp.com/. Follow NoWait on Twitter@NoWaitApp or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/nowaitapp.
Vanessa Santos, Evyn Block Communications, 212-542-5060, [email protected]
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