COMPARISON

Restaurant buzzers or the customer’s phone: which to choose?

Restaurant buzzers (the coasters that vibrate and flash) have been around for a long time. They work, but they come with costs and constraints. Here is a point-by-point comparison with an alert sent to the customer’s phone, as YallaReady does.

Hardware

A buzzer system needs a set of pagers and a charging base, to buy and replace when they get lost or break. With the customer’s phone there is nothing to buy: a QR poster and a tablet or phone for the till, often already there.

Upkeep and hygiene

Pagers pass from hand to hand: they must be cleaned, charged every night and checked back in. The customer’s phone stays in their pocket; nothing circulates between customers.

Information for the customer

A buzzer vibrates, that’s all. On their phone the customer sees their number, their order status and your shop’s name, in their language (Derja, French or English). On iPhone the alert shows on the lock screen through Apple Wallet.

Range

A buzzer only works within range of its base. A phone alert goes over the internet: customers can wait on the terrace or next door.

And the phone’s limits?

Not every customer has a phone or wants to scan. For them nothing changes: the till shows orders without an alert and you call them as before. You also need an internet connection at the counter (Wi-Fi or 4G).

  • Buzzers: hardware to manage, but no internet needed
  • Customer’s phone: nothing to manage, more information, a connection needed