“I can’t imagine not using Table Tracker. Without it, our food runners would have to spend way too long hunting for the right table.”
Zinc Café is a sophisticated eatery and retail environment with four locations in Southern California. Owner John Secretan prides himself on a restaurant that offers great food, thoughtful people and a beautiful environment. Key to the exceptional Zinc Café experience is speedy delivery of meals in a welcoming atmosphere.
Zinc Café considers itself one of the inventors of the fast casual concept 25 years ago. Until recently, the restaurant was able to use the traditional table tent method for food delivery — where customers would receive a number to display at their table so foodrunners knew where to deliver the order.
However, when Zinc Café opened its Los Angeles location in 2013, owner John Secretan quickly realized the table tent system would not work. The Los Angeles café’s dining area is over 10,000 square feet and divided into multiple rooms. Due to the size and layout, food runners would struggle to quickly spot table tent numbers to deliver food to waiting guests.
Secretan needed a solution that would support the restaurant’s commitment to great service and allow food to be delivered fresh and hot to guests in a timely manner.
Zinc Café deployed LRS’ Table Tracker solution at its L.A. location. With Table Tracker, guests place an
order and then receive a Tracker that goes with them to their table. Then, food runners are able to use the Table Tracker application to see exactly where a guest is sitting and deliver the order directly to the right table.
The entire system is invisible to guests, but provides a better level of operational efficiency to the dining experience.
Secretan credits Table Tracker for helping to deliver on Zinc Café’s promise of great service when the
traditional table tent method wasn’t going to cut it. “It’s absolutely allowed us to provide a better dining experience,” said Secretan.
Not only do guests appreciate getting their food faster, Table Tracker improves the restaurant’s operations as well. Every minute not spent looking for the right table is time that staff can put into other important tasks.
Secretan says it has been useful to look at the Table Tracker order status display and see which orders are behind schedule for delivery and need to be prioritized. “It’s very handy to see at a glance which orders are green, yellow and red,” said Secretan.
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