Paper menus are out and table service is in – at least for the foreseeable future. Here’s how one tech company is making digital ordering work in hospo venues.
With businesses set to reopen this week in Melbourne, hospitality venues need to ensure their venues are Covid-safe before they welcome customers. Things such as density limits, record-keeping and outdoor dining will all be a feature in hospitality for the foreseeable future. Venues are being encouraged to minimise transmission risks in any way possible, and one thing we’ll be seeing less of as a result is shared menus.
To help make ordering Covid-safe, the Mondo Connex team (which also set up a free check-in platform for hospo venues this year) is launching Mondo Menu – a digital menu and ordering system that customers access on their phones.
Mondo Connex normally specialises in public communications networks – services such as wi-fi at shopping centres and airports, touch-free check-in systems and customer feedback surveys. This year, the team at Mondo Connex has been utilising its tech experience to help hospitality respond to Covid-19.
Mondo Menu is designed to prevent customers from sharing menus and limit crowding in areas where you order and pay. It also reduces face-to-face interaction between customers and staff (at least until it’s safe to do so again), creates less touch points around a venue and less queues at the bar.
How does it work? Customers scan a QR code with their phone in a venue, a menu appears, customers order, then get a notification when their food is ready and have it brought to the table. The interface is similar to how you would order on Uber Eats, and pre and post-paid options are available.
Mondo Connex CEO Karune Aurora says digital ordering systems are the way forward for venues because they make upselling easier, give waitstaff more time to interact with customers on a personal level or divert staff to other more profit-focused areas of a business.
"This is a really efficient way of ordering for customers and it creates opportunities for venues to run more efficiently and more profitably," he says. "Where waitstaff could previously only serve one or two tables, they'll be able to serve five or six because there's less of that back and forth with ordering."
Venues that do deliveries with their own staff can also use Mondo Menu for pickup and delivery orders. Mondo Menu can link, in most cases, to existing POS and docket systems, and menu items, images and messaging are fully customisable.
Mondo Menu’s annual plan costs $300 per month with zero commission fees. Venues can sign up or request a demonstration here.
Photography: Brook James
