In the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” chat with Tim McLaughlin, co-founder chief executive officer of GoTab, Inc., about technology that can optimize daily operations, while improving communication between restaurant operators and their guests.
McLaughlin talks about his background, he says he has been developing software since he was young and then he went to school for mechanical engineering. McLaughlin says, “I co-founded GoTab in 2016. We’ve taken many turns and twists as hospitality has in the last five years for those who know, started in payments ordering and then we’re a full system now. Our real focus instead of being like most POS, we are focused on making the guests have a better experience as well as the operators.”
McLaughlin shares the evolution of GoTab, saying that in 2016 you were able to pay your tab by entering a code, in 2017 you were able to do it with a QR code. He adds, “our whole goal was to turn tables faster. As many hospitality tech companies want to do is get guests in, get them out, take their money as fast as you can. It turns out we couldn’t really get enough traction with that but that’s what we’ve seen overall is it just doesn’t solve enough problems.” GoTab then added ordering and they kept expanding and filling in the gaps.
QR codes have been around for some time, McLaughlin says GoTab thinks of QR codes as a point in space. He says, “a QR code is unique all throughout your restaurant. It could even be in a hotel next door but that lets us know where you’re standing or where you’re sitting or maybe laying. I don’t know but the point is that we know where you are which means we know what menus you can access, who you are and what’s available at that time. How long it’s going to take to get it to you and as a result we can then start optimizing a lot of things in the kitchen.”
Frischling asks McLaughlin to explain what he means when he says to think of the kitchen like a factory. He says that you should optimize for production, speed, quality and efficiency and have a process. GoTab eliminates a lot of the work with the software, letting chefs and cooks focus on making food.
To hear more about the solutions GoTab can bring to the operators, including wrong orders and communication, tune into this episode of Hospitality Hangout on Spotify.
This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality.
