Restaurant Pagers

California-based restaurant technology company Servisensor has recently announced the launch of its waitstaff calling system, the ServiceLight. What’s unique about this pager system is that it allows restaurant customers to communicate with the staff, as opposed to systems that are designed for communication between staff, or from staff to customer. It’s much like the little attention buttons that you find above your seat in passenger jets.

Essentially, the ServiceLight is a table-top device powered by four AA batteries with three colored lights on the top. One for Service, one for Refill and one for Cheque. Being portable, the device is left at the table with the menus when guests are seated. So the concept is quite simple in that the restaurant customer presses the relevant button when their table needs attention, thereby illuminating the button and notifying staff or managemet.

Whilst I love to see innovation in restaurant operations, I do feel that staff and management should be sufficiently intuitive to know when a table needs attention anyway, and this probably isn’t a device that you will see in many five-star restaurants anytime soon.

However, for those restaurants catering in other markets and where efficiency in table management is crucial, Servisensor could be on to something with their ServiceLight. The unit is brandable as well, so there is potential for selling advertising space here I guess.

At $100 per unit though, this does mean a significant capital outlay for even medium-sized restaurants, particularly if they have already invested in other pager systems.

Cool Blue Coaster Call by Long Range Systems

The coaster pager caused a small-scale revolution in the restaurant industry when first pioneered in the mid-1980′s by Long Range Systems. Now, no longer did customers have to wait for their table to be called out over a loud speaker or need to anxiously watch a small LCD display in anticipation of their table number being announced.

Coaster pagers have come a long way since their debut, although the outward design is still pretty much the same in most on the market today – essentially an over-sized plastic coaster with wireless technology and a buzzer and/or lighting built in to alert customers that their table is ready.

Like most other restaurant paging systems, it works quite simply – guests are handed one of the coasters and are free to perhaps go to the bar whilst they wait for a table to be ready. When the table is ready, the restaurant staff alert the guests by entering the coaster ID into the base station. The signal is typically sent wirelessly, meaning a good range can be expected – dependent of course of obstacles such as walls etc.

The coaster also doubles as, you guessed it, a coaster for redting drinks and advertising can also be incorporated in some models.

Some of the main players in the coaster pager market today are JTech Communications, NTN Hospitality Technologies and Long Range Systems. Packages can generally be bought with anywhere between 5 and 60 coasters, plus a base station.

Genrally the battery charge on the coaster lasts around two days, with a life expectancy of around about two to three years. Most charge automatically when returned to their stack.

The are, however, some potential downsides to restaurant coasters that you should be aware of too.

Like other restaurant paging devices, there is a loss rate to be expected. I’ve heard reports of anywhere between one to disappearing in a month. Many customers may not take them intentionally, but coasters with some of the newer features such as games are more likely to be intentionally pilfered. However coasters can be programmed to beep consistently if taken outside a pre-designated range.

There is also a move in the restaurant paging industry to better utilise cell phone technology, as generally most people have one these days. A cell phone paging system increasingly looks to be a cheaper and more efficient solution for restaurant operations.

The primary aim of this website is to present you with all the information you might be looking for regarding restaurant pagers.

Initially, you may be asking, just what is a restaurant pager? And how is this going to help me run my restaurant?

Well, this nifty little device can come in all shapes and sizes, and carry out a variety of different functions too. Essentially, a restaurant pager will carry out two main tasks in a restaurant. Communication between wait staff and their customers, and also just between the staff themselves.

Used to its full potential, a restaurant paging system should lead to a dramatic increase in productivity in your operation – thereby justifying what can seem an exorbitant initial outlay. Of course, no two systems are alike, so hopefully this website will help you decide which is best suited to your operation.

I’ll note here too that the face of restaurant paging is no doubt in for some fairly dramatic changes in the near future too, predominantly with the increasing use of cell phone and Internet technology. These are areas I’ll be looking to explore in further posts.

I’ve set up this site to help those that may be looking to buy a restaurant pager system. Hopefully I can help make the process a little easier for you and you can make an informed decision before you hand over the cash. So, on this website, I’ll attempt to try and cover everything related to restaurant paging systems. Eventually this will include pager reviews, tips on maintenance and just about anything in general that I feel may be relevant.

If you like to know a bit about me, check out the about me page. And feel free to drop me a line if you want to say hi or perhaps have some feedback (good or bad).

If there’s something specific that you’re looking for on this site, try using the search box.

And if you have any questions, again please feel free to contact me, or leave a comment. Hopefully myself or one of the other readers will be able to help you out with your restaurant pager query!