Today’s consumers want a food ordering and dining experience that is seamless and intuitive, with the flexibility to order ahead for take away or eat at leisure in a restaurant. They want to easily split bills, use  loyalty points, add tips and pay instantly using various contactless payment methods.

To meet the evolving expectations of today’s patrons, the hospitality industry needs a cloud-based  restaurant management system and payment solution that is cost-effective and easy to use so they can  adapt to rapidly evolving consumer demands. 

South African mobile payments company Thumbzup has partnered with Munch to enable diners to do just that. Munch has developed a unique, cloud-based Android point of sale (POS) and payment solution that  improves the customer service experience, helping hospitality businesses thrive in a post-COVID world.

"With Munch, you get your favourite restaurant's menu on your mobile phone, order and pay seamlessly wherever you are and you are notified when it is ready for collection,” says Wynand Geldenhuys, CEO of  Munch. "This technology enables restaurants to move beyond the traditional four walls to meet the new  demands of consumers on the move.”

The cloud-based solution delivers a unified mobile app and in-store experience integrated into a restaurant’s POS systems to enable easy reconciliation and transaction tracking. "Multiple restaurants are  linked to a single back-office, and managers can view live business reports either on-site or remotely that  enable inventory, menu and loyalty management, as well as obtain insights into business trends and  analytics,” says Saul Gorin, CEO of Thumbzup. "Our clients can speed up the growth of their food  business with a complete, cloud-based POS and mobile payments solution that seamlessly integrates in-store  and online orders.”

Waiters can leverage the technology to focus on the customer experience: manage their tables more  successfully, easily customise and send orders to the kitchen, receive kitchen updates, split bills and  ensure they are tipped more effectively.

A sleek kitchen display system improves the production and tracking of food orders replacing clumsy printers and paper tickets in a restaurant kitchen. It routes orders from the POS to the correct kitchen  stations, streamlining kitchen communication and reducing human error. 

Consumers can pre-order or order takeaways via a Munch Consumer App directly from the menu and pay instantly through the Munch app on their phones. 

Payment is facilitated by Thumbzup either on-site using a range of Sunmi mobile Android devices or as  an online card payment. Patrons pay instantly using contactless, chip-and-PIN or magstripe cards. 

Zapper, Apple Pay and other wearable contactless payment methods are also supported.

Payments are processed through the Microsoft Azure-hosted Thumbzup Transaction Processing  environment and delivered directly to the acquiring bank. Being in control of the payment application and  processing layer allows Thumbzup to orchestrate multiple payment technologies while enriching  transactional data for its customers. Transactions can be settled into any bank account of the merchant's  choice. The Thumbzup omnichannel mobile payment solution enables both in-store and e-commerce  payments.

Co-working space Roamwork has been among the first to sign up for Munch. "The solution makes it easy  for people to order coffee and snacks while working,” says Darren Epstein, owner of Roamwork. "It adds  even greater convenience to our collaborative workspace. Self-order speeds up servicing, reduces errors  and gives customers the freedom to order when they want.”