Biometric Payment in Restaurants, an option in times of Covid

El Biometric Payment in Restaurants, today becomes one more option to avoid the closure of businesses and the paralysis of a sector that, in our country, is fundamental support for the tourism industry, the largest generator of employment in recent years.

Let’s see how it works, what are its benefits, and what are the options that restaurants have to implement the Biometric Payment in Restaurants.

The New Normal has not turned out as “normal” as expected. Vaccination has just started, and it seems that we will still have a couple of years defined by restrictions and distancing measures. Of course, we are the first to recognize the impact that this health emergency has had on restaurants, hostels and other similar establishments.

But are the conditions imposed by the pandemic the only reason to implement Biometric Payment in Restaurants? No.

If you have suffered a robbery or have had a security breach in your restaurant, surely you know what we are talking about. Loss prevention is a matter of vital importance today, and Biometric Payment in Restaurants may be just what you need to eliminate losses due to theft, error or misuse of documents.

How does Biometric Payment in Restaurants work?

Unlike the old methods of payment, cash, magnetic card, or access code to mark and use the registry, the Biometric Payment in Restaurants uses unique human characteristics, unrepeatable and impossible to duplicate, to authenticate the access to computers and systems of security, to activate the payment.

Today, biometric devices are no longer restricted to popular fingerprint readers. In fact, in times of “New normal“They are somewhat inconvenient. Biometrics today focuses on the reading of the eye’s retina, facial geometry or even the displacement movements of a person.

Biometric payment offers more than security: it allows you to integrate a CRM and manage payments, using a software application that starts automatically with a computer, and remains running all the time, like another Windows service on the taskbar. .

This payment system works as an electronic purse, to pay by ticket, debit card, credit card, or automatic discount from a bank account.

The benefits of Biometric Payment in Restaurants

Think for a moment what you want to achieve in terms of agility, safety and asepsis in your restaurant. Now, check the list of benefits you get with Biometric Payment in Restaurants:

• Eliminate the need to type long numbers and make mistakes, which would imply canceling a transaction, with the inconvenience that this generates.
• Eliminate the use of magnetic cards, user names, codes and passwords, not only for customers. Also from the employees.
• Reduce tasks for employees in charge of collections, issuance of discounts, reimbursements …
• Eliminate the possibility of one employee marking the card of another, in order to increase their working hours.
• Eliminate the possibility of fraud, identity theft and theft.
• Prepare customer profiles so that, from their arrival, they are cared for according to their preferences or their food restrictions, derived from allergies or contraindications.

How to obtain Biometric Payment systems in Restaurants?

Technology can address many challenges in restaurants. Challenges that have to be faced in what we have come to call the “New normal”.

In the restaurant industry, technology applications also help improve customer experience and process safety.

Biometric recognition makes it possible for a restaurant to start serving a customer, from the moment he walks through the door. In fact, you could finish your meal and leave, without having to take out one of your cards, or have physical contact with any device, because the restaurant’s POS (Point of Sale) system recognizes your face or the way you walk. , and with a pre-authorized card, the disbursement occurs with the customer’s departure.

There are many “Point of Sale” systems that today have biometric technology incorporated. These are some providers of this service:

• Clear: has implemented biometric payment in restaurants present in 39 airports in the United States. This allows passers-by to consume food and beverages, which are paid for by simply bringing the retina closer to a reader, at a safe distance, to avoid any contagion.
• Crossmatch: specializes in biometric identity management solutions, and is a provider of fingerprint sensors for point of sale terminals. This company is now a subsidiary of HID Global.
• Nextep Systems– Offers self-service kiosks and touchscreen operating units, including some with facial recognition functionality. Nextep has been acquired by Sicom System Inc, which offers a variety of order, payment and restaurant management solutions.
• NEC Corp.: The subsidiary of the Japanese giant, tests self-service kiosks using facial recognition in fast food restaurants. NEC Corp is present in a little more than 160 countries.