You can order in from websites like Seamless or apps like Push for Pizza, but sometimes there's nothing better than enjoying good food and drinks with friends in the ambiance of your favorite restaurant. And while restaurant and bars become packed with people on evenings and the weekends, today we don't have time to be waiting around to get the check or want to use brain power to figure out how to spilt the bill — especially after some signature cocktails.
But the app stores are filling up with mobile payment apps to get users in and out without having to flag down busy bartenders and waiters that haven't appeared since delivering the food to the table.
Now foodies can dine and go in a dash using the mobile payments app Dash.
"Dash is a new mobile payments company that allows you to pay on your phone at bars and restaurants," says Dash's VP of Marketing Michael Jones. "The idea being that if you go into a really crowded restaurant, and you're trying to flag down your server, you can completely eliminate that pain point."
Once you get to a restaurant, bar or club, check-in using the app, ask you server to "Pay with Dash," and they will connect your tab. The app allows users to see a digital bill in real time, so that you know exactly where your tab stands, allowing you to decide whether to order dessert or keep ordering rounds of shots.
Dash also has a "spilt bill" feature that allows friends to either spilt the bill evenly or select the items they ordered, so you are not paying a large sum when you only ordered a salad and everyone else ordered steaks and drinks.
Whether you decide to spilt the bill or just pay now, the app allows you to tip the server and asks you to confirm the payment using the credit card information you have on file or by using Apple Pay. "And at that point you've actually paid your bill and you are ready to leave," Jones says.
Foodies can currently use Dash to pay from their smartphones at 35 locations in New York—including Junior's, Big Daddy's, and Agave—21 locations in Chicago, and 17 locations in Washington D.C.
The app also has a Venue Vibes feature, which allows users to see in real-time the establishments atmosphere whether it's lively, active, or relaxed.
And the app is not only beneficial to the foodie looking to pay and go. Dash also allows restaurant and bars to review analytics based on the data captured through the app, so they can have a sense of what items are selling the most.
Dash is available for free for iOS, with potential for an Android version in the future.
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Photo: Tax Credits | Flickr
