4 years ago, I scanned a QR code in a restaurant in Thailand for the first time, and I was sold. Instant access to the menu and ordering my Pad Thai in a couple of seconds was game changing. But more than that, it was simple.

However, it was coming out of lockdown and testing payment via QR code at Big Mamma, that I truly understood its immense value.

But are QR codes just a fad? Mobile payments and their growth suggest otherwise. Restaurant and their staff are less overwhelmed. Diners have greater autonomy and no longer have to wait.

‘Pay at Table’ was just the start.

Last October, I joined sunday to work on product extension and to diversify our offer. Thousands of restaurants are looking to go digital. But most of the restaurants we speak to nowadays want more. Those driving these requests:

• Fast food businesses who are looking to streamline operations and serve customers as fast as possible
• Bars, pubs and cafés where the crowds and buzz tend to limit the number of orders per customer
• Food halls where the lines to order often ruin the experience
• Outdoor festivals where traffic is high and service is non-stop

For the above, Pay at Table simply doesn’t cut it. The only solution that doesn’t overwhelm staff, is offering customers a way to place their orders digitally in a couple of seconds. And that’s exactly what we launched.

So how did we do it?

Step one. We acquired Canadian startup CHKPLZ, who had the existing stack for online ordering. This was a quick win, saving us time and giving us access to their experience and expertise

We learnt a lot from CHKPLZ, from navigating market differences to the complexity of the product itself.

After considering a few other acquisitions, we finally decided to build our own solution from scratch in November.

Fixed delivery date: 3 months. This was unheard of and if we were going to make it then we needed to double down.

At the time, we were only 8 months old and the launch of our core QR code product across 5 countries already required 200 full time employees. Between the integration of POS systems, the customer web-app experience, the development of new features and all the rest, we had our work cut out for us.

Without breaking apart functioning teams, we had a couple of members hand-picked to work on this new project.

“Speedboat” mentality

To get there, I was given the chance to lead an amazing team with some of the most experience people at sunday:

• 5 developers who knew the ins and outs of our product, our stack and our way of working
• 1 project manager that never tires
• 1 genius designer
• 2 talented operation leads

Team aside, there were other drivers that got us here:

• The vision and support provided by sunday’s cofounders: Victor and Christine backed us from day 1 and gave us all the tools we could have possibly needed
  Solid foundations: our existing product, Pay at Table, and all the features that go with it left for a quick and unfazed development
• Parters who gave us their trust: we were lucky enough to lean against our partner Deliverect, connecting us to the market’s leading tech solution for POS connectivity
• Dedicated sales force: they helped us understand the needs of our clients, what was of value to them to better prioritise our objectives
• A super dynamic company: small team, focused meetings, workshops focusing on the essentials, minimum reporting, total confidence and autonomy
• A clear and tangible objective: From the start, the idea was to launch this product at TopBun in Marseille. The newest Big Mamma restaurant opened in February 2022 and is entirely powered by sunday
• Key early adopters: from the Big Mamma team to Cojean, the Pret a Manger of France, our first clients were committed, hopeful and supportive

What happened next?

Since launching Order & Pay, we’re in this new phase of adapting and modifying the product to meet the needs of our different markets and clients.

From May, Order & Pay with sunday will be available in 11 countries. We want the product to work just as well in a local bar as in a food court which welcomes thousands on a daily.

This next phase, as exciting as it may be, requires focus. Adjust team roles, manage expectations and integrate this service into our existing suite will be the key ingredients for success and to making Order & Pay just as strong as Pay at Table… We’re ready and committed as ever to changing the way we pay in restaurants for the better.