From restaurant visit to restaurant experience: why playing together sticks with you

Why do we still remember some restaurant visits years later and barely remember others after a week? Food naturally plays an important role. So does service. But a restaurant evening consists of more.

Who were you with? Did you laugh? Did something unexpected happen? Was it fun? Did you have something to talk about? It's precisely that social and emotional part of a visit that partly determines how people remember the evening. And that's exactly where TablePlay tries to add value.

From waiting to experiencing something together

A table without activity can become relatively quiet during a wait. People pick up their phones. Everyone looks at their own screen.

TablePlay uses that same phone to get people communicating with each other again. Who knows the answer? Which option do we choose? Who plays the next round? Can we beat table 8? What does the scoreboard say?

Technology isn't used here to push people further apart, but as a reason to do something together.

Research on games in restaurants is positive

Research into the use of board games in restaurants shows a particularly relevant picture. Participants reported, among other things:

• more social interaction
• more relaxation
• more engagement
• less negative experience of waiting
• and a more positive overall restaurant experience

That's almost exactly the mechanism TablePlay is built on. Except with TablePlay, a restaurant doesn't need to manage a game cabinet, look for missing pieces, or reset games after every table. The smartphone becomes the game board.

Why tournaments go a step further

An ordinary game connects the people at one table. A TablePlay tournament can connect different tables with each other. Suddenly you're not just having dinner with four friends. You're table 14, and table 9 is three points ahead of you.

That creates competition, humor, and conversations that would never have arisen without the tournament. An unfamiliar table can temporarily become an opponent. A waiter can ask who's in the lead. The whole room can follow the finale.

That turns TablePlay from a pastime into part of the venue's atmosphere.

Up to 30% more positive restaurant experience

That's exactly why we apply up to 30% more positive restaurant experience for a strong scenario. That's broader than customer satisfaction. Restaurant experience covers things like enjoyment, entertainment, social interaction, perceived wait time, atmosphere, and how much fun someone has during their visit.

TablePlay can't determine how the food tastes. But it can influence a significant part of what happens around the meal.

A better experience can increase satisfaction

That experience carries through. When waiting feels less annoying, people talk to each other more, and something fun happens during the evening, it makes sense that overall satisfaction with the visit can improve as well.

That's why, within the strong TablePlay scenario, we calculate up to 25% higher guest satisfaction. Here too, this is a goal that ultimately needs to be confirmed with real guest measurements, for example by asking players and non-players the exact same satisfaction question after their visit.

A memory gives an extra reason to come back

A restaurant where someone ate well can be attractive for a return visit. A restaurant where someone ate well and had a fun evening may have an extra advantage.

TablePlay can also offer recurring content. A different quiz. A new tournament. A monthly leaderboard. A rematch. A new first place. This means the next visit doesn't have to be exactly the same as the last.

That's why we apply up to 30% higher return intent in the strong scenario. Not because every guest automatically comes back for TablePlay, but because TablePlay can add an extra reason to visit the restaurant.

People talk about events

Perhaps this is ultimately even the most interesting effect. People rarely tell each other that they sat at a table for 73 minutes. They tell:

• "My dad thought Madonna was from Australia."
• "We beat every other table."
• "We lost the final by one question."
• "We have to go back there for a rematch."

Those are stories. And stories are the foundation of word-of-mouth advertising. That's why a restaurant with TablePlay can potentially create more than a satisfied guest. It can create a guest who has something to tell at home.

Within our strong scenario, we therefore calculate up to 40% more positive word-of-mouth advertising. It may well be the most valuable long-term metric of the four. Because when an existing guest convinces others to visit the same venue, reach is created for which the restaurant didn't have to pay any advertising costs.

Want to see what there is to play? Check out all games or view the prices.