The time it takes to wait on a bill at a restaurant and the confusion caused by splitting a bill have led to dissatisfied customers for decades. It’s clearly an issue that multiple startups are trying to solve – only 10 days ago we wrote a piece on New York-based startup, Dash, expanding to Atlanta. There’s an Atlanta company that is tackling the problem as well.
Originally founded in 2013, Atlanta-based, Split, became available to a select group of restaurants in January 2015 and officially launched in Atlanta June 8th, 2015. We’ve been following the team since their first at Burning Plan in 2014 (check out our previous coverage here). Initially, they were solely focused on check splitting, but now Split is also tackling pick up orders and recently announced a partnership with local Subway franchises to test the product. We recently spoke with Marketing and Public Relations Director, Deana Panza, to get the scoop.
“Have you ever had a great dining experience that was ruined by waiting too long to pay a bill? You aren’t alone. This is a very common scenario at restaurants and it leads to poor customer experience, long lines, tarnished social reputation, and impacts their bottom line,” explains Panza. “The frustration is amplified when consumers are in a large group and try to pay for their portion of the bill. Split solves pain points for both consumers and restaurants.”
“Common issues like waiting too long to pay a bill or long lines leave a negative impression and can ruin any dining experience. During peak hours, this is a very common scenario and restaurant staff can take more than 10 minutes to close a bill. As frustrating this is from a diner’s perspective, it is an even a bigger problem for restaurants,” she continues. “Today, 94% of dissatisfied customers never confront management but instead communicate their experiences to their social circles and networks. For every 10 dissatisfied customers a restaurant has, an additional four will never walk in the restaurant.”
Screenshots of the Split App
Consumers use Split to take control of their time by viewing, paying, and splitting a restaurant bill directly from their smartphones. “When consumers aren’t dining-in, they use our app to order ahead to beat the line during busy times or order takeout so it is available when they arrive at the location. Restaurants use our platform to increase revenue by turning tables faster, enabling mobile ordering for takeout orders, distributing highly targeted mobile campaigns, and mitigating negative online reviews by enabling their staff to respond to poor customer experiences as they happen or shortly after the diners have left. Split is unique as we offer restaurants of all types one platform to provide mobile payments, mobile ordering, and mobile marketing. In addition, we don’t require POS integration and Split can be deployed in any restaurant environment.”
Co-Founders Matthew Suber and Daniel Dorfman are family (by marriage) and originally came up with the idea for Split while out to eat with a group of friends and family. While they really enjoyed their meals, their night hit a stand still when they had to wait over 20 minutes just to get the chance to ask the server for the check. Once they received their bill, it was an 18 inch itemized receipt that still needed to be split up amongst themselves. Just closing out their bill added nearly an extra arduous hour to what was an enjoyable night out. Later that night, Daniel and Matthew thought up a better way. Matt contacted Randy Etheredge and Jimmy Patel, who he had worked closely with on mobile development projects in the past, and from there the four of them set out to end the wait at restaurants.
The founding team has been calling Atlanta home for years and is proud to be based in Georgia’s capital. “We strategically selected Atlanta because of the emerging restaurant and startup scene, close proximity to top educational institutions, and world-renown fintech hub,” say the co-founders. “In addition, the real estate growth and movie/entertainment scene is driving consumerism. Split sits perfectly at the intersection of consumers and businesses.”
Split is always hiring for full time, part-time, and internship positions in all departments. Please send resumes and cover letters to hey@payandsplit.com.
Download Split for iOS on the App Store and for Android on Google Play
Follow Split on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/split
Twitter: https://twitter.com/split
Instagram: https://instagram.com/split/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/split