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Welcome to ReadyPing’s blog. We have a lot to say, but not a lot of time to say it. Our resolution for 2011 is to post relevant stuff (as often as possible, but no guarantee on frequency) that we find interesting and hope you will too.
Text you soon!
The ReadyPing Team
ReadyPing To Assist Cubs Fans Waiting For The World Series
Friday, April 1, 2011
by Staff
As the baseball season gets underway, ReadyPing would like to announce a deal reached with the Chicago Cubs in hopes of relieving their fans of the stress that goes along with a disappointing season. Now Cubs fans can sign up at www.readyping.com, enter their mobile number and receive a text message if the Cubs reach the postseason or miraculously make it to the World Series.
Founder Joe Sprovieri says, “Cubs fans like me waste far too much time and money watching and attending games every summer hoping that this will be the year. Now we can all go about our lives without worrying how many games the Cubs are up or down.“
This is yet another example of how ReadyPing's technology can address nearly any waiting situation. Since the Cubs season and home opener is today, April 1st, we hope you didn't take this April Fools joke seriously.
Go Cubs!
Do You Know Where That Pager Has Been?
Friday, March 4, 2011
by Joe Sprovieri
When I check in at Northwester Hospital to see my doctor, they give me a pager. Guess those HIPPA confidentiality policies are pretty strict since they won’t even call out patient names. The last time I was there the nurses called out a pager number every so often, but never an actual name. I guess some of their pagers were broken. No surprise really. Happens all the time.
One thing I noticed when I gave mine back was that the worker behind the desk sprayed and wiped it down before putting it back on the stack. Have you ever seen the host at a restaurant do that? Neither have I.
There's no telling where restaurant pagers have gone (the bathroom?) or who’s been touching them. You don’t need to be a scientist (rocket or otherwise) to figure out they're usually not very clean. An investigation conducted by CBS3 Philadelphia in April 2008 found that 5 of 7 pagers from different restaurants taken to a lab tested positive for commonly found bacteria such as Staphylococcus.
Food poisoning may be the least of your concerns when eating out. The darn pager may get you sick! So the next time you’re handed one of those vibrating hockey pucks at a restaurant, just say NO. Tell them the need to start using ReadyPing or you'r never coming back again.
Pager Magic: A Dissapearing Act
Friday, February 4, 2011
by Joe Sprovieri
When ReadyPing’s Beta system was ready for primetime, we recruited restaurants all across the country to use it for free in exchange for their feedback. Our first tester was a sushi restaurant in my old neighborhood. The manager couldn’t wait to try it. While we were chatting, he reached below the counter and grabbed three pagers. He held them up and said, “We used to have 40 of these”. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard stories from restaurant operators about losing pagers. They are great in theory, but terribly expensive in practice.
Fast forward a few months. ReadyPing started generating some buzz. We had a nice mention in Hospitality Technology Magazine and were receiving a number of inquiries through the website. Yep, we were definitely onto something.
One of my favorite restaurant chains just opened a new location and lost 15 pagers in two days. So they contacted us to learn more about our service. After conducting a demo and providing the headquarters team with a test account to play with, they decided to ditch the pagers at that location and use ReadyPing instead. They haven’t looked back since.
The feedback received from this chain and may other restaurants on how our system could be improved to better meet their needs was invaluable. Also, a number of businesses outside the restaurant industry were asking about ReadyPing. There was a hotel in Myrtle Beach that wanted to use it to let guests who arrived early know when their room was ready. There was a medical practice that wanted to free up their patients when doctors were running behind schedule. You get the idea. As a result, our system was completely rebuilt and launched on April 6, 2010.
What Do You Mean You Ran Out Of Pagers?
Friday, January 7, 2011
by Joe Sprovieri
Before ReadyPing got started, my wife and I decided to see a movie one Saturday night after doing some shopping on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. We were getting hungry and needed to grab some dinner before heading to the show. As fans of The Cheesecake Factory, we had been wanting to try their upscale concept Grand Luxe Cafe for some time. There are just too many good restaurants to choose from in this great city before going to a national chain though. Since we were close the Grand Luxe Cafe on the corner of Michigan and Ontario that night, it seemed like the right time to check it out.
Without a reservation, we knew there would be a wait. The lobby was packed and we fought our way to the host stand. It was going to be about a 45 minute wait to be seated. No problem. We’ll just have a drink at the bar. As the hostess put our name on the list she said they ran out of pagers, but should have one for us in about 15 minutes. I thought to myself, I’m waiting in line for a pager so I can wait in line for a table? That seemed absurd, but off we went. Not surprisingly, the bar was packed too.
After about five minutes, we managed to snag one seat at the bar and ordered our drinks. After about 10 minutes of getting bumped while standing behind my wife, I headed downstairs for the pager. Still no pagers. I made three trips to the host stand before they finally had one for me. It felt a little slimy, but that’s a story for another post.
The 45 minute wait we were quoted turned out to be well over an hour. Now I know giving an accurate wait time isn’t easy. After all, I grew up in the restaurant industry. This particular experience irked me more than usual. It was a perfect storm of all the things you may be forced to deal with (but hate) when held captive waiting for a table without a reservation.
- Not having enough pagers to hand out was a new one.
- The waiting areas were uncomfortably overcrowded.
- Having to check back with the hostess to get a pager was a pain.
- When I got a pager, it didn’t seem to be very clean.
- Our actual wait was considerably longer than what was quoted.
Had a seat not opened up at the bar, we might have been forced to stand around for over an hour. Shopping a little more during such a long wait would have been great, but we couldn’t have wondered too far with the pager before it was out of range.
So that night at Grand Luxe Cafe I thought why not build a software application that restaurants can use to manage their wait list and send customers a text message when their table is ready? After all, everyone has a mobile phone in their pocket these days. The rest is history.
