Atlanta-based FinTech Wants To Help You More Easily Pay Your Bar Tab
It’s a pain point that can ruin even the most fun night out with your friends.
Just as you're looking to leave the bar or pub for the night, you get stuck waiting for the bartender to close out your tab. It becomes a waiting game that is a clunky and cumbersome experience for the bartender and the patron alike.
But sunday, an Atlanta-based fintech, is on a mission to streamline this experience with the launch of its Digital Tab feature.
Digital Tab allows guests to open and close a tab via QR code right from their seat. This eliminates the need to leave a credit card in a box at any point of the night. While the feature just rolled out last week, it has already caught the attention of some high-profile restaurants and bars in Atlanta, including Clermont Hotel & Brewdog.
Launching Digital Tab is about “streamlining operations, enhancing the guest experience, and propelling the industry forward,” co-founder Christine de Wendel said in a statement. And it was all about meeting a request that sunday was getting from clients and prospects, said sunday’s head of brand and communications Yohan Bisson.
“They loved our Pay At Table solution, more designed for FSR (full-service restaurants), and wanted to streamline operation in the case of an open tab system. We've worked hand in hand with them to build the solution bars needed,” Bisson added.
The Digital Tab feature is a natural extension of sunday’s technology, which launched as a payment solution for restauranteurs. When we last spoke to sunday’s Wendel in 2021, the team was putting down roots in Atlanta after originally launching in Europe.
What Bars & Restaurants Need
The restaurant industry has changed dramatically since the pandemic and the Great Resignation impacted how restaurants serve customers and retain their staff.
Even in 2023, the restaurant industry is still facing core staffing issues, said Bisson.
“In our opinion, in 2023, the restaurants are facing two important challenges: attract and retain staff and competition (between restaurants or competition with delivery, dark kitchens etc). Which is why we've designed our products to help restaurants facing them,” Bisson told Hypepotamus.
Sunday is venture-backed by Coatue, DST Global, New Wave VC, and French Partners and most recently raised a $100 million Series A in September of 2021. It is one of several Southeastern companies looking to transform the restaurant industry through technology. Other companies in the region to note include Popmenu (Atlanta), TabX (Birmingham), WineView (Birmingham), and Wise Assistant (Atlanta).
