A new app is helping to bring more traffic back into struggling restaurants, cafes and fast-food venues while also helping their customers beat the queue.
The Hey You app allows customers to order and pay ahead of time so that their order will be ready for them when they arrive at one of the app’s partner cafes and restaurants. This allows them to get their order faster and save time.
The app also has search functionality, allowing customers to discover new cafes and restaurants in their area or find the best dining places in areas that they are visiting.
For cafe and restaurant owners, the app can help them ease the demand they experience, especially during peak periods, a particularly valuable asset at the moment with so many staff members calling in to say they can’t work due to the flu or COVID-19.
Hey You was founded in Sydney by Rebekah Campbell in 2015 on the back of a merger between Aussie tech start-ups Posse, Beat the Q and eCoffee Card. The app quickly amassed over a million downloads pre-pandemic, and there has been another surge in interest since lockdowns were lifted, with cafes signing up and consumers keen to get in and out to get their coffees.
“Hey You really took off when we first launched and it proved that it was effective for all parties. Obviously during the lockdowns business slowed down due to venues being closed, but it has picked up again,” Jennifer Lyne, Head of Partnerships at Hey You, said. “It’s great to see that we can benefit the businesses who struggled during the lockdowns, as well as the customers who now have less free time on their hands.”
