Pizza Hut customers can now pay for meals with Mastercard Qkr mobile app

Pizza Hut claims customers will save an average of 12 minutes when paying for their restaurant bills, thanks to the roll-out of Mastercard’s Qkr mobile payment app across its UK restaurants. 

The app uses the Masterpass service, a digital wallet that enables one-click payments for merchants throughout the UK. Pizza Hut joins restaurants such as Wagamama, Zizzi and Byron in offering this service.

Keith Frimley, IT director at Pizza Hut, said the roll-out marked a continuation of its efforts to digitally transform and improve the customer experience its restaurants offer.

“Over the past six years we have invested over £60m in transforming our restaurants and menu, and this allows us to continue to improve the service and experience we offer our guests, as well as embracing technology, which has become so central to modern culture.”

Betty DeVita, chief commercial officer at Mastercard Digital Payments & Labs, said Qkr would allow Pizza Hut to accommodate more customers without having to rush them.

“By removing the headache of managing bills, it will allow their staff to focus more on service,” she added.

Merchants can also add delivery and takeaway options for customers through the app, as well as targeted promotions and rewards schemes. Mastercard said organisations have been using its application programming interfaces (APIs) to create specific brand experiences for customers at the table as well.

The app can also be used to pay for children’s school uniforms and meals, as well as for ordering food at sports events. In July 2017, Mastercard unveiled this feature at The Open Championship to enable golf supporters to order their food from the stands and have it delivered to their seat.

At the event, Mastercard’s executive vice-president of digital payment products, James Anderson, said it was an example of “process re-engineering”.

“Going to a restaurant used to be a linear activity – walking there, arriving, getting seated, ordering, requesting payment, paying and leaving. This process remains in 99% of restaurants,” he added.

“If you look at Qkr in that category, what we’re finding is opportunities to break that linearity, and either make it parallel or take something that used to exist in this context and put it up front.”