Things to Consider Before Putting Wi-Fi in Your Restaurant

When most people are counting cell phone data gigabytes more than say, average miles per gallon on your daily commute, it’s becoming increasingly common for your mom-n’-pop restaurants (not just chains) to put Wi-Fi in their restaurants. But is it worth it? Here are some things you should take in mind before putting a “Free Wi-Fi” sticker at your front door.

By Jr223 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

1. Is it worth it?

Depending on where your restaurant’s set, it might just not be worth the trouble to put Wi-Fi in your restaurant. Why? Because if your restaurant is in an older building or if the wiring is different, then that would mean extra costs and extra wires for your place. The setup and the monthly costs might not be worth it if it’s over your budget.

2. Free or Paid?

It might be a no-brainer thing to ask since most chain restaurants offer free Wi-Fi.  But to offset costs, there are actually a lot of places (that aren’t hotels) where you have to pay for Wi-Fi access–think convention centers, or other similarly-large places.

If you own a restaurant where your customers stay for particularly long periods of time (over one hour), or if you’re a coffee shop–you might have an advantage of offering free Wi-Fi for a few hours and having them pay for more. It may sound a little dubious at first, but if you really must find a way to recoup the costs of your internet, then it might be worthwhile (Otherwise called, complimentary WiFi)

3. Who’s Going to Take Care Of It?

For a lot of people, having a Wi-Fi in your restaurant might be as easy as getting internet in your home. But not so fast! Since your restaurants is going to have dozens, likely hundreds of people each day. That means more maintenance to take care of (here’s only a sliver of what I’m talking about). And moreover–security. There’s a good chance your patrons aren’t going to do illegal activity in your restaurants, but for that good piece-of-mind you should probably think to make sure your Wi-Fi is as secure as possible.

In any case, you should consult with an IT professional (whether you’re going big-chain like AT&T or Verizon or local is up to you) so you can get a clearer picture of your restaurant’s Wi-Fi potential.

4. Again, Is It Worth It?

Yes, the Frog here has already asked that question. But it isn’t home where you’re just just a few hundred dollars a month for your cable package (which will be discussed at a later post). Depending on how big is your restaurant, you might be shelling thousands so that your patrons can connect to Wi-Fi. Also keep in mind that the constantly plugged-in router and cable-modem, not to mention the people who always bring their charger, is going to rack up your electric bill as well.

So before you want to turn on the Wi-Fi, really think if it’s worth it.