AT&T has recently released its numbers for usage at its public WiFi Hotspots for the first quarter 2010. There were over 53 million sessions which is up significantly from the 10.7 million sessions this time last year. These Hotspots are at airports, medical facilities, Starbucks, McDonalds, and several other heavy hitting brands. With the proliferation of WiFi enabled smart phones, netbooks and now the iPad a surge of people are using and expecting WiFi service while they are out and about. And they are getting their way.

Sometimes it is easiest to face facts when you just admit them. So here goes: Restaurants are not just for eating!! They are a place to go, to see and be seen, to meet and to get some work done. Be it a meet up with a colleague, catching up with a friend, an informal business meeting or a full out presentation or just to get away from the office/house the favorite restaurant is the place to be. So what are restaurants doing to add value to their locations and attract guests for these not so special occasions?

Recently I was interviewed by Christa Hoyland editor of QSR Web. The article goes into detail on how operators can benefit by offering no-fee wireless access to attract guests and boost the bottom line, but there are a number of pitfalls to avoid. IT departments and marketing departments should take a look.

There are a large number of independent and franchise restaurants that are offering WiFi to get butts in seats. The way they do this varies, but the most valuable way do this includes building customer loyalty and involves a true quid pro quo. A newly published survey indicates that consumers dont mind this approach and as my grandpa used to say: There is no such thing as a free lunch.

The word of the year for 2009 is Tweet. The word of the recently past decade is Google. McDonalds is rolling out Free WiFi in 11,000 of its US locations this month. What does all of this mean to you and your business? It means that its time for restaurateurs to get their tech on.