We’ve seen the march of mobile push onward in many other areas of shopping, including small businesses equipped with smartphone technology to accept credit card payments on the spot. And now TGI Friday’s is getting into the mobile arena at select locations, with a new way to pay for that delicious cheeseburger, using your phone.

TGI Friday’s is starting a pilot program at about 350 of its 650 locations, where diners can use a special app on their iPhone or Android phones to pay for meals, says TGDaily.com. TGI Friday’s doesn’t even use special phone credit card readers, however.

You type your credit card number into the app, and let your server know how much you’ll be paying that way. The app will then give you a five-digit code, which your server ties to your tab. How much you owe will then show up in the app and you can pay it at your leisure. Of course, we’re sure it’s required to pay before you go. Otherwise, that’s what we call a dine ‘n’ dash and it’s against the law.

The new technology is a platform called Tabbedout which launched this year. TGI Friday’s is the biggest fish the company has caught. If this kind of payment catches on, those little card readers could be a thing of the past in the very near future.

I’m okay with TGI Friday’s evolving, as long as the servers still tie balloons in your hair on your birthday. That was always a nice touch.

TGI Friday’s lets you pay with your smartphone [TG Daily]

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