You can now pay at Byron Burger via Facebook Messenger

Burger chain Byron is now accepting mobile payments via Facebook Messenger for the first time.

Using an in-app chatbot, customers in some London branches of Byron will be able to enter their table number and see their bill, before approving it and paying in a single tap.

Users can also choose to split the bill from within Messenger.

The chatbot has been built by tech firm Flyt, and will initially be available at the chain’s Farringdon, Holborn and Central St Giles locations in London, followed by Leicester Square, Waterloo, Richmond, Bluewater and Wardour Street, with more promised in the future.

Byron managing director Steve de Polo said: “We have previously provided our customers with the ability to pay and leave when they want via our own app.

“This latest innovation using Facebook Messenger further decreases the friction for giving our guests control in how they choose to pay. We’re proud to be the first to roll out this service, and are in the process of making it available across our restaurants.”

Messenger has more than 1.3 billion active users, and also supports the ability for users to send money to each other in peer-to-peer payments, as well as use chatbots to communicate with business and other services in the same way they would have a conversation with another person.

The technology is part of long-term Facebook plans to evolve Messenger from an app into a platform of its own.