I used one of these at an Outback Steakhouse a few weeks ago.
It was a bit awkward, because I wasn't sure if I was supposed to use the tablet or not. The waitress still came and took our order, then put it in on the tablet. At the end, we saw we could pay (and we did) but the waitress still brought us a check.
I guess the weirdness could be solved by better communication from the wait staff.
The best thing was that it easily allowed you to split your bill among multiple credit cards. This is easily the biggest pain about eating out with a group of people.
I would prefer they get rid of waiters entirely and just have runners for the food. Then I can stop stressing about tips and grumpy waiters. In NYC, the waiter actually improves rather than detracts from my dining experience less than 5% of the time.
If it's such a formulaic process, the control should just be completely taken away from the end customer.
Other reasons that tipping should exist: it only serves to perpetuate racism [1] and sexism [2]. A lot of waiters have preconceived notions about what kind of people tip more, who tip less, etc.: they're expecting business people in suits to pay more, and African Americans to pay less. So what happens when the two enter a restaurant? Servers fight among themselves on who should get who... because it's an issue of money for them. Trust me, I once worked at a restaurant -- it got ugly.
The sooner we can get rid of this strange and hate-inspiring custom, the better. Better for customers, better for restaurant owners, cooks, dishwashers, everyone.
Tipping is a cost sharing mechanism between restaurant operators and customers. Through an immense social reengineering effort, we could rid ourselves of the convention, and at the same time simultaneously raise prices for customers everywhere while at the same time lowering the income of professional (ie, non-temporary) servers. This doesn't seem like a great place to invest effort.
I have a friend from Australia that visits America regularly. We were talking about tipping once. They don't tip in Australia, and instead, just pay the wait staff and bartenders a large, regular salary. So a tipless dining economy can certainly work.
My friend said when he first encountered tipping in America, he did not understand it. At some point, he got it. He figured out how to use tipping to establish long-term relationships with the staff at the different restaurants and bars ... which you could then leverage in other social situations. People remember you, and when it is important, they will help you out. It was less about getting good service for oneself so much as demonstrating social proof for negotiations. What he said echoed some of the things I've heard from the pick-up artist community, though he was applying it as much to business dealings as anything else.
I've read the blog post written by the restaurant owner who talked about how tipping is primarily a power issue. That there's this underlying, smarmy association of tipping with fantasies of intimate relations with the waitresses. But now that I'm recalling my conversation with my friend, I realize that, while that kind of dynamic is indeed at play for some folks, it also seem like a waste of time and resources. Being able to establish influence at a number of venues that can later be tapped seemed more sensible to me. Meaning that, if you're not actually dealing and trading in power and influence, then you're indulging in the illusion of power and influence. I suppose people have to get their entertainment in some form.
To be fair, not being able to tip won't bother the folks who use it to maintain their network. They'll just find other ways to establish relationships with the staff.
You can use tipping that way, but you're not if you just tip 15%, which is all you're expected to tip. At 15%, you are, as I said before, sharing a cost with the owner of the restaurant that would otherwise be reflected directly in the cost of items on the menu, as it is in Australia.
You still want to talk the waiter for your mains (esp. for recommendations, special instructions, etc.), and summon them for complaints, but for stuff like ordering drink refills and paying your bill (the things where they never seem to be around), this is perfect.
Plus, hopefully it has a button where you can immediately summon the waiter, instead of spending five minutes trying to flag them down.
I agree that it doesn't have a place in fine dining, but for casual dining this is a complete no-brainer. (And I don't see it obviously taking away jobs either, since faster turnover will just result in more customers to handle, and more food to bring out.)
A few sushi restaurants in Tokyo have been doing this for a while now. You choose what you want on a touchscreen (usually an Android tablet, often running the same software across different restaurants) and a few minutes later your order gets sent to you on a rail separate from the normal conveyor belt.
After you pick it up you press a red button on the tray in which your plates arrived and it goes back home.
The nice thing about this is that it allows kaitenzushi restaurants to have table seating with the same wait as counter seating.
Let me reserve a table and place my order on my own touch device before I arrive. If I have to wait for my table, that's fine, but my food should wait as well. When I sit, my food arrives soon after.
The remainder of my visit, including how long I stay, is up to me and less in the hands of under-performing staff.
Good on em. I used to work for an E La Carte competitor that used iPads instead of Android devices, and it's a tough market right now.
There exists a lot of resistance from the waitstaff who see tabletop devices as job killers, and customers are pretty much divided down the middle (they either love em or hate em). It seems like dining was always going to trend towards something like this, it was just a matter of when. Restaurants are pretty old in their way of thinking, and it's quite the accomplishment to get 100k devices on tables.
The goal of these devices is to upsell, upsell, upsell while avoiding the downtime of a waiter/waitress standing there idle - either taking orders or checking on customers, etc etc etc. Move higher priced checks through more tables quicker. Of course, that could also mean higher tipouts for the staff...
As someone who ate at my local (alameda, CA) applebees for the first time in a decade - I can say that I would never again go there, but do have a question:
Why is there not a GPS enabled menu app which will load the restaurant's menu when you launch it and it detect which place you are dining at and allow you to make your order. To confirm you are in the establishment and making a valid order - have a QR code on the table that must be scanned to supply the destination table for the order.
I can confirm that some QSR's are doing this right now, but as the other commenter said, a "one size fits all" app would not work bc Applebee's does not want to be right next to Chili's on the app. However, white label apps that have payment (like Square) are already in test markets!
You're looking at it the wrong way around - why would a restaurant use that? Do they really want you to be able to access the menu of the restaurant next door?
I think samstave meant with your own device, not a restaurant device. An app on your iDevice or Android device that would bypass the need for them to maintain their own hardware (?), though I think that would be making a big assumption, it may let them hand out the devices on an as needed basis.
This is a really good idea for chain/ casual restaurants where people are constrained by time and value, ie Applebees. But if some of the nicer restaurants I go to start using this, it will degrade the experience as a whole because the server acts more like an MC at a show. Not having them will be a loss.
As a restaurateur I've been watching with fascination as this debate rages in our industry. The payments side is the most beneficial part of it, all the rest of the processes still require a human touch.
I've been cheering this innovation, but have yet to see it done well, even by e la carte and its other top competitors. People will always be the most powerful differentiator in foodservice, and tablets aren't there yet.
This speaks volumes to me of how Applebee's thinks of it's guests.
The notable factor for me is that it's not an iPad despite all the predictions a couple of years ago. Of course from a business standpoint that only makes sense. It also shows how quickly the market for tablet hardware has been commodified.
Used one of these recently. Had a SATA port (not eSATA) on the outside of the device that I'm assuming is used for upgrades / etc. Not sure why you would ever expose a port like that without some sort of cover.
Do you think this will be an industry standard for restaurants like Applebee's, Chilies, ect? Additionally, does anyone have any idea on whether this will reduce the amount of waiters/waitresses at a restaurant or not?
Wawa does this, and I love it. Granted, it's not a restaurant, but ordering from them is very easy and quick, and I prefer it to having to give someone my order. I can still talk to the people behind the counter, but without the headache of ordering.
In a restaurant, you'd still need a wait staff, but instead of placing the order, they can work to address your needs and better serve customers. While I imagine places would cut down on wait staff, I also think the service would improve.
My beloved Chevy's has been offering this on their tables in some form for a few years now. The best use case is being able to just pay and leave when you're done instead of having to wait for the waiter to decide to come give you the check and do the credit card dance.
The local Chili's was a test store, and has been using tablets like these (Ziosk brand) for a couple of years.[0] A few people might complain, but generally they seem pretty popular and well received. Kids entertain themselves with games, and the adults can pay and go whenever they're ready. I never noticed a reduction in waitstaff, but turnover was much faster when the restaurant was busy.
I've been to a couple of places that use these and I haven't seen any reduction in wait staff. One of my favorite hamburger places (Stacked) is new and is built on having ipad menus, even they have tons of waitresses on hand to help with people who have a hard time with the menu or to grab drink refills. They could easily do refills through the ipad but don't, I think on purpose so it forces interaction with the waiter. That will change over time I'd imagine but for now the hands on approach is probably ingrained enough in the customer base you have to people around.
It's kind of the standard for McDonald's in France (their second largest market per capita). Each restaurant has huge freestanding kiosks that you can order and pay from. It dramatically speeds up service, allows you to get an order just right, and gets your fingers covered in germs just prior to eating.
As a restaurant owner, I know this is something that has been coming, we will eventually all use tablets in someway shape or form. I don't believe that this company is the one that has cracked tablet use in restaurants because they are not helping me with my most pressing need - driving more customers into the restaurant.
These are my thoughts:
1) Faster table turn times (and why they don't matter) - Yes, faster table turn times will occur with the tablets on the table because people can pay much more quickly when they are done with their meal. The big problem that people forget about is 90% of the time restaurants are not interested in faster table turn times. They need more people in the establishment. When was the last time you went to Applebees and they were slammed with people and had a huge wait? Odd's are that it doesn't occur that often.
2) People Dine out to be treated (waited on hand and foot) - Usually when you have made a conscious decision to dine out, you are doing so for the experience. When you decide to dine at your favorite restaurant, part of the experience is being waited on hand and foot by someone else. If these tablets start to replace people, it will certainly hurt the experience of being waited on. You are now going out for food, and not the experience. When people are looking strictly for food, we have seen that they tend to go to fast-casual restaurants (Chipotle, Potbellys, Noodles & Co. Etc.).
3) Menu on tablet (Higher App sales + lower costs) - This to me is a large long-term benefit for the restaurant. They can really create some powerful images for their menu items, which is correlated with higher sales. Also, you have eliminated the costs of printing menus every time you have a change.
Overall Impressions: This is a company that has created a product for an interesting niche. I don't ever see fine dining establishments using this because it detracts from the experience (#2). It does effect table turn time, but the large majority of restaurants wish they had table turn time issues, most are looking for customers (see initial success of groupon in restaurants). The Applebee's of the world are fighting hard with the fast-casual establishments and almost seem like they are in a race to the bottom.
I also don't see independent restaurant owners ever using a product like this because it has 1) high implementation costs (time/effort/cash) and 2) has some effect on sales but not because of the ordering platform, only because it has allowed me to create essentially a moving slideshow for a menu that entices customers while they are at the restaurant.
In my opinion, the person/business that successfully implements tablets in a restaurant will do these two things very well.
1) Allows servers to use tablets to take orders (lowers restaurants costs) - This will essentially allow a restaurant owner to decrease the amount of people on staff, yet still maintain high quality experience for guests, because a server that does not have to walk back to the POS system can handle more tables.
2) Creates a tablet menu that entices guests to order more items - The appeal of tablets on the table is the fact that people will be more enticed to order apps/desserts because of the power of high-quality enticing pictures. This has already been done by plenty of companies, but no one company has dominated.
There is a lot more opportunity. For example you can do variable pricing - charge more during busier times, or charge less for items that you want consumed. Or do combo pricing. Or discounts if combined with charity contributions. You can do easy A/B testing - to half the diners have the item with carrots and the other half with celery and see if there is a difference.
Amusingly your number 1 item (turn times) are exactly the reason I don't eat out much - it is far too time consuming. There is a long wait before orders are taken, and the long wait at the end to pay.
You can look at number 2 differently. Having someone tediously copy down an order and possibly make mistakes isn't adding value. Having them chat while the orders are being placed, offering advice and small talk is far more about being treated. (I'm also part of the crowd who hates people hanging around me while eating, but also hates having my drink empty and having to attract someone for a refill.)
I will also be happy telling a device about my experience with the food and the staff (and be honest about it). But I would never seek out a manager and tell them unless it is egregiously bad.
Such devices make it far easier to deal with people who have come in once and haven't decided if they will come in ever again. Converting them to regulars should be what fills your place.
I was just a soft-launch for a pop-up restaurant. I had been eating from them at the farmer's market every week for the past four months or so. The farmer's market served as a kind of an MVP, and now they are shutting that down and trying the pop-up. They were trying it out with friends and family to figure out how to operate the kitchen and the restaurant in general. I was also curious about how they were going to handle payment: the wife walked around with the same Square system they had when they were at the farmer's market. And sure enough, she came back to hand me the phone so I can sign and tip.
It did get me thinking about the use of tablets in a restaurant. I was thinking of the exact things you brought up here, about the experience of being waited on. (On the other hand, the last Applebee's I was at was packed, we had a large group, waited for maybe 30 minute before we were seated, and some of the orders got mixed up and took a while ... but I hardly go to Applebees so I can't say that was a typical or exceptional experience).
I think you are right, that, having the wait staff be able to walk around taking orders with the tablet would be good. I'm ambivalent about having something at the table. For example, I keep thinking about my OCD friend, who'd insist on sanitizing the tablet :-D I don't think we have all the pieces of the technology yet, but something that can project images into space and allow you to interact with it without touching anything physical (like you see in sci-fi animes) would be better. Particularly if the projection is discreet. That is, if can be blended in well with the overall experience.
Wouldn't the use case for something like this be sport bars, late-nite bars or clubs?
People splitting up tabs after a night of drinking can be a mess for everyone. On top of that - people walk out without closing their tab all the time. I feel like this is where you could make some serious inroads.
Would you mind if I emailed you a few questions about some of the things you've outlined? I'm working on something that could help with some of the issues you mention (it's not a competitor w/ this product). Feel free to shoot me a line at wjg9393@gmail.com.
Now they just need to offer bitcoin so that there are 100,000 places across the country where you can eat using bitcoin. Would be a massive win for the currency.
It was a bit awkward, because I wasn't sure if I was supposed to use the tablet or not. The waitress still came and took our order, then put it in on the tablet. At the end, we saw we could pay (and we did) but the waitress still brought us a check.
I guess the weirdness could be solved by better communication from the wait staff.
The best thing was that it easily allowed you to split your bill among multiple credit cards. This is easily the biggest pain about eating out with a group of people.