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Groupon Co-founders invest $4M in fast-growing E la Carte (YC S10)

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Re: Groupon Co-founders invest $4M in fast-growing E la Carte (YC S10)

#21

Post by untog »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #6
tomslater wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love tech, but if I went to a restaurant and they had that, I honestly wouldn't go back. They gained 10% from those who stuck around and points to them for working the up-sell on side orders, but how many left never to return? To quantify the value of tabletop ordering systems is not as simple as saying "oh look, a 10% gain in average order value" it's much more complex than that. And without the customer numbers a…

> I love tech, but if I went to a restaurant and they had that, I honestly wouldn't go back. Why? Personally, I'd love to see this. I particularly liked the bit about filtering and sorting the menu. And I could often use an option to randomly choose between a few options that sound appealing.

> And I could often use an option to randomly choose between a few options that sound appealing.

Really, though? The choice is so difficult that you need a battery powered LCD display tablet to do "rand()" for you?

Re: Groupon Co-founders invest $4M in fast-growing E la Carte (YC S10)

#23

Post by SwellJoe »

patio11 wrote: post #19
tomslater wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they don't come back you can't ask them why not. That's the point. It's a function of the level of competition. If it's a competitive location and you lose that customer, they're practically gone forever.

If they don't come back you can't ask them why not If you're collecting their email addresses to give them their receipts, this is probably not as problematic as you think.

A random restaurant is not getting my email address, for any reason, ever.

Re: Groupon Co-founders invest $4M in fast-growing E la Carte (YC S10)

#24

Post by boredguy8 »

SwellJoe wrote: post #23
patio11 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they don't come back you can't ask them why not If you're collecting their email addresses to give them their receipts, this is probably not as problematic as you think.

A random restaurant is not getting my email address, for any reason, ever.

Why not? I barely receive spam at this point, and it's pretty easy to block people that abuse the address.

On the other hand, I'd love it if the places to which I've never returned asked me why, and then changed as a result and invited me to try again.

Re: Groupon Co-founders invest $4M in fast-growing E la Carte (YC S10)

#25

Post by sidman »

Wow, this is a great idea. I have seen this tech before (well similar) in japanese restaurants around my area but the problem is the functionality was very limited and the user interface blowed. This however looks very nice to use. I think the main thing the restaurant owners who adopt this technology need to get a grasp of his how to properly integrate this with their customer service staff.

I would presume there would be some retraining also such as how to handle technical failures during an order (what to say and how to still keep it streamlined through old manual methods) but if all that stuff is sorted this looks great !

I mean playing games when your waiting and nutritional information is great. I do that tim ferris diet and knowing if something has sugar or the forbidden ingredients in them would be good to know. Also it would provide important info to people with allergies to nuts and other similar kinds of foods.

Re: Groupon Co-founders invest $4M in fast-growing E la Carte (YC S10)

#26

Post by foobarqux »

gopi wrote: post #15

I like this but thinking where retail automation is going makes me a little sad.. Store cashier and waitress jobs are the only ones remaining for women with no degree or marketable skills... In 10-20 years i think we will see less of them!

Women?

Re: Groupon Co-founders invest $4M in fast-growing E la Carte (YC S10)

#27

Post by JoshTriplett »

untog wrote: post #21
JoshTriplett wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I love tech, but if I went to a restaurant and they had that, I honestly wouldn't go back. Why? Personally, I'd love to see this. I particularly liked the bit about filtering and sorting the menu. And I could often use an option to randomly choose between a few options that sound appealing.

> And I could often use an option to randomly choose between a few options that sound appealing. Really, though? The choice is so difficult that you need a battery powered LCD display tablet to do "rand()" for you?

The opposite: the choice matters so little that having a convenient implementation of rand() readily available produces a better result.
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