E la Carte Signs Deal With Applebee’s to bring 100k Tableside Tablets to the US
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Re: E la Carte Signs Deal With Applebee’s to bring 100k Tableside Tablets to the US
#2Do 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?
Re: E la Carte Signs Deal With Applebee’s to bring 100k Tableside Tablets to the US
#3As 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.
Re: E la Carte Signs Deal With Applebee’s to bring 100k Tableside Tablets to the US
#4Do 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?
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.
Re: E la Carte Signs Deal With Applebee’s to bring 100k Tableside Tablets to the US
#5Do 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?
They come to Chotchkie's for the atmosphere and the attitude.
Personally I don't like this trend. It's a bit too impersonal. But I definitely can see this as the future for your neighborhood chain restaurant.
Re: E la Carte Signs Deal With Applebee’s to bring 100k Tableside Tablets to the US
#6I 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.
Re: E la Carte Signs Deal With Applebee’s to bring 100k Tableside Tablets to the US
#7Do 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.
Re: E la Carte Signs Deal With Applebee’s to bring 100k Tableside Tablets to the US
#8This 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.
Re: E la Carte Signs Deal With Applebee’s to bring 100k Tableside Tablets to the US
#9Good 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.
Re: E la Carte Signs Deal With Applebee’s to bring 100k Tableside Tablets to the US
#10Do 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?
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.