Table Touch Screen Terminals To Replace Waiters

I spent a year of my life shopping a business plan for the tablets-at-the-table concept. I made a prototype system and tested it extensively at a restaurant. Guests loved it. Men came up with all kinds of efficiency-based reasons why they liked it (more accurate, faster, etc.) Literally 75% of women trying it (30 out of 40 or so) used the word "fun" and felt no need to justify further. And, customers perceive that a tip is warranted because food was brought to the table, so they tip anyway.

Restaurant owners/managers like the concept, as long as their customers do. The recognize that a single bad customer experience poisons the well. Not only is that customer unlikely to come back, but they'll tell all their friends. A spectacular experience does not have an equally positive result. So, given the option of customer experiences across a spectrum or consistently average experiences, they'll choose average and be pleased. The perception among owners was that few people could

Management complains that they can't get their servers to upsell/cross-sell/etc. One would think that the improvement in check average and thus tips would be sufficient motivation. However, people with good selling skills can make a lot more money selling other stuff. So, owners loved a system that could ask, "Would you like fries with that?"

I have to do some work now, but I'll post later today about why this went nowhere for me. There are some fundamental problems that are hard to circumvent.

Re: Table Touch Screen Terminals To Replace Waiters

#5

Post by shabby » Wed, Jan 09, 2008, 4:46 PM UTC

The first problem is that existing restaurants have POS systems that are (1) expensive, and (2) essential for operations. If you want to build an order-at-the-table system that reduces workload, you have to integrate with the POS system or replace it. Replacement is hard because these systems are actually somewhat complicated, and restaurants are scared of replacing their proven system with your unproven one.

Integration isn't hard from a technology standpoint, but you have to get the cooperation of the POS vendor. 80%+ of casual dining restaurants use either MICROS or Aloha (now owned by Radiant Systems). Neither have open APIs or are friendly to potential competitors. Radiant Systems has a kiosk-based front end used by gas stations for sandwich services (Sheetz if you're in the Midwest).

Permission is hard to obtain unless you have a large restaurant chain putting pressure on their vendor. Integration without permission is problematic because the POS system becomes unsupported (the answer to all problems will be "remove the tablet system").

So, the apparent solution is "Find a large restaurant to partner with." More about why that's hard in a minute.

Re: Table Touch Screen Terminals To Replace Waiters

#6

Post by mynameishere » Wed, Jan 09, 2008, 6:05 PM UTC

Waiters were obsolete before they were invented. They are quite inefficient, and always have been. People just like being waited on.

Re: Table Touch Screen Terminals To Replace Waiters

#7

Post by shabby » Wed, Jan 09, 2008, 6:29 PM UTC

So, why won't a big restaurant chain try out order-at-table? 6% net margins. Small changes in restaurants can result in big changes to the bottom line, either good or bad. And, changing the customer experience is considered a big change. A huge pilot project for a 500 unit restaurant is to try out slight modifications to its menu. Trying an order-at-table concept is orders of magnitude greater in potential change. Several large chains told me they'd be very interested if they saw the concept working somewhere else first.

So, the obvious conclusion is to try it out at a smaller restaurant chain. The problem there is that a pilot is considered a huge distraction that takes away from management's resources. Also, it's a huge risk when you are piloting in one unit of a ten unit chain. And, the small chain has no pull with its POS vendor. So, you can't do an integration.

Re: Table Touch Screen Terminals To Replace Waiters

#8

Post by gojomo » Wed, Jan 09, 2008, 7:43 PM UTC

The Arby's on El Camino in Sunnyvale had front-counter touch-screen ordering over a decade ago. (Do they still?)

Essentialy, you could walk up to any of ~5 screens to place your order, and some smaller number of counter staff would take your money and give your change.

Re: Table Touch Screen Terminals To Replace Waiters

#9

Post by icky » Wed, Jan 09, 2008, 8:07 PM UTC

gojomo wrote: post #8

The Arby's on El Camino in Sunnyvale had front-counter touch-screen ordering over a decade ago. (Do they still?) Essentialy, you could walk up to any of ~5 screens to place your order, and some smaller number of counter staff would take your money and give your change.

Nope, didn't see anything like that last time I was there ~3 months ago.