

E La Carte Raises $35M to Expand Pay-at-the-Table Technology - katm
http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2014/09/24/e-la-carte-raises-35-million-to-expand-pay-at-the-table-technology/

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notahacker
The cynic in me can't help wondering why, if there's such a big mainstream
demand for ordering at the table with minimal interaction with the waiter,
paper menus with tick boxes and kiosks to pay on the way out haven't been the
mainstream way of ordering and paying for food for a while.

Maybe I'm going to the wrong restaurants.

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howeyc
It's not the minimal interaction that's the draw. It's the lack of waiting for
the waiter to come to you.

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notahacker
You wouldn't be waiting for very long for someone to pick up your pre-filled
order sheets if the waiters didn't spend any time chatting with other guests.

My point is more that the interaction with the waiter is actually an integral
part of how the sit-down restaurant experience differentiates itself from fast
food, as well as an opportunity to persuade guests to take extra side dishes
and chef's specials from the point of view of the restauranteur.

(Yes, it's probably partly a cultural thing; I don't even _want_ to order a
main course until I've got snacks on the table and a drink in my hand unless
it's counter service. But notionally more efficient alternatives to
traditional table service have been around for a long time everywhere without
restaurant owners feeling the need to replace it _en masse_ )

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Retric
As a counter point.

I am somewhat of a food snob, but I don't like to cook. Fast food and cheap
(aka applebee's) food is off the table, but the traditional wait time at mid
to high end restaurants is simply wasted time. Honestly, I find ethnic
restaurants often have a great balance as it's often vary good food without
the overhead of an 'up scale' restaurant. But, american restaurants rarely mix
casual dining with great food.

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travem
One thing I would like is the ability to pay at the table. Moving from the UK
where the waitstaff brought the card reader to the table for you (to pay with
chip-and-pin) to the US where waitstaff I had met for the first time
disappeared with my credit card for several minutes was unnerving at first.

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dkrich
Completely agree. I just came back from Istanbul and they use the mobile card
readers everywhere. Every bar/restaurant tab was cleared in seconds despite
there being 6+ people in our group. This was new to me as an American who had
not used them before. I wonder why these aren't being used in the US as they
are easier and probably more secure than the current system of signature-
matching.

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mpthrapp
Yeah, that's the biggest advantage for me. Once I'm done eating I generally
want to at least go outside to smoke/vape, if not leave right away, but far
too often it takes a solid 20 minutes to wait for the bill to arrive, wait for
the waiter to return the bill, and then wait for them to return with my card.
When I've used one of these systems, we finished eating, I swiped my card, and
then we left.

Plus, the one I used had the ability to arbitrarily split the check without
having to have the waiter remember the random dollar amounts to put on 4
different cards.

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frandroid
Once you guys are forced to switch to chipcard readers, you'll have wireless
readers everywhere. This is how it happened in Canada in recently years.

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jonlucc
This device annoys me. I occasionally go to the Applebee's near me, and I've
used it once. They usually are either broken or not on (either way, black
screen). Anyone here with experience as a waiter with these things? Are they
awesome for the waitstaff?

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autism_hurts
Doesn't surprise me.

The thing is, with real POS integration (which most companies don't have) --
you could do all of this from the customer's phone rather than a stupid piece
of hardware at the table.

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tiglionabbit
It's nice to have a bigger screen so you can see pictures of the food. It
makes it more fun to explore your options.

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autism_hurts
My father taught me to never eat at a restaurant that had photos of the food.

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zyxley
This would be a godsend in Europe, where to American sensibilities it often
feels like you have to have a flashing light and sirens to get someone,
anyone, to show up and give you the bill after you're done your meal.

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nostromo
To European sensibilities ordering and paying from an iPad would be seen as
unbelievably tacky.

I suspect the hurdle here is social not technical, similar to Google Glass.

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scoot
How would you feel about being presented with the bill, and being able to pay
for it from your own device - securely, and with minimal input, and without
the credit-card machine dance?

Or being able to call up the bill on your own device, and pay it on the spot?

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nostromo
Yeah, I think that's preferable.

It could look like a regular bill holders but have NFC embedded. You could
still leave cash if you want. Or you can tap your Apple Watch use Apple Pay
(or similar technology).

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mpthrapp
I've used one of these systems before, and I gotta say, I really like it.

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outericky
I enjoyed playing the trivia games on it with a group. I didn't like having to
pay $1 to unlock the trivia... but then I figured on a $50-$80 group bill,
what's $1.

Liked being able to pay when we were ready to go.

In this day whenever everyone sits and plays on their phone and takes photos
of the food, this will turn the tables over a tad faster. Something the
restaurants should like.

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zeroonetwothree
It's great not having to wait for the check. I would be really happy to have
this at most restaurants (maybe not super-fancy date-type places).

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wehadfun
I used one and thought it was in the way. It was nice to not have to wait for
the check though

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stuaxo
What? Just get chip and pin machines like the rest of the world.

