
Table Touch Screen Terminals To Replace Waiters - gibsonf1
http://wcbstv.com/technology/uwink.touch.screen.2.625719.html
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shabby
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.

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shabby
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.

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shabby
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.

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brent
If I had a dollar for every time I've heard this...

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

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icky
Much better: I never feel guilty for not tipping a robot! :-)

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gojomo
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.

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

