

E la Carte: Table-Top Computers Bring Restaurants To The Future - erohead
http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/19/e-la-carte-table-top-computers-bring-restaurants-to-the-future-with-bonus-trivia/

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gacba
Am I the only one who thinks this is a terrible idea? The entire notion of
going out to eat with someone is now being co-opted by having to get
"entertained" via another device, interfering with conversation, and reducing
human interaction. I love the fact that going out to a restaurant means
interacting with someone face to face, avoiding email, texting, and phone
conversations.

Yes, you can get the hell off my lawn, too. :)

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cryptoz
The device on the table does not control your life. Ignore it and have a
conversation if you want. Or, look into the future and imagine this device
with live webcams of your food being prepared, perhaps showing you a short
article or video describing the culinary history of the meal you are about to
eat. Or perhaps you could use it to settle healthy debates with your friends /
SO rather than use your phone - this is slightly more communal / social
(assuming you have a smartphone; if you don't have a smartphone, then this
opens up the world of debate-settling completely).

Use and imagine technology for what it can be. Don't be mad at it if you can't
control your insatiable appetite for technology.

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huhtenberg
All what you described are the niche applications of a very little interest to
the general restaurant going crowd.

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nitrogen
They may be of very little interest _now_ , but never assume that peoples'
tastes are static (yes, even the masses).

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hugh3
Not a bad idea. Not for every restaurant of course, but informal places could
benefit. Though...

 _And he says that waiters actually want customers to pay using the devices,
because they tend to get more tips since it’s so easy to tap that 20% button._

If I go to a restaurant where the waiter doesn't take my order or handle
payment or do anything except courier my food the twenty feet from the kitchen
to my table then the waiters better not be expecting _any_ tip, let alone 20%.
And if the restaurant can get by with one third the former waitstaff then they
can damn well pay 'em enough not to need my tips.

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shii
Restaurant owners will never pay waiters enough. They're too disposable. The
only reason to want to keep one on the job long-termish/for better pay is that
the waiter is well-known or is well-trained and knows a lot about how the
restaurant operates. But they tend to float away anyways...

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hugh3
Well, I don't care how much the waiter is paid, just as long as he's there and
he doesn't mind the fact that I'm not gonna pay him ten bucks for the forty
seconds he spends bringing my food out from the kitchen.

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Symmetry
I actually used one of these at a restaurant in Boston and was fairly
impressed with how well they streamlined ordering. The games on them wouldn't
win any awards, but were up to the job of amusing two people while our food
was prepared.

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kazuya
We have had similar ones in sushi shops for years in Japan:
<http://www.garbagenews.net/archives/1511123.html>

And some of them can be used with Nintendo DS:
<http://www.garbagenews.net/archives/1406127.html>

As far as I observed, one of the problems with these devices is they give the
restaurant a bit of cheap look. That's partly due to their poor make, but most
probably, the guests feel embarrassed similarly to when one takes out his cell
phone just in the middle of dinner.

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nmaio
I don't have a problem with this. I think it can and will be useful. Although,
I really believe innovators are missing a huge market for this kind of product
(one that is trying to ease a physical buying experience).

And that's the retail/shopping market. If I had it my way, there would be
large screens in department stores that displayed ratings and reviews of
products congregated from a number of websites.

For instance, take the Nordstrom shoe department. Instead of having shoe
displays against the wall, I really think they should have scrolling reviews
displayed on sizable screens.

When I walk into a store, I rarely know what's worth my money. And who really
thinks a salesperson is the right person to be helping you make a decision (or
talking you into a decision...)? And yeah, I could search my phone for product
reviews, but that's a hassle.

I just threw these images together, so you can get rough idea of what I mean.
BEFORE - <http://www.dropmocks.com/mUKVS> and AFTER -
<http://www.dropmocks.com/mUJoj>

Sorry to get a little off track here. Best of luck to the E la Carte people!

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jchoong
Why isn't this built as an app on the iphone/droid/ipad? e.g. App with say 4
modes of customer, waiter, kitchen & restaurant.

Customer mode:: order =before= you get to the restaurant, book a table, pre-
assigned seating, bill split, rate your food, rate your waiter, etc.

Waiter mode:: When a customer doesn't have their own smartphone/ipad. Plug in
with the 'square' for payments.

Kitchen mode:: Customer is 5 minutes away (gps), start cooking! (order added
to queue). Just stepped in (bluetooth/wifi?discovery), queue the drinks, ready
to plate!

Restaurant mode::seating arrangements, waiter assignments, VIP customer
tracking (CRM for restaurant customers! we can track them now.), stats, etc.

Biggest business plan benefit - Instantly scalable, global immediately (it's
an app!), lower hardware costs, tie in to upsell restaurants on services, etc
etc etc.

ps. I'ld love to have something like that on my phone. And yes, opentable
should have really done something like this years ago.

~~~
hugh3
a) Not everybody has a smartphone

b) Most people don't want to download another damn app just to be able to eat
at your restaurant.

c) Being able to order before you arrive usually isn't really a big advantage
-- otherwise places would have done it long ago by phone.

Might be useful for take-out food during the lunchtime rush, though -- order
and pay for your lunch from the office, and then stroll down to collect it.
But some places already have an web-based system for this, with no need for a
separate app. Still, I guess the app-based idea might make life slightly
easier -- just show the screen of your phone to pick up your order.

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dpapathanasiou
Is it substantially different from uWink
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UWink>), or just better executed
([http://lemonodor.com/archives/2008/05/uwink_a_cold_greasy_pl...](http://lemonodor.com/archives/2008/05/uwink_a_cold_greasy_plate_of_fail.html))?

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joezydeco
It's more like a copy of (<http://www.tabletopmedia.com>).

~~~
pg
In the way Google was a copy of Lycos, maybe.

~~~
joezydeco
No bias there. =) Shouldn't have said "copy", maybe just "another company
doing the same idea". Best of luck to your investment.

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Groxx
Used a similar system at a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant in Japan. It's
absolutely _ideal_ for situations like that, and possibly for many restaurants
as well, and the ease of ordering will probably encourage people to grab a
dessert - there's no need to flag someone down.

It is not, of course, the best for every restaurant. But I doubt that's their
goal.

Best of luck to them, hopefully they make something nicer to use than the POS
terminals have!

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edw519
This sounds like a promising idea that executed well can be very successful. I
wish them great success.

Now that I got that out of the way, I hope I never go to a restaurant that has
this. Let me explain why...

Reread the first paragraph. If you don't feel like back-clicking, here's the
gist of it:

 _... the restaurant song-and-dance routine ... wait ... wait ... wait ...
wait ... “Check, please?” ... hand gesture ... furrow our brows ... mental
math ... and, finally, get up to leave ... Whew._

Guess how many times I go to a restaurant with this kind of experience? Once.
I won't go back.

In other words, the restaurants that can most benefit from this kind of
service are exactly the ones _I don't want to eat at_...

We both work hard and eat most meals at home. So when we go out, we want to be
pampered. In fact, we _insist_ on it. And I make it clear to my server every
time we sit down with something like, "We've had a tough day and came here to
relax with great food and service. OK?" In decent restaurants, most good
servers see that as a challange and rise to the occasion.

I don't want to ever wait for _anything_. I want a drink as soon as I sit
down. I want to discuss the menu with someone knowledgable. I want time to eat
my salad without the main course coming too soon. I want my food to be
delivered by my server, not some runner I've never seen before. I don't want
to be interrupted mid-sentence. I want my server to be aware of my needs
without being in my face. If a restaurant does this, we will return over and
over and tip much more than the standard 20%. If they don't, we'd rather just
eat at home.

I understand that the great masses of people don't feel this way and that's
why E la Carte has so much potential.

But as for me, I've been looking at a screen all day long, so the last thing I
want to do is order by terminal at Applebee's. I rather pay $100 for one nice
dinner per week than $25 for 4 lousy ones.

~~~
kenjackson
In general I agree with you, but one feature to me would be worth the price of
admission. Instant check payment and leave. Typically with kids, when we're
done eating, we're done NOW. We need to leave pronto. Not in two minutes...
now.

So the ability to simply say, "OK, dinner's over". Hit a button and head out
the door in five seconds would be great. Probably not something you put in a
five-star restaurant, but for family friendly restaurants its the type of
thing that would make the difference on where we decide to go on a Wednesday
night.

Also, I generally don't like waiters taking my credit card to process. Could
pay cash, but generally don't carry cash.

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shii
So are the E la Carte devices given to the table and picked up after finishing
sorta like menus? Don't they get in the way while eating? Really interesting
novel idea. If it reduces the hassle for waiters, I'm all for it. Looks like a
pretty win-win situation.

Which POS-es does it integrate with?

How's the security model; can some derps come in and try to pwn one while
eating by setting up a wireless sniffer which picks up all transactions from
all devices in the establishment?

Also, isn't the name and domain name really uncomfortably close to
<http://www.e-lacarte.com/about-elacarte/index.cfm> ?

Great to see YC get into the food business, only good things can come from
this.

~~~
Symmetry
They're just left on the tables all day, and didn't end up getting in the way
for us any more than a salt and pepper set would.

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zach
Sounds fun. Here in LA, a couple of restaurant entrepreneurs are building on
the success of The Counter, an upscale custom burger quick-serve, with an
iPad-based concept restaurant. The first one opens next month.

[http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2011-02-16-ipa...](http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2011-02-16-ipadcafe16_ST_N.htm)

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hammock
Bones steakhouse in Atlanta (a landmark) gives every table an iPad instead of
a printed wine list. Very cool, and it actually increased their sales
immediately.

[http://whatnowatlanta.com/2010/09/14/bones-steakhouse-
uses-i...](http://whatnowatlanta.com/2010/09/14/bones-steakhouse-uses-ipad-to-
display-1350-item-wine-list/)

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kacper
There is no doubt that his device has a great potential! This device brings
extra customer experience and income boost for restaurants. Great idea! It
will be a big success.

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physcab
This reminds me of those kiosks they have at airports begging you to play
games while you wait. I never see people on them but have always wondered how
much they made.

~~~
vernat
Perfect project!!! Whether it is possible to take part in this matter?

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diegob
I'd be surprised if this hasn't been done before, but I hope they get the
execution right! Does anyone know how previous attempts have fared?

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Herve
Sounds great for casual casual dining .... and I would kill for a simple way
to split the bill at the end of a meal with 10 people!!

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docgnome
So wait... Who am I tipping? It seems to me this device replaced the waiter
with a busser... Or am I missing something?

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julia_kay
Amazing concept. I'd love to give it a try in person.

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vernat
We need it in Russia

~~~
kacper
In Poland too!

