
E la Carte (YC S10) to Deploy Restaurant Tablets in 113 Airports Nationwide - yoniriemer
http://pandodaily.com/2012/08/02/e-la-carte-partners-with-hmshost-to-deploy-restaurant-tablets-in-113-airports-nationwide/
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rmcfeeley
Tried out a similar service at NYC's La Guardia while waiting for a flight.
Not a fan -- a few gripes:

(1) Cleanliness is a concern. If I'm going to be eating a burger or something
else with my paws, you'd better believe I'm going to want to clean my hands
after touching one of these bad boys.

(2) Novelty for novelty's sake. I have no problem interacting with another
human being when I'd like to order a glass of wine or dinner during a trip--in
fact, it's often a welcome break from a long day of traveling alone.

(3) Poor functionality. My friend and I were prompted to enter our flight
information under the auspices that we'd be "alerted" with updates about our
flight--boarding, delays, etc. No such luck... We arrived at our gate and were
scolded for being the last ones on the flight. If only they'd known we were
distracted by the future of airport dining!

There's no real pain point here. I suggest that E la Carte pivot toward
creating more edible food in airports... That's a disruptive mission that I
can get behind.

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isalmon
Well, keep in mind that this is a pretty innovative idea, so it takes time to
figure everything out... I think what they do is actually pretty awesome.
Especially when it comes to paying the bill - it save a huge amount of time.

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WA
You can circumvent this problem by asking for the bill in the moment your food
arrives.

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acdanger
This is the my tried-and-true method for my meals in a rush. And I imagine
that restaurant staff in airports are particularly well accustomed to
customers wanting to move through their dining process at an accelerated clip.

Given all the inhumanity now part of modern air travel, it's nice for me to
have a little personal interaction to look forward to in between security
screenings and boarding processes.

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pavel_lishin
> The Presto is a rugged 7-inch tablet with a built-in credit card reader

I'm eagerly awaiting the first malware reports.

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k33n
Looks like you had your haterade this morning.

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pavel_lishin
I don't mean to badmouth their product, it looks interesting and I'd love to
be able to pay-and-go as soon as I want instead of waiting for a waiter to
come around.

But at the same time, these things will be laying around for customers to play
with them, unattended, for long periods of time. The security implications are
important.

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dannyr
How do you think the malware will be installed?

I doubt you can access a web site or use USB port on it.

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pavel_lishin
I don't know, I haven't seen one in the wild yet, hence the lack of any
technical speculation.

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nealabq
Slightly different business model:

Airport food is mediocre and overpriced. So you build a website so people can
order off-airport food and have it delivered. You team with a nearby
restaurant, run a van back and forth, send delivery people with bags of food
to designated waiting areas.

The airport authorities won't like it though.

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mdanger
Is this really feasible? I don't fly a lot, but the last time I was at an
airport, the only areas that invited you to sit down/have a meal were on the
far side of the TSA checkpoint, etc.

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pavel_lishin
Random terrible brainstorm idea: purchase the cheapest available airplane
ticket for your delivery person for late in the evening. They can now pass
through airport security.

Obvious problem #1 is that ordering drinks is now impossible, but what does a
delivery service offer that in-airport restaurants don't?

Another obvious problem is that the TSA agent may arbitrarily claim that you
can't bring in X pounds of food, all pre-packaged, into the airport -
especially since it rapidly becomes obvious that you're handing it to a total
stranger.

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bhickey
I used one of these at a restaurant in Palo Alto and the experience was
bothersome at best.

    
    
      Sharing it at a table is impossible.
      The UI is laggy and annoying (jumping shopping cart).
      There's no quick way to scan the menu.
      It does not display the total cost before placing an order.

