Ordering at Your Table Via Your Table
Photographs from Phillie Casablanca on Flickr
I’ve been a waitress on and off for the last eight years of my life. Waiting tables has taught me a lot, especially about how to deal with people. I learned very quickly how to read my tables and give them the kind of service they were looking for: super friendly and bubbly, quiet and removed, a bit mocking, or something in between. It's a difficult job, and that's why it's so hard for me to imagine a computer doing it.
The Chicago Tribune reports on Inamo, a restaurant in central London which has replaced its wait staff with a computer system where diners "can order from an illustrated menu, pay their bill, summon a taxi, play interactive games with fellow diners and even change the look of the table itself." Bryan Roberts, a research manager at consulting firm Planet Retail, thinks it's a great idea:
As with self-checkout in supermarkets, such innovations provide a greater perception of convenience and efficiency and have strong appeal for today's legion of tech-savvy consumers.
I disagree. Has Roberts ever seen the lines for self-checkout aisles in supermarkets? They are consistently long. Why—because the technology is complicated and it's easy to make a mistake and send alarms blaring. These machines only have to process prepackaged goods, imagine the complications when you throw in temperatures, substitutions, and allergies.
Back to Inamo, here’s how it works: Sculpted pods above each table beam information onto your tabletop while a circle in the corner acts as a mouse, allowing you to scroll through menu options and view photos before selecting a meal of your choice. A Bluetooth signal is then sent to the kitchen and with "chef cam," you can view your food being prepared on the tabletop screen. The technology sounds good, but reviews of a similar chain of restaurants in California, called UWink, show that these kind of systems break down, a lot. The owners of Inamo claim customers can't break the machine or crash the system. Then again, neither one of them has a high-tech background.
Even if you get past the technical difficulties, these systems can never replace good old fashioned human interaction. People go out to eat for service—they want to be taken care of. They want to know which wine goes best with their entrée, which dishes are most popular, and every once in a while, they even want to hear a lame joke.
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14 Comments:
I think this would be great, if it works. If it breaks down all the time, then obviously not...but I imagine that if you have a specific request or can't figure something out then a staff member is just a click away.
Also it's a pet peeve of mine when servers try to "read" my table and behave in a way that they think I want them to. Just keep it real, I say!
lovelybunny at 1:32PM on 09/20/08
Oh, I dunno, I think the whole "reading a table" thing is no different than reading any room - new friends, old friends, fiance's parents, etc. If you suck at it, it reads as fake and it's irritating. But if you've been doing it for a while and you're good at it, it's not much different than just displaying the aspects of your personality in a way that others will find pleasant, which we all do everyday, in small ways.
I appreciate it when a server catches on to the fact that I'm, say, on a first date, and tries to joke around with us and make the dinner more fun. Again, unless they're not funny/suck at it. To me, it's part of that extra service aspect, for which I'm willing to shell out plenty of dough in tips if it's done well.
BangieB at 2:22PM on 09/20/08
Sorry, but the phrase "imagine the complications when you throw in temperatures, substitutions, and allergies" made me smile.
It won't be a big problem because unlike you guys most of us Brits don't feel the need to do the substitution game! It's nice to know you can have 'your meal your way' but c'mon I've seen someone order a BLT with the Bacon on the side and could they have it without the tomatoes!!
Just my 2c and I love the site.
Rob
robcuk at 2:23PM on 09/20/08
Oooh, I hate to say this, but this person definitely doesn't "go out to eat for service". In fact, service is one of the things most likely to annoy me during a meal, so I'm welcoming any technology that might remove this element of the equation for me. Then again, I'm also the one guy in line at the self-service check-out thingie at the grocery store too (I've never ever seen a line at one of these things). I also don't answer my phone very often. Antisocial much? Yes.
markemorse at 2:53PM on 09/20/08
This is another way to eliminate jobs, a management joy. I will not use the self-checkouts for just that reason. Having no baggers is for the same reason. I suppose they eliminate tipping, but since that's much more of an American habit than a European one, it probably isn't much of a problem there.
lemons at 4:35PM on 09/20/08
Although I absolutely loathe our tipping rituals, which go far to discourage eating out, and although I don't go to particular restaurants for the service (I go for the food), I must say I don't like the shape of this at all, even when/if they do get the technology working right. I would vastly prefer a properly paid (not directly by me) wait person - who can then provide professional service and be recompensed accordingly, rather than at the whim of his or her customers. And yes, I will gladly pay higher menu prices to have such service.
Likeswords at 4:48PM on 09/20/08
I think self-checkout in supermarkets is one analogy, but not the only one. What if we compare it with ATMs, about which the same sort of thing used to be said? ATMs read most of our needs just fine. And if one wants super friendly, bubbly, quiet, or removed (or slow and indifferent) they can get on line for a human teller!
Wousin at 5:05PM on 09/20/08
I've been to restaurants in Japan that use a similar system. It's very convenient for Japanese, who tend to order many small dishes to share and who will order several rounds of drinks during a meal. You can add to what's on the table at will and with little fuss.
I don't know about playing games, changing the look of the table, etc. I mean, what ever happened to talking to your companions? (Void for antisocial persons, of course.)
Tokyorosa at 5:13PM on 09/20/08
@lemons:
1. Love the name
2. Grocery baggers get tipped?! Is this an American thing? This actually made me think of the episode of the Simpsons where the baggers went on strike.
The self waitering sounds like an interesting novelty. Generally when I go to restaurants I order off the menu and leave it at that, no special requests. I think this would work best at a chain type restaurant with straightforward menus that won't require a lot of explanation.
ag3208 at 5:40PM on 09/20/08
@markemorse: You sound just like me and my husband. LOL
I love this!
Cassaendra at 5:56PM on 09/20/08
No, waiters/waitresses/servers get tipped. And I guess there are some places where baggers get tipped, but not where I live, although I suspect those would be the situations where the baggers also carried them out to your car like they did Back In The Day.
It was just a badly placed sentence, writing off the top of my head. The tipping thing popped ujp in my brain when I thought I was done....
lemons at 6:46PM on 09/20/08
Being a server in a fine dining restaurant makes it difficult to enjoy going out to dinner, I find myself looking at everything and everyone's actions. I would rather cook at home because I don't have to deal with a server. So I think I would like to go to a restaurant with this kind of ordering system.
joanpieroni2 at 8:01PM on 09/20/08
You know, just not having to hear the phrases "And how are you guys tonight?" "My name is Shia and I'll be your server." "Still working on that?" is enough to arouse my curiosity. Plus, I notice that in the photo, there is a button labeled "Request the Bill?" The worst part of dining out is when the bottle of wine is drained, there's nothing more to say, and you just - can't - get - your - bill.
Tonecat at 8:48PM on 09/22/08
Oh my, pretty soon people will want to start installing these in their homes! This is very over the top if you ask me.
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 5:16PM on 09/23/08