Restaurant E-Menus: Trend or Gimmick?
Touchscreen tableside electronic ordering devices are being tested around the world. Imagine. A touchscreen computer is installed at a restaurant table. There, diners can view photos, prices, nutritional information, make special requests (hold the anchovies!) and place an order when they are ready. Shortly, a server brings the food to the table. Is tableside e-ordering a passing fad or will the efficiencies (and novelty) become incentive for your customers’ return visits?
“At one e-Menu table, Gil Uriel, an information technology worker, and his young family were enthusiastic as they looked at pictures of the food and argued over dessert.
“We can still choose, we can still argue, but it’s much easier when you can all see it,” Uriel said as his children clicked away furiously on a games function between courses.”
A skeptical customer says:
“I don’t believe in screens – I believe in humans,” said Yoash Torkman, a businessman lunching at Frame. “I’ll wait for 15 minutes for a waitress instead of using this. It’s a gimmick and gimmicks have very short lives.”
E-Waiter, Where’s My Food? (International Herald Tribune)
