I think the low end fast casual places will see increased tablet usage and reduced waitstaff interaction with customers.

I remember my line of thinking when the tablets first showed up on a table at Chilis...

Host/Hostess seats a party and takes the drink order. Let's face it, unless you want to see the fancy cocktails or the beer list 95% of people already know what they want to drink when they walk through the door. This person can also card everyone.

Orders submitted on the tablet. There is no interaction with an actual waiter coming to take your order. Drinks and food are brought pretty much by runners. Cuts down significantly on the number of people required as wait staff isn't lingering and interacting with customers.

I think this is more of an Asian cultural thing than a cost thing. We had a robot deliver our food to us in a Dallas Thai place about 3 years ago.

The QR codes that restaurants started using during COVID need to be taken a step further. Most places just seem to use them to link to a static menu.

But you can have each table have a different code - scan it and get taken to a page where you can place your order right there. Because each table has a different code they know what table the order goes to without having to enter any other info.

Need more water? Click a button and more water is brought to you, etc.

YouBet said:

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I think this is more of an Asian cultural thing than a cost thing. We had a robot deliver our food to us in a Dallas Thai place about 3 years ago.

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Sounds like an evolution of the endless sushi belt

Kenneth_2003 said:

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I think the low end fast casual places will see increased tablet usage and reduced waitstaff interaction with customers.

I remember my line of thinking when the tablets first showed up on a table at Chilis...

Host/Hostess seats a party and takes the drink order. Let's face it, unless you want to see the fancy cocktails or the beer list 95% of people already know what they want to drink when they walk through the door. This person can also card everyone.

Orders submitted on the tablet. There is no interaction with an actual waiter coming to take your order. Drinks and food are brought pretty much by runners. Cuts down significantly on the number of people required as wait staff isn't lingering and interacting with customers.

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So does that mean that tips go down as a percentage of staff interaction/help compared to the service level before cutting staffing for technology? Because we seem to be dramatically shifting towards the "less for more" stage, which includes waitstaff barely being involved, so why would tips be the same percentage when you're spending more (meaning tip percentage is off of significantly increasing bill amounts) for the same meal with a lesser "experience?"

javajaws said:

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The QR codes that restaurants started using during COVID need to be taken a step further. Most places just seem to use them to link to a static menu.

But you can have each table have a different code - scan it and get taken to a page where you can place your order right there. Because each table has a different code they know what table the order goes to without having to enter any other info.

Need more water? Click a button and more water is brought to you, etc.

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I've been to numerous bars that do that. Sorry. It's a nightmare.

It starts with finding cell service in a building with a metal roof. Then, creating an account where, of course, they want to collect your life story including your CC# and top secret number on the back.

Yeah, can I just have a waiter, please?

I think we'll all need to get used to eating Ramen all the time before too long.

People pay for that food?

Phatbob said:

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I'm not sure how you didn't notice this, but there are mushrooms growing on your food... disgusting...

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Made me think of this.

torrid said:

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I think we'll all need to get used to eating Ramen all the time before too long.

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Real ramen isn't cheap. Place we hit up is between $15 to $20 a bowl.

Chic-fil-A has been using robots for some time now!

Don't know if they will continue it

All cool.

When I travel through Tokyo, their Ramen (and other places) will have a (almost looks like the old cigerette machines) ticket machine where you pay for a bowl of ramen(a ticket) , if you want a egg(another unique ticket), want extra spicy(another ticket) and you pay right there and recieve your tickets which is your order. You go from there and stand in line ……when it is your turn, you hand the tickets over and they complete your order.


Very efficient.

Teslag said:

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torrid said:

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I think we'll all need to get used to eating Ramen all the time before too long.

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Real ramen isn't cheap. Place we hit up is between $15 to $20 a bowl.

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This is normally 15-16 but I did a food trade. They got three taco plates and chips and queso today and this was my first of 2 bowls of ramen.

Jbob04 said:

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People pay for that food?

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Yes, and from personal experience, when they leave they'll pick up something at a drive thru on the way home because they'll still be hungry. Well, that and their taste buds are pissed that the most flavorless food went by them.

I would welcome more automation. We have a regular Mexican place we go and the wait staff is always slammed. It's frustrating to me to have to ask for more water or more chips and salsa. I have seriously considered saying "Dude, set a timer on your phone. Every 7 minutes, bring me salsa and chips, and check our water."

I don't because that's a dicky thing to say to a waiter that's slammed, but it has crossed my mind.

the downside is a decreased patron experience becuase they could easily put limits on something like this if it's robotic or automated.

Right now, the waiter knows his tip increases if he keeps bringing me chips and salsa. I'm 180 pounds and 6' tall, but I will put down 5 bowls of salsa and chips, no problem. A robot will just say "Nah, cutoff is 2."

I went to a restaurant in the 70's that delivered my food on a model train.

No Spin Ag said:

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Jbob04 said:

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People pay for that food?

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Yes, and from personal experience, when they leave they'll pick up something at a drive thru on the way home because they'll still be hungry. Well, that and their taste buds are pissed that the most flavorless food went by them.

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Where are you getting flavorless ramen? Most of it is pretty spicy and heavily flavored, especially the black garlic ones.

Rydyn said:

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javajaws said:

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The QR codes that restaurants started using during COVID need to be taken a step further. Most places just seem to use them to link to a static menu.

But you can have each table have a different code - scan it and get taken to a page where you can place your order right there. Because each table has a different code they know what table the order goes to without having to enter any other info.

Need more water? Click a button and more water is brought to you, etc.

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I've been to numerous bars that do that. Sorry. It's a nightmare.

It starts with finding cell service in a building with a metal roof. Then, creating an account where, of course, they want to collect your life story including your CC# and top secret number on the back.

Yeah, can I just have a waiter, please?

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Free wifi would fix the internet part - for the rest that's really a choice of the restaurant in question and in this case I agree with you - business' need to be careful about asking for "too much" info. And in this case any info other than your order is too much to ask for. No account should be needed, etc. and you shouldn't even be required to pay that way.

No Spin Ag said:

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Jbob04 said:

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People pay for that food?

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Yes, and from personal experience, when they leave they'll pick up something at a drive thru on the way home because they'll still be hungry. Well, that and their taste buds are pissed that the most flavorless food went by them.

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My ramen was super tasty. Sad they didn't have the poached quail eggs today, but I didn't even finish the bowl.

Too much food.

what is a robotic shelf?

Logos Stick said:

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what is a robotic shelf?

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It was a three level shelf that brought the food to your table.

Kinda like those carpet cleaners that operate without you. Except this had shelves.

Loved Pancho's back in day. Also loved Shakey's Pizza.

Loved the Poncho flags!

...and the Brazilian markers for "bring more meat!"

I also wish restaurants would stop relying on QR codes instead of using physical menus. Besides the annoyance factor, QR codes are fast becoming a vector for malware distribution. People follow QR codes without a second thought these days. It's the same thing as clicking on a link in a spam email.

javajaws said:

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The QR codes that restaurants started using during COVID need to be taken a step further. Most places just seem to use them to link to a static menu.

But you can have each table have a different code - scan it and get taken to a page where you can place your order right there. Because each table has a different code they know what table the order goes to without having to enter any other info.

Need more water? Click a button and more water is brought to you, etc.

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This already exists in IAH terminal C. I think they also had a little robot car that brought stuff out too, but I don't remember seeing that the last time I was there.

javajaws said:

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Rydyn said:

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javajaws said:

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The QR codes that restaurants started using during COVID need to be taken a step further. Most places just seem to use them to link to a static menu.

But you can have each table have a different code - scan it and get taken to a page where you can place your order right there. Because each table has a different code they know what table the order goes to without having to enter any other info.

Need more water? Click a button and more water is brought to you, etc.

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I've been to numerous bars that do that. Sorry. It's a nightmare.

It starts with finding cell service in a building with a metal roof. Then, creating an account where, of course, they want to collect your life story including your CC# and top secret number on the back.

Yeah, can I just have a waiter, please?

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Free wifi would fix the internet part - for the rest that's really a choice of the restaurant in question and in this case I agree with you - business' need to be careful about asking for "too much" info. And in this case any info other than your order is too much to ask for. No account should be needed, etc. and you shouldn't even be required to pay that way.

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There are concepts all over Australia and now in the US that use the QR model to order and pay. It is best to have the user pay through the platform which is linked to the QR instead of paying separately via server. That is tough to do for a variety of reasons. The payments are linked to your apple pay, google pay, or you can manually enter the card once and it remains on file.

It isn't possible to have the customer send in the order via QR (linked website) but not have them pay; it leads to a host of unwanted issues. better to have them just order traditionally. Regarding tips, the "thought" is the server can deliver a better guest experience, interact more, and do more upselling if they aren't busy taking the order thus actually earning the tip. The challenge though is the staff often becomes disengaged and concerned that the QR will make them obsolete so they begin to not do a good job. These QR partnerships do lead to an increase in ticket size as people upsell themselves, it is just very difficult to overcome the American culture and how things have been done for decades. Not sure they will ever fully take off successfully here.

Ban tipping.
Ban minimum wage.

The market will adjust. Prices will go up and badly managed restaurants will go out of business.

Best outcome for all.

Teslag said:

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No Spin Ag said:

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Jbob04 said:

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People pay for that food?

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Yes, and from personal experience, when they leave they'll pick up something at a drive thru on the way home because they'll still be hungry. Well, that and their taste buds are pissed that the most flavorless food went by them.

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Where are you getting flavorless ramen? Most of it is pretty spicy and heavily flavored, especially the black garlic ones.

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I don't do spicy, but that shouldn't equate to no flavor. Then again, maybe that's (spicy) what makes Ramen tasty to people who like it. It's just not my cup of tea, I guess.

Rydyn said:

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javajaws said:

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The QR codes that restaurants started using during COVID need to be taken a step further. Most places just seem to use them to link to a static menu.

But you can have each table have a different code - scan it and get taken to a page where you can place your order right there. Because each table has a different code they know what table the order goes to without having to enter any other info.

Need more water? Click a button and more water is brought to you, etc.

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I've been to numerous bars that do that. Sorry. It's a nightmare.

It starts with finding cell service in a building with a metal roof. Then, creating an account where, of course, they want to collect your life story including your CC# and top secret number on the back.

Yeah, can I just have a waiter, please?

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This

It's like the talk to your car to adjust the AC, or radio, or whatever people tell you to do when the physical buttons disappear.. No, I want to talk to a person not an electronic device.

The smartphone has connected us like never before, we just don't actually talk to actual people anymore and it's made everyone more lonely.

No Spin Ag said:

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Teslag said:

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No Spin Ag said:

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Jbob04 said:

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People pay for that food?

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Yes, and from personal experience, when they leave they'll pick up something at a drive thru on the way home because they'll still be hungry. Well, that and their taste buds are pissed that the most flavorless food went by them.

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Where are you getting flavorless ramen? Most of it is pretty spicy and heavily flavored, especially the black garlic ones.

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I don't do spicy, but that shouldn't equate to no flavor. Then again, maybe that's (spicy) what makes Ramen tasty to people who like it. It's just not my cup of tea, I guess.

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My broth was a miso and roasted garlic broth.
Very savory and not spicy

YouBet said:

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I think this is more of an Asian cultural thing than a cost thing. We had a robot deliver our food to us in a Dallas Thai place about 3 years ago.

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They like to think they live in the future and that cartoon monsters walk among us.

Ellis Wyatt said:

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Jason_Roofer said:

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I would welcome more automation. We have a regular Mexican place we go and the wait staff is always slammed. It's frustrating to me to have to ask for more water or more chips and salsa.

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You need to go back to the future...

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This brings back memories