Seriously, in a low margin business they're transformative. I don't mean at the table/waitress level (sucks to be the server, by the way), I mean they literally move entire classes/areas/niches/locations of restaurants into economic viability. (Bad restaurants have -5% margins and close. Good restaurants have 8% margins and stay open. Some of the stats suggest just using this gives +N% with N sufficient to make businesses viable.)
Seriously, I think restaurants will take to this like accountants took to spreadsheets. Or they'll simply die.
(Ultimately it comes down to the portfolio companies trusting that you won't turn this into an issue later with the SEC, if things go south.)
The problem of not actually having the cash to invest, though, is harder. You also clearly add value being your cash, so you could probably make investments on that basis (as consulting services partially paid in equity, etc.), which don't fall under the accredited investor requirement, since it's not a solicitation to the public.
(I don't do all that much work for startups, or at least not paid work for startups on the VC trajectory, but I'll keep that in mind as an option. It's not something I've pursued much. The biggest reason is my near-term thinking has been dominated by my upcoming marriage and none of the vendors/moving company/tax offices/etc are sending invoices denominated in shares.)
Edit: I just posted a video of it. My nephew and niece in law (?) loved to order for us: http://youtu.be/LxQpJk52Sbc
1) This is an incremental change since it largely replaces what the waiter/waitress is doing with the machine the waiter/waitress is using and
2) The tradeoff is a question of customer service for lower costs. I think to make it work you'd have to take the extra savings and spend it towards further improving customer service. It's not a clear win unless executed very well.
People underestimate the sheer quantity of microbes you encounter on a daily basis, and conversely, overestimate how susceptible you are to them. You're immune system is really good at what it does!
Supermarkets are another great example of self-service automation. For example, my local supermarket has 8 self-checkout lanes occupying the same space as 4 full-service cashier lanes. Only one staff member is required to support these lanes -- although they should have two considering there is no training requirement for the customers :). It's interesting to note that there is no discount for using the self-checkout, although you are now scanning and bagging yourself as opposed to the full-service you receive in the standard cashier. I assume this is the "cost" of progress (and shorter lines).
In the long-term, I think the restaurants that leverage technology to enhance the dining experience will benefit greatly (e.g. enhanced menus, reduced printing, order ahead, entertainment, brand engagement, etc.). Restaurants that simply use tablets for cost-cutting will lose customers. Dining in a restaurant is more discretionary than banking or supermarket shopping.
Loans I wouldn't know about, but opening accounts at major banks without entering a bank branch is generally quite easy, particularly if you can afford to wait a few days for physical mail to go back and forth. One hopes that particular anachronism becomes increasingly rare, too.
I won't eat asparagus or whole mushrooms. I have friends that are vegetarian, or that wont eat veal/lamb, etc. It's hard enough finding a good restaurant to go to and accommodate everyone, let alone go to a restaurant that can't even afford to hire waiters and can't ask does xyz have peanuts in? Cause you know buying lunch really sucks when someone goes into anaphylactic shock because their waiter app can't handle allergy info.
Don't even get me started on the drive-thru.
Meanwhile, I've used Seamless.com a couple times and some restaurants STILL sometimes forget to include certain items. Far more often than any other delivery service/fast food joint I've ever been to.
In addition, the servers carry these small devices not much bigger than an iPhone that have touchscreens to send the orders back to the kitchen. In addition, the devices have card readers and a small receipt printer so the server can handle everything from right at your table. It's pretty cool and futuristic, especially for a brewery/pizza joint.
People thought these were going to replace all restaurants too.
If it cuts costs (for the restaurant owner / manager), improves the customer experience, and 'encourages' customers to spend more ... you can bet that owners will be all over it!
I go to restaurants to enjoy the food and enjoy the company. If everything else could just get out of the way (like the waiter) I'd be happy as a clam.
At least, until, the software starts doing a better job. And that is a long way off.
Just kidding, by then i bet they'll demand 40%
There are too many cases where it falls down. For example, my girlfriend will ask almost every server their opinion of two items on the menu. She doesn't always choose the one that they recommend, but feels it to be useful input in her decisions. Another time when the waitstaff are extemely useful are for people with alergies, or lactose intolarance.
Yes the second case can be solved by lists of ingredients, or icons indicating what each meal is free of (lactose free, soy free, gluten free, peanut free, etc...) all of which would be provided by the computer interface. But is that really what I'm looking for when I go out to eat? No. I like being able to ask, "Does this have cheese in it?" or "Do you like A better than X" and getting a yes or no answer.
I believe we will see a restuarant that is McDonalds meets RedBox in the near future. However, until there are serious advancements in language processing so that I can ask questions about the food I am about order (and pay atleast 200% mark up on) I don't expect many resturants to be shedding their waitstaff in favor of customer opperated touch screen devices.
Or the Japanese restaurant of yesterday.
Honestly, I use this all the time at Yaki-niku places.
Great. Ads during my restaurant dining experience. Gosh, what an exciting prospect.
And if you make everything to customer order like Subway, give me a way to re-use my old instructions.
It could even be a video connection, with a small screen on the tablet, and one or more cameras to show all diners at the table.
The potential loss of privacy could be an issue for customers. The equipment to bug your dinner conversation would be sitting right there in front of you.
Also, it'll be nice to pay at the table and jet. call me a crank, but i hate waiting to pay.
2. it will be good to have timed order-to-delivery stats for the manager, so we can get consistent performance.
3. if they can get some smart data mining going on, then could raise revenues for the restaurant. "people that liked burgers also liked vanilla shakes. would you like one?". swipe in with your credit card, and it knows your favourite meals.
They had a restaurant and you could order food from a touch screen, and play games on it while you wait.
I hated it. A waiter always came by to make sure your order was correct. I had to wonder, what's the point? It was gimmicky and useless.
This was probably 13 years ago.
