God I'd hate this. Restaurants are places of relaxation, company, discovery, beautiful foods. I want to order something which sounds good and then see whether it is - I want it to come to me as a surprise - "Oh Tuscan Rabbit? I wonder how the chef will do it confit... Oh! Wow, let's try this then!"
It's not about efficiency, it's about atmosphere. I don't want a glowing screen anywhere near my dining table. I don't want anything which helps me order "what I had last time". I don't want them to ask me about the last time I was here 3 years ago either.
Can we invent and work on technology which adds to the beauty and experience of life next please? Either that or get the brain in a jar thing working.
If I want the most efficient dining experience I'll order in or go to a fast food place.
I go to a restaurant for the UX:
a date night, the atmosphere, getting out of the apartment, people watching, hanging with friends, etc.
Downtime is the point! It is supposed to take time. It gives me a relaxed period of time to talk with the people I'm with while drinking beer/wine and waiting for the food to arrive. To enjoy the experience.
Converting restaurants to a twitter/facebook 30-second attention span experience seems like a net negative de-evolution to me. I don't play with my phone while I'm at the table with other people - I think it's rude as hell - but Dave does that all the time I suppose.
Giving me a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am experience is not what I want. I don't have children or am in a giant hurry, but it sounds like that's where he's coming from. Perhaps that's a bigger section of the population than I expect.
But, there's a reason why McDonald's has pictures of food as the menu and Ruth's Chris doesn't.
edit:
That said, I do wish restaurants had a better idea of who their "best" customers are and all that jazz. I just don't think dropping iPads at every table is the right way to go.
Yes, I agree. Efficiency is not what I want from a restaurant.
Waiting for my order is one of those rare times to spend time with someone, discuss things, and absorb the restaurant atmosphere. A good restaurant menu doesn't list all ingredients and recipes, presentations and pictures. I want that anticipation, that wonder, and that trust in the chef. When I receive my food I like to be surprised; to discovery and explore a dish, even if it's something I've had before.
If the restaurant leaves a lasting impression on me, in terms of atmosphere, service, and taste, then I won't need a reminder of what I had last time. I don't need details/pictures of dishes because I already have that trust in the chef.
And in terms of service, a good restaurant/waiter will recommend something for me, or know what I have ordered in the past. It's part of the social experience of dining, having an actual discussion with the people who know the food.
Dave seems to be suggesting the exact opposite of what I would want in a quality restaurant experience. But I'm sure his opinion is different with children in the mix. It's really interesting how diverse the dining experience can be, and how both class and social groups can change your view of it.
I agree. Intrusive LCD panels at the table, removal from human interaction, horrid restaurant-chosen hierarchies of categories to wade through, etc...
With menus, everybody gets one and can peruse as they see fit, rather than a little shared computer. With a waiter/waitress you can talk through special options or dealing with split bills and anything like that.
And don't get me started on social and tracking -- I can't think of anything that would more quickly destroy my interest in a restaurant than having to log in with twitter or facebook. (And believe me, if the restaurant posted/tweeted on my friend's behalf, they would lose my business.)
Thank you so much for saying this. It perfectly captures my feelings about this piece - and also my frustration for what eating out has become. I actually had some asshat try to take pictures of the meal I was eating with his iPhone the other day.
It's not merely efficiency, though--the reason that these types of ideas suck is that they only care about buy-in from customers. What the customer thinks would enhance their experience. What the customer thinks would be nice "too many choices oh noes!".
The fact is that for the true clients in the market (the restaurants), we need to look at what makes their lives easier. And over the course of centuries, we've figured out more or less how to optimally use humans to service diners.
Take the idea of perks for frequent diners--this functionality is already exposed in most bars and restaurants if the customer comes back frequently enough to be recognized by the wait staff, and if they aren't so damned obnoxious that the restaurant wants to get rid of them.
Electronic menus for a place with 20 tables could be an outlay of around 4-10K, assuming you need only one tablet per table (you won't) and that the tablets won't ever break (they will) and that the customers will appreciate the move (they may not) and that there is no backend integration (there should be). Or, the owner can spend half that (say, 5 grand) on an 2 additional servers at $2.13/hr (in Texas) and "rent" them for a split 40 hrs/wk and better service. That's just silly.
Taking the example of Tex-Mex food, the same basic palette of food in storage can be combined in many different ways to provide variety to the end user, all with little extra cost to the restaurant, and so why bother simplifying a menu? You needlessly increase the data entropy of the choices offered and in so doing force yourself to have to purchase more varied ingredients (bad) in order to provide fewer perceived menu items (also bad). It's just dumb.
The problem of too much choice, bad descriptions, or not remembering last food ordered is very strictly a diner issue, not a restaurant one. Solving it, despite the relatively large amount of work the restaurant would have to put forth, would result in little payback. The places where people spend enough per-plate to justify that outlay already have quality staff kept on specifically because they can keep track of that and give the high-touch to their select audience.
This really is a great example of somebody trying to use tech to solve problems that don't exist for people in an industry they don't understand.
I personally agree with everything the article says, and came up with most of these ideas years ago, as my "ideal" restaurant. But most people are like you, and value the status quo restaurant atmosphere over increases in efficiency. There's no way this would work without a massive cultural shift.
But personally, the ridiculously inefficient eating-at-a-restaurant process is one of the reasons (along with saving money and staying healthy) why I prefer to eat at home whenever possible. Other than for social purposes and specialty food, I avoid restaurants like the plague. For example, there is no reason for me to go to an Italian restaurant when I can make the same dishes at home with less time than it'll take me to drive to the restaurant, get a table, eat, and drive back home.
You're a smart cat. And you've been really successful in the tech / entrepreneurial venue.
But this piece perfectly illustrates a common problem among successful tech entrepreneurs. You've not only assumed that a problem you struggle with is universal, you've also assumed that your success and expertise within one industry means that you know how to operate within other industries (that you don't know about). Worse still... you assume that you don't need to know anything about the industry to "fix" it. This is VERY common among successful tech entrepreneurs. You've started with the assumption that you KNOW BETTER than the people who are currently operating within the business (despite the fact that you don't know the realities of running such a business). In your case, you also assume that most people running restaurants are morons (because if they were not, they'd obviously be running their businesses as if they were tech start-ups).
This combination of myopic narcissism, arrogance and ignorance has gotten a LOT of entrepreneurs and investors in a LOT of trouble in the past.
Might I suggest that you should:
1) learn about the food service business (perhaps you could assume that successful food service professionals are not idiots to start?),
2) test your assumption that there are a reasonable number of people who share your problem
Final Note: tech entrepreneurs and investors - I'd suggest looking at this as a good illustration of a condition that we should all avoid.
1) I've been a customer of restaurants for far longer than I've been a tech entrepreneur.
2) I've been an investor in over 20 food-tech based Startups. I'm not clueless about the industry.
3) I come from middle-class (or lower-class!) america -- Appalachia, to be exact -- and my opinions are not based exclusively on either fast food restaurants nor high-class ones, but rather all of the above.
you're welcome to your own opinion, but I'm hardly I'll-informed about the industry, from either customer or operator perspective.
I suppose this depends on the type of restaurant. You're never going to see a picture on the menu of a high end restaurant. In the same way that people equate a screw top with bad wine (even though it's about 10 times better of a technology than a cork) people will always equate pictures on a menu with Olive Garden type restaurants.
Also the really good restaurants base their menu on what's fresh that day, so pictures wouldn't be practical.
And I think that people who are intimidated by the lack of pictures on a menu tend to mostly dine at the places that have them.
I absolutely agree with you here. Also I would like to note that having a single tablet for let's say 4-6 guests is impractical and will take lot more time to order vs having a paper menu for each of them.
I tend to agree, but digital pics could easily be updated for whatever was fresh. Just take the pic that morning and put it in the system.
Thinking about it, I bet there's a way to use pics effectively even in a high end place. Sell the chef with the pics, or better yet, sell the prep process. The extraordinary cooking process, etc.
In the end, though, you're right. High end is about the experience and you want that personal touch.
Virtually everything he complains about - the broad range of choice, unfamiliar items, long periods of time spent without electronic distractions, semi-forced interactions with people - are what most would consider positive aspects of fine dining. As others have said, there are other establishments that show you pictures of a limited range of familiar items and that slam them out in a short period of time - they're called "fast food."
Suggested followups: "Nightclubs: they suck because they're loud, dark and full of drunken horny young people" and "Concerts: how MP3 players could disrupt live music by playing every piece consistently without the bother of having to go to a live music venue".
>> unfamiliar items
>> semi-forced interactions with people
>> long periods of time spent without "electronic distractions" -- ie, the ability to pay when i want, and call a waiter when i want
so just to confirm here -- you really think that's what people like about high-end restaurants? they enjoy unfamiliarity? they enjoy forced interactions? they like to not be able to pay when they want?
if so, please remind me to never put you in charge of customer service or marketing at any of our companies.
seriously: i party down with people at nightclubs and concerts regularly, but waiting in line or getting shitty customer service is never what i equate with the best parts of those experiences.
This has been done to a degree, and it failed pretty quickly, faster than most. uWink opened a restaurant in Mountain View with tablets for ordering food and playing games while you wait.
The tablets had menu items complete with photos, reviews, and it took about 15 minutes for the food to arrive to your table. Typically the waitstaff would only bring you your drinks and food. The Mountain View location of uWink was open for less than a year.. about 9 months, so you can all guess how well that went. Most restaurants, even terrible ones, managed to stay open for more than that!
It wasn't tablets, it was 20-inch LCD monitors with sensors. That were in your face. To the point where if you wanted to talk to your lunch buddy, both of you had to lean to see each other's faces.
Check out Siam Fine Dining in Palo Alto that runs E La Carte tablets on their tables. Very quiet and refined experience.
Problem#3 is not really I problem for me at least.
When i go eat in a restaurant I am usually in company, so I do not want to hurry with order, eat, pay and go. I want to enjoy conversation, food and take an easy time.
I also think that many choices on the menus are fine.
But i would definitely NOT want the restaurant to have a profile of me.
"Problem #3: Have to Wait FOREVER for Waiter to Order, Re-Order, & Pay. Also, Nothing To Do While I’m Waiting."
This is pretty straightforward. If you're in a huge time crunch, order delivery. I'm not sure what it's like in the bay area, but here in Chicago you can order something from grubhub with very little friction.
One of my personal pet peeves is the arrival of the waiter halfway through to ask "how are things here." It's just a pointless ritual, and annoys the crap out of me. I rarely have complaints, or additional requests, and I'll catch their eye if I do.
I read through Dave's blog and through all of the comments here and I find this very funny. Dave is right, Food is huge and is only getting bigger. I have worked with restaurants for 5+ years now, specifically in technology, and both restaurants and consumers want to see this industry evolve and there is not going to be just one solution that solves all of its problems. To people who are saying they do not want screens on their tables, then do not use them, but I will argue you are in the minority. The high-end restaurants that would go on for an anniversary dinner or take a big client out will probably not have that because you pay for attentive service. However, for the fast-casual restaurant space, which is the fast growing, people don't expect that level attention from servers and why it makes sense to integrate virtual order, user history, reviews, etc. This stuff is coming and it will be better for everyone, including restaurants, because they will receive more information about their customers and can start making better business decisions like what menu items to keep or get rid of.
The restaurant industry is just very slow to adapt, generally speaking, because the people that run them have not grown up in the age of technology and are focused on the operations. As more new restaurant owners come, this will change and the opportunities in food tech will grow larger.
1) Will implementing these features actually increase profit? This was never addressed.
2) Restaurant revenue does not grow exponentially into the sky like many internet businesses do. There are hard limits on growth. Thus the ROI on measurement (A/B testing) won't be nearly as high.
3) Is a digital ordering system (with all the bells and whistles) something that is high on the priority list of a typical restaurant owner? If not, selling these things will be a chore.
I've worked around the restaurant industry for 10+ years and am a founder of Ordr.in, part of 500S' food portfolio. Digital ordering absolutely increases profitability. Average tickets are higher (estimates are 15-20% higher) and cost of serving the order reduced. Plus online orders smooth out and extend demand. I.e. serve more customers without adding fixed cost. Restaurants are just beginning to adopt online and digital tabletop ordering. Not only is online ordering profitable (though I don't think there is a one-size-fits-all solution) but customers are demanding it. This year 40% of diners will order online at least once (up from 13% 5 years ago). If merchants don't lead, customers will.
1) yes. proven already at 100's of restaurants using E la Carte PrestoTablet systems. immediately positive economics. also reduced turnover time, so more available spots for additional customers.
2) there's plenty of inefficient market to address... literally hundreds of millions if not billions of customers. certainly millions of restaurant.
3) absolutely. and should be higher on priority, if they only knew how much money they would save / make.
again, we put our money where our mouths are. check out http://elacarte.com if you don't believe me.
I'm a restaurateur, and a big fan of dmc, I enjoyed his take, but...
I've sketched out probably every idea Dave has illustrated here, and most of them don't make it far enough to even bust out an MVP. I have the advantage of a massive network of restaurant owners, from high end to QSR (quick service restaurant), and an even bigger network of hospitality staff. They chew on them, and spit them up.
It's not that it's impossible, and paradigm shifts in how the business is done is something I've pursued my whole life, but it takes a tremendous effort, and a retraining of your customers. Friction.
My operations were fine dining, casual wine bars, and nightclub/lounges. Exceptional experiences are the highest pursuit, and every problem DMC has an issue with would never exist in one of our operations. It's just a competent operator, well trained staff, and proper systems.
Some of the QSR chains I've worked with could use some help from tech, but the customer at a QSR is looking for less customer friction, not more.
I'd love to sit down with DMC sometime and give him some insight on where the real opportunities are in the space. He's right, it's a prime target for disruption, but not in the way he's thinking right now.
if it's really the case that none of your staff at all of your nightclubs / restaurants have these issues, them I'll eat my shorts & buy you a beer (either way, I'll buy u a beer in fact ;)
certainly it's been my experience that technology used to improve efficiency may not always be appropriately / perfect, but in MANY use cases where I've had to wait or choose from confusing menus, I can't imagine how it wouldn't help.
however, I'm open to hearing why I'm wrong if you have data to back it up.
I can see some advantages in what the author says, but I don't think the tech industry is a particularly good metaphor - for example, suggesting high-quality pictures of food will convert better. I've not ever been involved in the business end of a restaurant, but I've eaten in a few, and I can't believe that "converting" people who are reading a menu into people who have chosen something is actually a big problem - 99.5% of customers surely manage that one way or another.
Similarly, I'm not sure that providing reviews is obviously a good thing for a restaurateur - they hardly want to show you negative reviews of their dishes, and if they only show the positive ones it's obviously useless. I sort of see what he means about people saying when things suck, but surely if the restaurant knows one of their dishes is crap they'd be better off fixing or removing it than showing it with poor reviews.
As a 20 year veteran of the restaurant business and Founder of Tripleseat,a CRM and Event Management web app for the restaurant's Private Dining business with 500+ customers let me add my 2 cents on the challenges on making Dave's ideas to work in the restaurant business.
1) Pictures on menu's-Menu's change constantly because of food costs and trends. To have a new photo taken every time you make a menu change is too time consuming. Also, you don't want a crappy picture of your food on the menu and that means professional photographers and that means added costs.
2) Electronic Menu's etc-Good idea in theory, does not work (yet) in the real world. #1 and #1A reason restaurants won't do it is because of theft and breakage. To replace an iPad or whatever is too costly (sensing a theme here?)
3) CRM system that knows who you are and what you have ordered have been around forever BUT the Server who has 6 tables (and impatient customers) will not take the time to review it. It is not a problem technology can fix IMO
4) Technology to entertain the customer is called TV and Bartender (Sorry about being snarky)
It has been my experience that a majority of restaurant Owners and Operators will not invest in any technology (outside a POS) unless there is a proven, hard, ROI. These buyers, by their very nature, are pragmatic buyers that measure their money in nickels. Unless your technology widget can show them a fast ROI and make them more money they are going to pass
I do not want to interact with more technology in a restaurant, but I do think restaurants tend to have stunningly bad websites.
Most restaurants have either 1) a giant PDF or 2) a crazy interactive Flash experience. (Would you like to build an animated pizza? Would you like a Taylor Swift CD with your pizza?)
When I come to a restaurant's site, I want to see this:
1) Location and hours
2) HTML menu with pictures
This could all be on one page.
If there's an online ordering process, it should be fast and remember my favorite choices. That's about it.
A successful restaurant owner cultivates the ambiance of their venture--from the table layout to the color and texture of napkins, from the lighting to the type of door handles, they likely have an opinion and a firm belief that they are there to curate and create an experience for their patrons.
The problem is that these instincts--typically correct in the physical world!--lead to website design input that goes against the conventions of the virtual world.
Thus, a restaurant website will be needlessly animated, or sing music to you, or do any of those other things that we all dislike in our pages, all with the good intention of providing ambiance.
Why is flash automatically seen as bad? When done right it is a seamless experience that only the most technical could possibly take issue with. I, for one, enjoy papa john's interactive pizza order menu.
Few (inconsistent) thoughts on this. As usual I think DMC is right on most of this, however I wonder if the average Joe is keen on logging in to a restaurant for the benefit of customized menus. I like that idea, personally, but then I don't have a shit-fit every time something happens on Facebook that brings the privacy folks out - I understand the trade-off I make for free goods. Jury's out though on how many folks will do this, and therefore how much benefit it is to the restaurant compared to how much overhead/effort is involved.
The other thought I have with this is that it's typical of a lot of problems startups are tackling right now where the information (menus) is the type of information that needs to be free and everywhere, but the startups' monetization strategies are based on locking in that information in order to lock the customer into paying.
Anecdote signifying nothing: had coffee the other day with someone at a place that served food by having people log in on ipads, choose their item, order, pay then it was ready for them at the counter. I just wanted to look up, see a board with items on it, tell a polite person behind the counter my order and wait with my coffee for food. I didn't order.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_Confidential talks about refrigerator space and other constraints common to modern restaurants. Whenever you order that chicken that's on the menu together with shrimp, lobster, steak, ground beef, pork chop, pork loin, tuna, turkey, salmon, tilapia, etc., you risk ordering something that's been re-frozen multiple times, stuck in the back of the fridge (the more exotic it is, the higher the chances are that it's been there for a while, alligator kebabs and ostrich burger patties least likely to be fresh), and handled multiple times by line cook's hands while he reaches into the fridge to retrieve stuff for other customers.
this is really against what most restaurants should try to do. I'd rather have a place make 10 dishes very high quality than 50 ok dishes. With a large menu its very hard to provide quality and consistency.
I find it pretty common given a list of foods that I like, the one with a good picture is the one I'll most likely order. Having more pictures may or may not benefit the restaurant though...
Use of a few pictures now could lead customers to buy a higher profit item, or an item that is much easier to keep in stock in large amounts.
Use of pictures for all items means that the customer will likely expect the food to the table looks like the item in the picture. This could cause some issues with different cooks or item substitutions.
I'm surprised by how negative a lot of people are here to new ideas.
A friend runs Menupad. You should check out the demo. Does some cool stuff such as allowing people to get wine recommendations for each dish, organized by the sommelier. That is a big value add for the customer.
Another point is that with health care reforms in the US, wages for waiters will increase, which may tip the balance for restaurants to go the technology option.
I don't think lack of personalization is a big problem. If I have something I like, I generally remember that well enough to order it next time. That fits with the general rule that personalization has a clearer, easier-to-prove benefits for vendors than for purchasers
More information about menu items I haven't ordered before would be great. But for me a list of ingredients would be much more important than a picture.
Check-out efficiency would be wonderful. The same expensive tablet that offers that at every table could probably be used for upsell of desserts and after-dinner beverages, both for impulse-purchase reasons and because restaurants struggle to take those orders at the right time just as they struggle to bring you the check exactly when you want it.
An ETA on next-course arrival would be welcome, just as it is for airplanes. That's another good use for an on-table electronic device.
----------------------
Anyhow, Dave was calling for a huge redesign in the processes whereby restaurants operate. It's much more reasonable to think of these ideas working at SOME new restaurants than of them working at a large fraction of existing old ones.
All fine except for one thing. Your typical restaurant owner would rather run their business rather than create high quality online content. They typical lack marketing resources.
Menus today are simple / easy / quick to produce. If you want restaurants to move this online plus manage a CRM with their loyal customers preferences, it has to be just as simple, easy and quick as "old school" menus.
I stopped reading after a few paragraphs; it's not necessary to write crappy english to get your point across. Most restaurant owners have neither the resources or knowledge to run as some kind of food startup. This author seems to think that people actually want better technology instead of better food or pricing or service. I can't eat a digital menu.
[+] [-] kolektiv|13 years ago|reply
It's not about efficiency, it's about atmosphere. I don't want a glowing screen anywhere near my dining table. I don't want anything which helps me order "what I had last time". I don't want them to ask me about the last time I was here 3 years ago either.
Can we invent and work on technology which adds to the beauty and experience of life next please? Either that or get the brain in a jar thing working.
[+] [-] MattRogish|13 years ago|reply
I go to a restaurant for the UX: a date night, the atmosphere, getting out of the apartment, people watching, hanging with friends, etc.
Downtime is the point! It is supposed to take time. It gives me a relaxed period of time to talk with the people I'm with while drinking beer/wine and waiting for the food to arrive. To enjoy the experience.
Converting restaurants to a twitter/facebook 30-second attention span experience seems like a net negative de-evolution to me. I don't play with my phone while I'm at the table with other people - I think it's rude as hell - but Dave does that all the time I suppose.
Giving me a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am experience is not what I want. I don't have children or am in a giant hurry, but it sounds like that's where he's coming from. Perhaps that's a bigger section of the population than I expect.
But, there's a reason why McDonald's has pictures of food as the menu and Ruth's Chris doesn't.
edit: That said, I do wish restaurants had a better idea of who their "best" customers are and all that jazz. I just don't think dropping iPads at every table is the right way to go.
[+] [-] fudged71|13 years ago|reply
Waiting for my order is one of those rare times to spend time with someone, discuss things, and absorb the restaurant atmosphere. A good restaurant menu doesn't list all ingredients and recipes, presentations and pictures. I want that anticipation, that wonder, and that trust in the chef. When I receive my food I like to be surprised; to discovery and explore a dish, even if it's something I've had before.
If the restaurant leaves a lasting impression on me, in terms of atmosphere, service, and taste, then I won't need a reminder of what I had last time. I don't need details/pictures of dishes because I already have that trust in the chef.
And in terms of service, a good restaurant/waiter will recommend something for me, or know what I have ordered in the past. It's part of the social experience of dining, having an actual discussion with the people who know the food.
Dave seems to be suggesting the exact opposite of what I would want in a quality restaurant experience. But I'm sure his opinion is different with children in the mix. It's really interesting how diverse the dining experience can be, and how both class and social groups can change your view of it.
[+] [-] ezran|13 years ago|reply
With menus, everybody gets one and can peruse as they see fit, rather than a little shared computer. With a waiter/waitress you can talk through special options or dealing with split bills and anything like that.
And don't get me started on social and tracking -- I can't think of anything that would more quickly destroy my interest in a restaurant than having to log in with twitter or facebook. (And believe me, if the restaurant posted/tweeted on my friend's behalf, they would lose my business.)
[+] [-] malachismith|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] angersock|13 years ago|reply
The fact is that for the true clients in the market (the restaurants), we need to look at what makes their lives easier. And over the course of centuries, we've figured out more or less how to optimally use humans to service diners.
Take the idea of perks for frequent diners--this functionality is already exposed in most bars and restaurants if the customer comes back frequently enough to be recognized by the wait staff, and if they aren't so damned obnoxious that the restaurant wants to get rid of them.
Electronic menus for a place with 20 tables could be an outlay of around 4-10K, assuming you need only one tablet per table (you won't) and that the tablets won't ever break (they will) and that the customers will appreciate the move (they may not) and that there is no backend integration (there should be). Or, the owner can spend half that (say, 5 grand) on an 2 additional servers at $2.13/hr (in Texas) and "rent" them for a split 40 hrs/wk and better service. That's just silly.
Taking the example of Tex-Mex food, the same basic palette of food in storage can be combined in many different ways to provide variety to the end user, all with little extra cost to the restaurant, and so why bother simplifying a menu? You needlessly increase the data entropy of the choices offered and in so doing force yourself to have to purchase more varied ingredients (bad) in order to provide fewer perceived menu items (also bad). It's just dumb.
The problem of too much choice, bad descriptions, or not remembering last food ordered is very strictly a diner issue, not a restaurant one. Solving it, despite the relatively large amount of work the restaurant would have to put forth, would result in little payback. The places where people spend enough per-plate to justify that outlay already have quality staff kept on specifically because they can keep track of that and give the high-touch to their select audience.
This really is a great example of somebody trying to use tech to solve problems that don't exist for people in an industry they don't understand.
[+] [-] w1ntermute|13 years ago|reply
But personally, the ridiculously inefficient eating-at-a-restaurant process is one of the reasons (along with saving money and staying healthy) why I prefer to eat at home whenever possible. Other than for social purposes and specialty food, I avoid restaurants like the plague. For example, there is no reason for me to go to an Italian restaurant when I can make the same dishes at home with less time than it'll take me to drive to the restaurant, get a table, eat, and drive back home.
[+] [-] davemcclure|13 years ago|reply
I'd hate to build a business based on pissing off customers, but I guess you're welcome to give that a spin.
best of luck with that.
[+] [-] malachismith|13 years ago|reply
You're a smart cat. And you've been really successful in the tech / entrepreneurial venue.
But this piece perfectly illustrates a common problem among successful tech entrepreneurs. You've not only assumed that a problem you struggle with is universal, you've also assumed that your success and expertise within one industry means that you know how to operate within other industries (that you don't know about). Worse still... you assume that you don't need to know anything about the industry to "fix" it. This is VERY common among successful tech entrepreneurs. You've started with the assumption that you KNOW BETTER than the people who are currently operating within the business (despite the fact that you don't know the realities of running such a business). In your case, you also assume that most people running restaurants are morons (because if they were not, they'd obviously be running their businesses as if they were tech start-ups).
This combination of myopic narcissism, arrogance and ignorance has gotten a LOT of entrepreneurs and investors in a LOT of trouble in the past.
Might I suggest that you should: 1) learn about the food service business (perhaps you could assume that successful food service professionals are not idiots to start?), 2) test your assumption that there are a reasonable number of people who share your problem
Final Note: tech entrepreneurs and investors - I'd suggest looking at this as a good illustration of a condition that we should all avoid.
[+] [-] davemcclure|13 years ago|reply
2) I've been an investor in over 20 food-tech based Startups. I'm not clueless about the industry.
3) I come from middle-class (or lower-class!) america -- Appalachia, to be exact -- and my opinions are not based exclusively on either fast food restaurants nor high-class ones, but rather all of the above.
you're welcome to your own opinion, but I'm hardly I'll-informed about the industry, from either customer or operator perspective.
[+] [-] mattmaroon|13 years ago|reply
Also the really good restaurants base their menu on what's fresh that day, so pictures wouldn't be practical.
And I think that people who are intimidated by the lack of pictures on a menu tend to mostly dine at the places that have them.
[+] [-] usaphp|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] waterlesscloud|13 years ago|reply
Thinking about it, I bet there's a way to use pics effectively even in a high end place. Sell the chef with the pics, or better yet, sell the prep process. The extraordinary cooking process, etc.
In the end, though, you're right. High end is about the experience and you want that personal touch.
[+] [-] jw_|13 years ago|reply
Suggested followups: "Nightclubs: they suck because they're loud, dark and full of drunken horny young people" and "Concerts: how MP3 players could disrupt live music by playing every piece consistently without the bother of having to go to a live music venue".
[+] [-] davemc500hats|13 years ago|reply
so just to confirm here -- you really think that's what people like about high-end restaurants? they enjoy unfamiliarity? they enjoy forced interactions? they like to not be able to pay when they want?
if so, please remind me to never put you in charge of customer service or marketing at any of our companies.
seriously: i party down with people at nightclubs and concerts regularly, but waiting in line or getting shitty customer service is never what i equate with the best parts of those experiences.
[+] [-] caffeineninja|13 years ago|reply
The tablets had menu items complete with photos, reviews, and it took about 15 minutes for the food to arrive to your table. Typically the waitstaff would only bring you your drinks and food. The Mountain View location of uWink was open for less than a year.. about 9 months, so you can all guess how well that went. Most restaurants, even terrible ones, managed to stay open for more than that!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UWink
[+] [-] prostoalex|13 years ago|reply
Check out Siam Fine Dining in Palo Alto that runs E La Carte tablets on their tables. Very quiet and refined experience.
[+] [-] jmartens|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] klaut|13 years ago|reply
But i would definitely NOT want the restaurant to have a profile of me.
[+] [-] minimax|13 years ago|reply
This is pretty straightforward. If you're in a huge time crunch, order delivery. I'm not sure what it's like in the bay area, but here in Chicago you can order something from grubhub with very little friction.
[+] [-] ojbyrne|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pshah88|13 years ago|reply
The restaurant industry is just very slow to adapt, generally speaking, because the people that run them have not grown up in the age of technology and are focused on the operations. As more new restaurant owners come, this will change and the opportunities in food tech will grow larger.
Great article Dave.
[+] [-] davemc500hats|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] johnrob|13 years ago|reply
1) Will implementing these features actually increase profit? This was never addressed.
2) Restaurant revenue does not grow exponentially into the sky like many internet businesses do. There are hard limits on growth. Thus the ROI on measurement (A/B testing) won't be nearly as high.
3) Is a digital ordering system (with all the bells and whistles) something that is high on the priority list of a typical restaurant owner? If not, selling these things will be a chore.
[+] [-] ordrin|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davemcclure|13 years ago|reply
2) there's plenty of inefficient market to address... literally hundreds of millions if not billions of customers. certainly millions of restaurant.
3) absolutely. and should be higher on priority, if they only knew how much money they would save / make.
again, we put our money where our mouths are. check out http://elacarte.com if you don't believe me.
[+] [-] nickler|13 years ago|reply
I've sketched out probably every idea Dave has illustrated here, and most of them don't make it far enough to even bust out an MVP. I have the advantage of a massive network of restaurant owners, from high end to QSR (quick service restaurant), and an even bigger network of hospitality staff. They chew on them, and spit them up.
It's not that it's impossible, and paradigm shifts in how the business is done is something I've pursued my whole life, but it takes a tremendous effort, and a retraining of your customers. Friction.
My operations were fine dining, casual wine bars, and nightclub/lounges. Exceptional experiences are the highest pursuit, and every problem DMC has an issue with would never exist in one of our operations. It's just a competent operator, well trained staff, and proper systems.
Some of the QSR chains I've worked with could use some help from tech, but the customer at a QSR is looking for less customer friction, not more.
I'd love to sit down with DMC sometime and give him some insight on where the real opportunities are in the space. He's right, it's a prime target for disruption, but not in the way he's thinking right now.
[+] [-] djt|13 years ago|reply
Being a good operator yourself, this product may not be useful, but could be for someone else?
[+] [-] davemcclure|13 years ago|reply
if it's really the case that none of your staff at all of your nightclubs / restaurants have these issues, them I'll eat my shorts & buy you a beer (either way, I'll buy u a beer in fact ;)
certainly it's been my experience that technology used to improve efficiency may not always be appropriately / perfect, but in MANY use cases where I've had to wait or choose from confusing menus, I can't imagine how it wouldn't help.
however, I'm open to hearing why I'm wrong if you have data to back it up.
[+] [-] archangel_one|13 years ago|reply
Similarly, I'm not sure that providing reviews is obviously a good thing for a restaurateur - they hardly want to show you negative reviews of their dishes, and if they only show the positive ones it's obviously useless. I sort of see what he means about people saying when things suck, but surely if the restaurant knows one of their dishes is crap they'd be better off fixing or removing it than showing it with poor reviews.
[+] [-] tripleseat|13 years ago|reply
2) Electronic Menu's etc-Good idea in theory, does not work (yet) in the real world. #1 and #1A reason restaurants won't do it is because of theft and breakage. To replace an iPad or whatever is too costly (sensing a theme here?)
3) CRM system that knows who you are and what you have ordered have been around forever BUT the Server who has 6 tables (and impatient customers) will not take the time to review it. It is not a problem technology can fix IMO
4) Technology to entertain the customer is called TV and Bartender (Sorry about being snarky)
It has been my experience that a majority of restaurant Owners and Operators will not invest in any technology (outside a POS) unless there is a proven, hard, ROI. These buyers, by their very nature, are pragmatic buyers that measure their money in nickels. Unless your technology widget can show them a fast ROI and make them more money they are going to pass
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] nathan_long|13 years ago|reply
Most restaurants have either 1) a giant PDF or 2) a crazy interactive Flash experience. (Would you like to build an animated pizza? Would you like a Taylor Swift CD with your pizza?)
When I come to a restaurant's site, I want to see this: 1) Location and hours 2) HTML menu with pictures
This could all be on one page.
If there's an online ordering process, it should be fast and remember my favorite choices. That's about it.
[+] [-] angersock|13 years ago|reply
A successful restaurant owner cultivates the ambiance of their venture--from the table layout to the color and texture of napkins, from the lighting to the type of door handles, they likely have an opinion and a firm belief that they are there to curate and create an experience for their patrons.
The problem is that these instincts--typically correct in the physical world!--lead to website design input that goes against the conventions of the virtual world.
Thus, a restaurant website will be needlessly animated, or sing music to you, or do any of those other things that we all dislike in our pages, all with the good intention of providing ambiance.
[+] [-] hackinthebochs|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] richardjordan|13 years ago|reply
The other thought I have with this is that it's typical of a lot of problems startups are tackling right now where the information (menus) is the type of information that needs to be free and everywhere, but the startups' monetization strategies are based on locking in that information in order to lock the customer into paying.
Anecdote signifying nothing: had coffee the other day with someone at a place that served food by having people log in on ipads, choose their item, order, pay then it was ready for them at the counter. I just wanted to look up, see a board with items on it, tell a polite person behind the counter my order and wait with my coffee for food. I didn't order.
[+] [-] kstenerud|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] prostoalex|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] angryasian|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pixl97|13 years ago|reply
Use of a few pictures now could lead customers to buy a higher profit item, or an item that is much easier to keep in stock in large amounts.
Use of pictures for all items means that the customer will likely expect the food to the table looks like the item in the picture. This could cause some issues with different cooks or item substitutions.
[+] [-] djt|13 years ago|reply
A friend runs Menupad. You should check out the demo. Does some cool stuff such as allowing people to get wine recommendations for each dish, organized by the sommelier. That is a big value add for the customer.
Another point is that with health care reforms in the US, wages for waiters will increase, which may tip the balance for restaurants to go the technology option.
[+] [-] CurtMonash|13 years ago|reply
More information about menu items I haven't ordered before would be great. But for me a list of ingredients would be much more important than a picture.
Check-out efficiency would be wonderful. The same expensive tablet that offers that at every table could probably be used for upsell of desserts and after-dinner beverages, both for impulse-purchase reasons and because restaurants struggle to take those orders at the right time just as they struggle to bring you the check exactly when you want it.
An ETA on next-course arrival would be welcome, just as it is for airplanes. That's another good use for an on-table electronic device.
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Anyhow, Dave was calling for a huge redesign in the processes whereby restaurants operate. It's much more reasonable to think of these ideas working at SOME new restaurants than of them working at a large fraction of existing old ones.
[+] [-] harryf|13 years ago|reply
Menus today are simple / easy / quick to produce. If you want restaurants to move this online plus manage a CRM with their loyal customers preferences, it has to be just as simple, easy and quick as "old school" menus.
[+] [-] coditor|13 years ago|reply