Ziosk (in restaurants)

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Does anyone else out there like me utterly hate the way a lot of restaurants are trying to automate dining and shamelessly pad profits with these things? I realize the restaurant biz is tough but if you're that desperate to push $10 drinks, $12 appetizers, deserts and other needless junk (games, music, videos, etc.) and simultaneously put people (who aren't paid squat anyway) out of work maybe they ought not be in business at all. I don't see having a few less restaurants in the world as a particularly bad thing - it's an oversaturated market just about everywhere.

Sorry for the rant bit I'm really pretty put off by these things and how certain restaurant chains seem to be forcing their wait staffs to push their replacements on customers. For one I kind of like the conventional model with an actual server that I think I'm helping out if they do a good job by tipping well.

[biosurfer1]

I just ate at a place in Wailea that had these, first time for me. Annoying to have it take up table space. This was an upscale restaurant too, I just don't see the point. If they have good service, these tablet things should not be necessary.

Anything to save some labor costs I guess

[scottmandue]

Sorry about that...

I think there are a lot of people like you and me who actually enjoy human interaction and will not be drawn to these things.

Then again there is the modern cellphone-zombie crowd who will probably think this is totally kwel.

Obviously this will never catch on in high end restaurants where service is at a premium. (well then, biosurfer just proved me wrong! Laid back Hawaii is the last place I would expect to find these things!)

[stomachmonkey]

Sorry

I actually developed that concept for the fast food industry about 14 years ago. True story.

I had gone into a fast food joint with the family while on a road trip.

We did the typical thing where I sent the family to get a table before they were all gone then stood in line for 15 minutes, promptly forgot what they wanted and proceeded to have them yell their order across the dining hall. I was not the only one doing the same.

It hit me that if there were a touch screen at the table we could have gone in, ordered at the table, swiped a card and paid then let the kids play a game while the food was prepared. When the order was ready we went to a side window and picked it up.

Ran it up the flagpole at work the next week. We did some preliminary studies. Was not really cost effective to do at the time and not really our core business so we shelved it.

4 years ago of friend of mine who lives in the next subdivision had gotten laid off from Nokia, he designs mobile operating systems, and wanted to get into gaming. He came to me for advice and I set him up with develop kits for Android and iOS. To pay the bills he took a job at a company that designs and sells casino slot machines.

He left there a year and a half ago to work at Ziosk.

I'll let him know what you guys think about his companies product.

But please try to use it, he's got a great family, they are wonderful people and I'd like to see him keep his job.

[JavaBrewer]

Depending on the type of restaurant experience folks are expecting these could come in handy. Would have to rethink the entire tip % though - leave something for the folks who bring the food and clear.

In Japan I have eaten at places where you consult a coupon dispensing machine for the meal you want. Insert your Yen, get a ticket, hand ticket to counter person, they go get your food. Very efficient and very sterile.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Sorry

I actually developed that concept for the fast food industry about 14 years ago. True story.

I had gone into a fast food joint with the family while on a road trip.

We did the typical thing where I sent the family to get a table before they were all gone then stood in line for 15 minutes, promptly forgot what they wanted and proceeded to have them yell their order across the dining hall. I was not the only one doing the same.

It hit me that if there were a touch screen at the table we could have gone in, ordered at the table, swiped a card and paid then let the kids play a game while the food was prepared. When the order was ready we went to a side window and picked it up.

Ran it up the flagpole at work the next week. We did some preliminary studies. Was not really cost effective to do at the time and not really our core business so we shelved it.

4 years ago of friend of mine who lives in the next subdivision had gotten laid off from Nokia, he designs mobile operating systems, and wanted to get into gaming. He came to me for advice and I set him up with develop kits for Android and iOS. To pay the bills he took a job at a company that designs and sells casino slot machines.

He left there a year and a half ago to work at Ziosk.

I'll let him know what you guys think about his companies product.

But please try to use it, he's got a great family, they are wonderful people and I'd like to see him keep his job.

For fast food it totally rocks (and makes sense)... I have walked out of many a FF joint after walking in and seeing ten or twelve people in line...

Just saying some days I want to sit at the bar and chat with the locals and bartender (not happening much since I got married).

About twenty years ago I was sitting around drinking beers with my computer geek friends, I came up with this idea "why don't we create a website where people can backup their files?"
"Scott, you and idiot.. no one would trust their data on the internet!"

[Lusso1]

Why is this needed at all? You'd think an eatery could simply monitor your brain waves to find out what you want.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

For fast food it totally rocks (and makes sense)... I have walked out of many a FF joint after walking in and seeing ten or twelve people in line...

Just saying some days I want to sit at the bar and chat with the locals and bartender (not happening much since I got married).

About twenty years ago I was sitting around drinking beers with my computer geek friends, I came up with this idea "why don't we create a website where people can backup their files?"
"Scott, you and idiot.. no one would trust their data on the internet!"

Around the same time I designed a digital jukebox for the bar industry.

The basic idea was you had a small dedicated Touchscreen PC in a bar. It had a hard drive and a broadband connection. A customer could pick songs preloaded on the hard drive and for a premium they could pick from a huge library of songs stored on a central server.

Payment was to be in the form of a swipe card sold by the establishment. You sell the bar a box of cards with preloaded credits, 1 song, 5 songs, 10 songs, etc...

Bar owner could charge whatever he wanted for the cards, that's how he got his cut.

Consumer could decide whether to use all the credits in one shot or how many he wanted per swipe. If he did not use them all he could use it next time he came back or at any other location with the system installed.

That one was feasible, what killed it was it was around the time that Napster broke. You could not even mention the word streaming or mp3 to a record company exec without taking a beating.

Then there was the other minor issue of the gentlemen with the bent noses and cauliflower ears with names like Vinny The Brick and Frankie The Hat who tended to have a strong influence in that industry.

[JavaBrewer]

A bad implementation of the ziosk concept is where the units are clustered in a designated ordering area. Saw this first hand at a burger place in California Adventure park next to the Soaring California ride. Lines were immense as folks struggled to figure out how to order their food and drinks. Most of the restaurant staff appeared to be waiting for an order to come across.

[legion]

Saw them at the Chili's here in town six months ago. They take up too much table space and make me wonder what the hell I'm tipping for. I haven't been back.

[KFC911]

I've only seen them on commercials for a gas station/eatery that's populated like bunny rabbits around here. I buy my gas there since it's convenient and cheaper, but I've never even been inside. I don't care how good the food is (not likely)...I'm just not gonna eat at a place called Sheetz

[Joe Bob]

Chili's has them, they suck.

[porsche4life]

Chilis sucked before the ziosk.

[imcarthur]

An interesting read: That Tablet on the Restaurant Table Will Make You Spend More

Ian

[Joe Bob]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

Chilis sucked before the ziosk.

Been to worse......good happy hour and pliable Betties......better than Hooters.

[widebody911]

I hadn't heard of them before, so I did some reading. Sounds like a dumb idea that won't scale well, whose underlying purpose is to eliminate wait staff. If you want to go down this road, why not just bring back the automat?

I don't think it will scale well because someone still has to cook the food, schlep it to the table, and answer questions.

And the idea of customers paying for 'premium' services like games to keep the kids entertained is stupid as well. 99.9% of the time when I've been out I've seen the brats with their own phones/tablets/game devices; who needs/wants to pay extra for that?

[dafischer]

Well, there's another "technological marvel" I won't be using, since I won't dine in a place that uses them. I prefer human interaction with the wait staff.

[Gogar]

I never thought I could have one more reason to be off Applebee's and Chilis, but this will help.

[KevinTodd]

Every business of every type has a plan in place to sell (and make you buy) more.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I never thought I could have one more reason to be off Applebee's and Chilis, but this will help.

Amen. Maybe I've never seen one because I try to avoid crappy chain restaurants?

Btw, my little monsters all bring their own device for entertainment when we eat out (rarely). So the gaming feature is worth jack to me.