Your Next Waiter Will Be a Robot
The table-side chef at the local yakitori joint slices and dices. The chef’s a show-off, but not human. Your food is being prepared by a robot.
It’s not science fiction. The high-tech restaurant wars are here. In part, this is a natural reflection of the habits and tastes of younger diners. Armed with smartphones, they photograph every dish and share what they’re eating with friends. While waiting for the waiter to show up, they play games, text, and otherwise amuse themselves with tech. Most importantly, Millennial diners seek out adventurous food experiences — half of Millennials in a recent survey said they are “foodies.” They seek out the theater of dining, rather than the traditional aspects of service. They want choice, involvement, and fun.
Reinventing the restaurant
And they’re OK with giving up the old ways of dining. In the pungent words of tech investor Dave McClure: “Menus suck. We need less items, more pictures, and [just] a few recommendations. Menus should be online …everyone eats, everyone is online; what the hell are we waiting for?”
Coming soon to a table near you? (Ziosk)
The wait is ending. Already, dozens of restaurants and chains are replacing traditional menus with at-table tablets. The tablets can show pictures, even videos, of every available dish. They can include reviews. And, beyond food, they bring games, YouTube videos, and other amusements for diners waiting on their eats.
What’s missing? Waiters to take your order. Want something? Touch the screen, and a server brings it over. One restaurant in Japan has even dispensed with servers. Order sushi from your touchscreen, and it whizzes to you by high-speed conveyor; slip each plate in a table-side slot when done, and your charges are figured automatically. The system encourages diners to keep eating: Every fifth plate kicks off a game onscreen with prizes and discounts you can win.
Tablets and smartphones are also transforming the end-of-meal payment experience. Apps like Elacarte and Ziosk let diners pay directly from smartphones. Some, like Cover, automatically divvy up the check by who ate what. And, because these apps know you and link to your social stream, they can offer special deals, points, and other benefits every time you dine out.
Have a seat
Before you can order, or pay, you have to get a table. And that, as we all know, is a huge pain. Reservations are impossible to get at any great place. You have to plan weeks or months ahead — or, worse, talk on the phone with snooty reservationistas. The lines for top-flight brunch joints can look like Ellis Island.
Custom sushi by conveyor belt. (BBC)
Maybe not for long. Efficient market economics are coming to restaurant reservations. Money replaces wait time. Want a table at Le Snoot Grande at 8 p.m. on a Saturday? No worries. That reservation is $50. Friday night? $35. Tuesday? Come on over. It’s the same idea that drives airline ticket prices, Uber rates, or the prices of Super Bowl tickets. Supply and demand duke it out in the market; the table goes to whoever values it most. A few fine restaurants like Philadelphia’s Volvér now sell variably priced tickets to diners rather than traditional reservations. Apps like Resy hope to lead a new wave of variable prepaid dining.
Even chefs are getting into this fast-moving market. San Francisco startup Chefs Feed lets chefs and diners interact with their fans, much as top musicians long have with theirs. Want to know what Mario has for a special tonight? He’s happy to let you know and maybe open up that singular in-kitchen table for a prime diner like you. And, rather than just send you home with muffins for the morning, he’ll happily sell you all the ingredients and his cookbook, so you can make your favorite dish.
Dining out is moving beyond the traditional restaurant, too. Kitchensurfing will bring the chef to your house, blending the notion of dinner party and supper club. Dinner Lab is creating the ultimate in pop-up dining. Subscribe to the club and get invites to up to 80 events at unexpected locales in your city where rising chefs will cook for you and ask your input on their food. These chefs are not only cooking for you, by the way, but also competing in a nationwide campaign to get their own restaurants funded, based on how diners like you rate them. It’s American Idol with knives.
A robot’s place is in the kitchen
And what about that robo-chef? Early examples exist in the United States already. Panera Bread, Applebee’s, and Chili’s have experimented with automated prep and cyber-serving.
And then there’s Chef Cui. He’s Chinese and can julienne like a rock star. He’s the vanguard for a new generation of highly efficient Chinese prep cooks. He’s been on the job for two years now. And, yep, he’s a robot.
Mike Edelhart is the lead partner for the Social Starts investment fund and CEO of the Pivot Conference in New York. Mike was Executive Editor of PC Magazine, Editor of PC Week and head of the ZD testing laboratory. He has written more than 25 books on topics ranging from microprocessors to a social history of Virginia. Social Starts does not have investment in any of the companies mentioned in this article.
