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The casual dining spot has recently introduced tablets in dining rooms nationwide that customers can use to place orders, browse the menu, and entertain otherwise noisy children.

As tablets in restaurants go, Chili's has become a standard bearer. They just announced the introduction of 45,000 Ziosk tablets in 800 locations.

But Chili's is not alone in this push toward automation. Applebee's announced the installation of 100,000 tablets last December

Automation has already started in major chains and fast-food restaurants and will likely continue to evolve to the logical endpoint

it's important to resist alarmist tendencies, because there are positive aspects of smart dining, and the total automation of customer service may not trickle down to neighborhood bistros and independent steakhouses.

Either way, nearly all the solutions (at the very least) allow users to efficiently handle some of the most hated tasks in any restaurant: dealing with reservations, waitlists and bookings.

It's a mistake to think that a waiter's job is primarily to deliver food. This is one of the primary lessons I get across in my customer service training sessions for restaurant waitstaff: that waiting tables is a multifaceted art form that includes providing guests with feelings of recognition, comfort, and anticipation, providing a bit of theater, and, sometimes, serving as couples counselor and family mediator. Getting food to the table is really the least of what’s involved.

And there lies perhaps the biggest danger when you’re considering a move toward installing tableside technology in a restaurant: losing these less obvious, but emotionally crucial, parts of the waiter role. Another danger is that the implementation will be off-brand and off-putting.  There is a 4-ish star steakhouse with locations in several U.S. cities (think: "Morton’s but regional") whose black-clad, iPad-based menu opens on Page One with cheesy Comic Sans electronic discount coupons and two-for-one offers.  Maybe this doesn’t put you off your feed, but it did me, and I doubt that I’m alone. Which means that all the effort the restaurant had put into properly costuming the waiters, gussying up the dining room, sending its sommelier on vineyard junkets, teaching the waiters how crumb down the white tablecloths (and buying all those silver table crumbers) went down the drain with that one, ridiculously off-brand, choice. Folks: Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should do it; before you deploy any tableside technology, make sure that every single part of the deployment fits your brand, or at least fits your brand as you want it to be perceived in the future.

Which brings me to Chili’s Grill and Bar, the ubiquitous casual dining chain. Chili’s, which pretty much defines the mainstream of chain restaurants (and is not a place that self-service couponing – free chips with your loyalty points! – will be off-brand), is quickly becoming a definitive mainstream example as well of tabletop point of sale (POS) technology and mobile self-service restaurant technology.

Uber and Foursquare Co-Founders Lead $15M Investment in Dining App Reserve

Expa, the startup accelerator founded by Uber co-founder Garrett Camp and Foursquare co-founder Naveen Selvadurai, has led a $15 million venture investment in Reserve, a startup that wants to combine reservations and payment into a seamless end-to-end dining experience.

The company, which currently operates in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco, equips merchants with an iPad pre-loaded with the company’s application. Restaurants use the application to accept or decline reservations, and then process the check when a diner who made a reservation with Reserve finishes a meal.

Hotels, conference centers and other meeting venues are increasing group business with new technology, and it isn’t just a hotel app. To invest in the property’s overall capital, hoteliers are creating cool technology tools that market venues, increase group business and enhance the guest experience. Technology is just another way hotels are winning group business and marketing a hotel or conference center. What are some of these new hot tools for leisure and business travelers?

Investment in Hotel Technology Pays Off with Increased Group Revenue Tuesday, July 10, 2012 by Sarah Vining Hotels, conference centers and other meeting venues are increasing group business with new technology, and it isn’t just a hotel app. To invest in the property’s overall capital, hoteliers are creating cool technology tools that market venues, increase group business and enhance the guest experience. Technology is just another way hotels are winning group business and marketing a hotel or conference center. What are some of these new hot tools for leisure and business travelers? Virtual concierge service on guest room TVs At Hyatt Hotels with in-room HD TVs by Roomlinx Inc., guests are able make service requests, check email/weather, use the Business Center, print documents, and receive customized messages from meeting planners. Service requests like housekeeping and in-room dining are instantly sent through the system, improving the venue’s departmental efficiency. All of these virtual functions are hoped to appeal to new markets and drive group business. More efficient billing In the article, “Insert IACC blog post title URL” we learn that in 2012, meeting and group planners are prioritizing finance as very important during in their planning process (which made the top 10 list for the first time). Hotels making large investments in revenue management systems are taking advantage of new features that automate and process data to improve efficiency and increase revenue for properties. Virtual business centers Socialization through technology and food and beverage outlets is increasing revenue for TRYP by Wyndham in the NYC Times Square South property. Google TVs and access to Google Chrome laptops near the Gastro Bar in the hotel’s lobby offers guests an opportunity to enjoy a dining experience with the comfort of complimentary technology use. On-staff IT team When planners were surveyed, reliability was listed as a top concern of IT services in the white paper “What Do Planners and Trainers Really Want in Their Meeting Service?” All IACC-certified conference centers are required to have an on-site IT team to ensure technology functions properly. Now, the need for a knowledgeable IT team that really understands technology and can cater to individuals and group business is spreading to other hotel markets.   These impressive technology tools improve the guest experience and lead to a quick return on investment, especially in F&B. As we move beyond the discussion of required hotel Wi-Fi services, there will be a focus on technology amenities that provide the same comforts of home or the office. To increase group business, hoteliers are comfortable with this investment knowing there’s a return on investment with generated buzz/venue marketing and satisfied guests. Want to learn about other ways hotels are using technology to build relationships? Check out Enhancing Your Social Networking Site with a Social Concierge! to maximize social media and connect with guests, attendees and planners!

Dining establishments have begun exploring technological solutions at every stage of the dining experience in order to make eating out cheaper, easier, and faster.

technology is able to streamline the seating process. Computers can calculate wait times efficiently and allow hosts to easily keep track of seats that are available.

Digital menu displays allow restaurants flexibility in presenting dining options to their patrons. Computerized menus can be changed throughout the day to reflect specials or items that have run out and offer a cost effective option for restaurants.

Tablets don't offer that personal touch; they do help servers truly focus on customer service

resulting in increased guest satisfaction, more efficient staff, and growing revenues.

They have a deep-seated expectation of being greeted and attended to throughout the meal. This will continue to hold true, even when a tablet is on the table.

tabletops at numerous restaurants, from fast-casual burger chains to pillars of the casual-dining sector like Olive Garden and Chili’s.

Putting tablets on tables is intended to speed up service by enabling diners to perform various tasks such as ordering food or paying their check without having to wait for their server to appear. I

restaurants to turn tables more quickly and serve more guests

Biometric technology

offers enhanced health and safety

personalizes the dining experience, offers a more efficient bill payment system, and increases patron loyalty

even in high-end restaurants, speeding up the service gives an impression of better service

“It’s always been important at the mid-scale, fast-casual places, but traditionally people wanted to sit down for a long time at higher end places,” he said, “and they don’t anymore.”

focusing on driving as many sales as possible versus providing the best possible experience for dine-in customers.

Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver

legendary service meets uncompromising environmental standards

Five Green Key rating - the highest possible rating for hotels

Gipsee’s newest offering eliminates the need for restaurants to produce multiple allergy-specific menus and, replaces them with an ‘on-demand’ capability based on dynamic user requests.

allows restaurant staff to select and enter food allergies or ingredient restrictions that a customer may have into the Gipsee software, in order to instantly produce customized menu choices for the customer.

Ingredient identification is a large part of the process

A growing number of restaurant chains are turning to guest-facing technology to address such pressures. Casual-dining chains, such as Chili’s and Applebee’s, are rolling out the use of tabletop tablets for ordering and paying in their restaurants this year, for example. And BJ’s Restaurants Inc. revealed this week that guests will soon be able to order and pay using their own smart phones and other devices.

O’Cull estimates that a mid-scale casual-dining chain that produces $2.5 million in sales could save 100 to 200 basis points in labor costs, or roughly 1 percent to 2 percent, by offering technology that will allow guests to order and pay.

“We estimate that the restaurant could eliminate 30 percent to 40 percent of its total server hours and reduce labor costs by 100-200 basis points,” he wrote. “Obviously, the number of servers employed would fall, but the take-home pay of remaining servers would increase significantly.”

with the right POS system it is possible for any type of dining establishment to offer the convenience of online ordering and takeout orders to their patrons

keeping orders straight and ensuring that prices are handled accurately.

Not only does this make things easier for your staff, but it also sets the stage for improved customer service

ome restaurants are already moving towards replacing menus with either M-POS tablets or fixed kiosks at tables which customers can use to

ome restaurants are already moving towards replacing menus with either M-POS tablets or fixed kiosks at tables which customers can use to

ome restaurants are already moving towards replacing menus with either M-POS tablets or fixed kiosks at tables which customers can use to

At the moment, about 20% of diners are using a pre-order option, according to a study from BRP and Windstream Enterprise. But mobile pre-ordering is used by about 32% of millennials, the study found. "They are less likely than older generations to dine out and more inclined to order their food for off-site consumption,"

Pre-ordering can save money, since many delivery apps charge a fee to bring food to your door. There's often a service charge, too, and the diner is generally expected to tip on top of those costs.

Plus, delivery times can be unpredictable, and food may not be in optimum shape once it arrives.

How to Combat Theft in Your Restaurant

Employee theft and customer theft in restaurants can become a massive problem if left unchecked.

From colluding bartenders and cocktail servers to theft tactics as complex as Ponzi schemes, restaurant theft can occur in a million ways. 

The growth of order and payment technology is nothing short of a revolution

revolution has been brewing for years, the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated it.

restaurants can prepare for the increasingly contactless and cashless era