I read over on Stuff 4 Restaurants that a new restaurant in Nuremberg, Germany is claiming to be the first waiter-less restaurant in the world. You place your order by touch screen and it descends on rails from the kitchen above along the steel tubes direct to your table. You pay via a credit card reader attached to the touch screen.
It doesn’t stop there however, the entire restaurant is networked. Customers’ orders are transmitted to the kitchen and a computer in the cellar keeps track of supply stocks. The system also calculates the likely delivery times for drinks and meals at every table and keeps customers informed.
Michael Mack the entrepreneur behind the new business idea claims that:
Billions of euros in personnel costs could be saved using this system.
The cost saving comes from not having to pay for waiters. Mack believes it’s a great idea and has patented his system. I’m not so sure it’ll be a long term success however, or three reasons:
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We all ask waiters questions, “What’s in the …”, “Are the ingredients local?”, or just “Can we have some ketchup please?” - who are we going to ask now? Will we still order if we can’t get an answer?
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The highest profit items on a restaurant’s menu are generally the drinks and deserts and in most cases it’s a good waiter who will spot when you want more drinks or will sell you on that desert you didn’t really plan to have.
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I know of one restaurant that gets good custom because the waitresses are friendly and attractive.
So I think it’s a false economy as waiters and waitresses provide opportunities for your business to develop a relationship with your customers and use that relationship to sell them more.
This blog is about business opportunities and ideas that I spot, think of or hear about and think are useful and interesting. It is intended to provide ideas and inspriation for you to help you find the right business idea for you to then grow it into a successful business.
It all sounds like something that may have sounded great in the accountants office, and it certainly takes all the fun out of thinking of trite responses to “Do you want fries with that?”
Personally, I would prefer to pay more for a real experience… I wonder if the food is prepared in a foreign call center.
It’d be interesting to see how it’s doing in a couple of years time…
It would work better if the system was sold onto restaurants who want this sort of thing. The waiter would still be required for reasons stated in the blog, but designated areas could be put into place where only this system is in use. That way, restaurants could provide the best of both worlds. Also, not all customers are pleasant to waiters, so it might be good all round if they spoke to a machine instead.