March 28th, 2006
High-tech meets the restaurant industry
By Chief Gadgeteer, Gizmos for Geeks
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews.
Restaurants are using more gadgets as well as the Internet to help them retain and satisfy their customers. Quite a number of restaurants are using handheld devices that contain wine lists wiith applications that customers can use to choose the best wine for their meal and price range. You can find waiters/waitresses at Denny’s in Tokyo taking orders using a Palm-like handheld. In fact, there’s a company in Columbia, MD that makes such a device and have been since, get this, 1992! Apparently, over 200 restaurants use the latest version of the device, named the Mobile Micro. OpenTable.com is a site that I ran across many years ago, and which I thought never caught it, but apparently it did, at least with the more upscale restaurants. OpenTable allows you to make reservations as well as remember your dining preferences. These preferences are also seen by the restaurants themselves, which allows them to customize the experience for you, without having to rely on a waiter or maitre d’s memory.
Source: Gizmos for Geeks.
Snopesman says:
OpenTable is awesome. I live in the Boston area and it’s not only the upscale places you can get into. There are a lot of places on there where you can get out with dinner for 2 for $50-60, including drinks and tip. The coolest part is that you have a reservation, so you show up on time, then get seated quick. Sure, you might be able to hit up a place that’s a little cheaper, but often these places won’t take reservations for groups of 2 (which IMHO is an insult), or you have to wait around 2+ hours on a busy night and end up spending the difference in drinks. With the kids with the sitter, time is money so I’d rather get eating quicker so I can catch a movie with the wife, not wait around for a table.
March 28th, 2006 at 6:06 am
Stephen says:
Doesn’t the OpenTable app give the restaraunts the ability to also put in comments about the diners so they know in advnace if you’re going to be a pain in the ass or a cheap tipper. I thought I saw something about this on TV last year.
March 28th, 2006 at 8:49 am
Snopesman says:
I don’t know. I guess for the truly paranoid you could create a new account for each reservation. But I endeavor to not be a pain in the ass or a cheap tipper, so I hope there’s nothing in my record!
March 28th, 2006 at 11:44 am
Computerworld Blogs says:
eBay’s IP gripe, Google’s gaffe (and Hackman defense)
Duck! Here comes IT Blogwatch, in which eBay gets a patent lawsuit, and we giggle at Google’s misfortune. Not to mention Gene Hackman as you’ve never seen him before…
March 29th, 2006 at 5:22 am
Adrian says:
i live in a town in western Romania and in a local cafe/restaurant where my friends and I usually go to, waiters that take orders using PDA’s (via a wifi network).
March 29th, 2006 at 5:25 am