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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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Bon appetit - iPads, apps replace menus
By Caryn Rousseau |
January 12, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE bar is buzzing on a busy night at Chicago Cut steak house as regulars Keith and Peg Bragg sit at a high table scanning the wine list.
Within seconds, they have all bottles under US$40 at their fingertips using an iPad supplied by their server.
"You can very quickly look through to see the price per bottle," says Keith, a finance executive, as he scrolls through rows of selections. "You can read the wine tasting note, how long it has been aged."
The upscale eatery on the northern bank of the Chicago River has invested in 40 iPads at about US$700 each for wine selection. Since April, when Apple debuted the tablet, the device is now in use as a full menu at upscale restaurants, hamburger eateries and quick-service chains like Au Bon Pain. Restaurateurs said that's just the beginning.
Chicago Cut partnered with a technology firm to create a custom app that looks like a virtual wine cellar. It lists the restaurant's more than 750 wines, includes photos of bottles on wooden shelves and allows for searches based on variety, price or region of origin. Diners can also access information about a wine's taste, composition and a Google map of the vineyard.
"Eventually the bottle is going to spin around and you can read the back label," says Chicago Cut managing partner Matt Moore. In the future, programmers could add video or let customers e-mail themselves the name of a new favorite wine.
Moore's partner, David Flom, says the iPads were a large investment, but they're showing returns.
"I've already seen an increase of wine per customer of 20 percent," Flom says. "I can't say that the iPad commanded 100 percent, but I can say it commanded a significant portion of that."
Technology is becoming increasingly important to restaurants and tabletop ordering devices only stand to multiply, says Darren Tristano, executive vice president at the Chicago-based restaurant consulting firm Technomic.
"It's cool and trendy and kids love it," he says. "It paves the way for other apps opportunities."
Au Bon Pain uses iPads at six of its 220 locations, with plans to expand. Ed Frechette, the vice president of marketing in Boston, says diners usually fill out pieces of paper with their orders, but iPads have simplified the process.
"One of our employees has an iPad with a menu loaded in it and they'll take your order," Frechette says. "You still see a menu board with all the information on it. We have handheld laminated menus for a reference, but all the paper pads are gone."
At 4Food in New York, where diners can build and name their own burgers, iPads are at eight kiosks with plans for as many as 30 devices, including Android and Blackberry platforms. Customers order and enter credit card information into the iPad to pay. Managing partner Adam Kidron said ordering food electronically will eventually be the norm.
"You've just got to imagine that this is something that won't just be considered to be a discretionary behavior," Kidron says. "It will be a necessary behavior."
Chief executive Patrick Eldon, whose orderTALK Inc helps set up online ordering for restaurants, says the real value of using iPads is to develop customer relationships. Digital surveys, collecting customer e-mails and offering frequent diner programs are all possible with the tablets, he said.
"It's about getting to know your customer in a way that you can't get to know them from the waiter or waitress," Eldon says. "You now have incredibly valuable data about customers, how often they eat, what a certain customer orders."
The tablets are arriving on the travel circuit, too. OTG Management has installed more than 200 iPads loaded with menus at gates in New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, allowing travelers to order salads and sandwiches while they wait for flights. A waiter brings the food and diners can pay via the iPad or in cash to the server.
"I think eventually a significant number of restaurants will just use iPads for their menus," says OTG chief executive officer Rick Blatstein. "We're starting out using hundreds of them and I expect it to be thousands in the future."
Celebrity Cruises has 75 iPads loaded with restaurant menus aboard one of its ships. Restaurants do face a few challenges. Tristano points out that restaurant owners must consider how to keep the tablets juiced up, prevent theft and cater for those who still like paper menus.
Within seconds, they have all bottles under US$40 at their fingertips using an iPad supplied by their server.
"You can very quickly look through to see the price per bottle," says Keith, a finance executive, as he scrolls through rows of selections. "You can read the wine tasting note, how long it has been aged."
The upscale eatery on the northern bank of the Chicago River has invested in 40 iPads at about US$700 each for wine selection. Since April, when Apple debuted the tablet, the device is now in use as a full menu at upscale restaurants, hamburger eateries and quick-service chains like Au Bon Pain. Restaurateurs said that's just the beginning.
Chicago Cut partnered with a technology firm to create a custom app that looks like a virtual wine cellar. It lists the restaurant's more than 750 wines, includes photos of bottles on wooden shelves and allows for searches based on variety, price or region of origin. Diners can also access information about a wine's taste, composition and a Google map of the vineyard.
"Eventually the bottle is going to spin around and you can read the back label," says Chicago Cut managing partner Matt Moore. In the future, programmers could add video or let customers e-mail themselves the name of a new favorite wine.
Moore's partner, David Flom, says the iPads were a large investment, but they're showing returns.
"I've already seen an increase of wine per customer of 20 percent," Flom says. "I can't say that the iPad commanded 100 percent, but I can say it commanded a significant portion of that."
Technology is becoming increasingly important to restaurants and tabletop ordering devices only stand to multiply, says Darren Tristano, executive vice president at the Chicago-based restaurant consulting firm Technomic.
"It's cool and trendy and kids love it," he says. "It paves the way for other apps opportunities."
Au Bon Pain uses iPads at six of its 220 locations, with plans to expand. Ed Frechette, the vice president of marketing in Boston, says diners usually fill out pieces of paper with their orders, but iPads have simplified the process.
"One of our employees has an iPad with a menu loaded in it and they'll take your order," Frechette says. "You still see a menu board with all the information on it. We have handheld laminated menus for a reference, but all the paper pads are gone."
At 4Food in New York, where diners can build and name their own burgers, iPads are at eight kiosks with plans for as many as 30 devices, including Android and Blackberry platforms. Customers order and enter credit card information into the iPad to pay. Managing partner Adam Kidron said ordering food electronically will eventually be the norm.
"You've just got to imagine that this is something that won't just be considered to be a discretionary behavior," Kidron says. "It will be a necessary behavior."
Chief executive Patrick Eldon, whose orderTALK Inc helps set up online ordering for restaurants, says the real value of using iPads is to develop customer relationships. Digital surveys, collecting customer e-mails and offering frequent diner programs are all possible with the tablets, he said.
"It's about getting to know your customer in a way that you can't get to know them from the waiter or waitress," Eldon says. "You now have incredibly valuable data about customers, how often they eat, what a certain customer orders."
The tablets are arriving on the travel circuit, too. OTG Management has installed more than 200 iPads loaded with menus at gates in New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, allowing travelers to order salads and sandwiches while they wait for flights. A waiter brings the food and diners can pay via the iPad or in cash to the server.
"I think eventually a significant number of restaurants will just use iPads for their menus," says OTG chief executive officer Rick Blatstein. "We're starting out using hundreds of them and I expect it to be thousands in the future."
Celebrity Cruises has 75 iPads loaded with restaurant menus aboard one of its ships. Restaurants do face a few challenges. Tristano points out that restaurant owners must consider how to keep the tablets juiced up, prevent theft and cater for those who still like paper menus.
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