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"It puts the guest in constant contact with the server," James Whyte, general manager of an Orange City Applebee's, tells the Orlando Sentinel.
The system, designed by ESP Digital Media, based in Charlotte, N.C., was first installed two years ago in Tampa Applebee's franchises owned by Casual Restaurant Concepts, Inc. It is being piloted in other markets, the paper said.
Casual Restaurant Concepts, based in Tampa, owns Applebee's franchises across Central Florida. The company didn't respond to Slashfood's request for comment.
The tabletop systems allows staff to communicate and also lets customers to fill out surveys which managers can respond to immediately, the Sentinel said.
The system is activated when a host seats a table and swipes a watch against the small black box. A server is notified by vibrating watch and has 60 seconds to arrive at the table or a manager is alerted. Managers are also informed when customers press the button several times.
Click here to see what Slashfood's waitress thinks of the computer.
"The idea that we don't have to wait, we don't have to flag somebody down, that's awesome," Orange City, Fla., Applebee's customer Jan Higgins told the paper.
Server Cari Beauvais told the newspaper customers used the system more when it was introduced than they do now. "It was a new toy."
Applebee's corporate office, in Lenexa, Kan., did not respond to Slashfood's inquiry on whether the system would be making an appearance in restaurants nationwide.
Have you tried this new waitress computer? What was it like? Let us know in the comments below.
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12-16-2009 @1:40AM hi all said... Good grief now we have an idiot box that beckons a waiter for help rather than the waiter/ess being vigilant of his or her customers? Makes me want to cook at home all the better.
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12-16-2009 @3:23AM E. M. Barnes said... OUR LOCAL APPLEBEE'S CLOSED DUE TO POOR FOOR PREPARATION. I USED TO LOVE GOING TO THE LOCAL RESTAURANT UNTIL THEY WENT, DRAMATICALLY DOWN HILL. I EAT OUR OFTEN 4-5 TIMES A WEEK AND EXPECT A POOR MEAL ONCE-IN=A-WHILE, BUT THIS PLACE WAS SO BAD...... PROBABLE ONE OF THE WORST MEALS IN MY LIFE TIME AND I', 68.
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12-16-2009 @2:41AM Bonda said... I've used this system when I lived in Japan and it worked really well. It is really convenient for those times when you just want to be left alone. I like the old fashioned way better, but that's just me. The only issue with it is when people don't understand how to use it.
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12-16-2009 @4:45AM CAP said... Due to my Achalasia, I hate eating in public. Look it up if you need.
As embarrassed as I sometimes get while trying to eat like normal in restaurants, I think the idea that I can then keep my hand out of the air and instead down on a button to get my bill would be great! Except for the fact that I would feel like a real d-bag for treating the waiter/waitress like they're my slave.
The wait staff already (commonly)make less than minimum wage, relying on their tips to make the difference. When you can't control customers, you cannot control how much of a tip, if any, they will actually leave.
Now we want to make the wait staff run back and forth all over the restaurant stressed out trying to make time limits before the boss finds out they're too late one too many times?
If this catches on to too many other restaurants, I'll be eating at home for good. I don't want to be in a place that might have an employee snap.
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12-16-2009 @5:16AM greeneyrddancer1 said... They stole the idea from Red Robin
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12-16-2009 @2:10PM Eric Tsuei said... I wonder how the waiters and waitress' are going to take it. hehe
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