Customers at some restaurants aren’t greeted by a waiter.
Nor do they step up to a counter like in a fast-food restaurant.
Instead, each table is equipped with an iPad, from which customers can order their food with no human intervention, no contact with a staff member whatsoever.
Waiters
just confirm orders with customers, bring the food from the kitchen when
it’s ready, and are available to accept payment and help customers who
need it. But customers can enter and leave the eatery with little
interaction with a human being.
If this technology is widely adopted, it has the potential to
drastically cut labor costs at many restaurants, and put many waiters
out of work.
BUT, if as a restaurant you opt for that technoclogy, I predict that you will be out of business very fast as well, because when you have been in the restaurant industry for as long as I have, you understand that it's all about customer service.
The iPad is not going to come around and see if everything is OK and if a customer likes your meal. It is not going to have a meaningful conversation with a customer and build a relationship to create customer loyalty. The iPad is as cold as marble, and in business or sales people do business with who they like the most.
You go to a restaurant for the food the first time, and you go for the service the second time.
Andre Plessis
AP Consulting
Hospitality/Restaurant Consulting
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