I managed a restaurant that had pay at the table capabilities. All the servers had handheld tablets with the capability to scan cards and print receipts. There

I managed a restaurant that had pay at the table capabilities. All the servers had handheld tablets with the capability to scan cards and print receipts. There are also existing systems that allow for the customer to order and pay direct from table with minimal interaction from server (basically the server just brings food/drinks or answers questions). The problem these solutions have not taken off is two-fold. First, as you said the restaurant industry is slow to adopt new technology. Margins are low on most food items so the expenditure on new technology can be a deal breaker. The bigger problem we ran into though was the equipment/software was buggy at times and would often result in longer delays. Also, servers would drop tablets, get them wet, and other non-intentional actions that would break the devices. Oddly, on occasion some customers were skeptical. They were used to the "old" way and when you present them with a machine to scan their card right in front of them they would hesitate as if you were trying to scam them. While we didn't allow customers to do the process themselves, meaning we didn't leave our tablets at the table, I do know some places that do. From what I have heard, it can often lead to customers sitting longer. Once they feel they are in control of the entire ordering/payment process they no longer feel "rushed" by the server and tend to sit/talk longer. This leads to greater delays.