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Nolan Bushnell, the former founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, launched a restaurant chain in 2000 called uWink where you ordered via an app using a tablet at

by evgen 5y ago

Nolan Bushnell, the former founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, launched a restaurant chain in 2000 called uWink where you ordered via an app using a tablet at the table and there were only 'expediters' instead of humans with whom you would interact. There was one in Mountain View around 2007 or 2008 at the corner of Castro and California (replacing one of the original Tung Kee Noodle locations.) It did not last long.

blakesterz 5y ago
https://www.mercurynews.com/2009/04/22/nolan-bushnells-high-tech-uwink-restaurant-closes-in-mountain-view/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2009/04/22/nolan-bushnells-high-... Doesn't seem like it made much of a splash.
rightbyte 5y ago
McDonalds type of serving works for higher end too. My experience with 'apps' for ordering on the otherhand has been terrible. Many unnessecary user hostile steps to uppsell stuff to you.
- rsj_hn 5y ago
  Exactly. This is a situation similar to PEVs, where the technology is mature enough to make things work for a decent sized chunk of the market, but what it lacks is investment by someone with the necessary vision to see the benefits of apps rather than someone who is approaching the problem from a purely cost cutting/revenue maximization point of view. For example, why I do need to wait until a waiter notices me, then have them bring me a bill and dissapear, then wait for them to come back to collect the bill, then wait for them to come back and bring me a receipt? That is often a 30 minute wait when you are just trying to pay and get on with your day. Why can't I swipe my phone, have some RFID tech embedded into the table present a bill, I pay and then leave. That is a 10 second process instead of a 30 minute process. And you can still have humans around to make sure things are going smoothly and to resolve issues, but there are many portions of the dining experience which would benefit from apps instead of waiters. Think -- why are you handing a stranger your credit card? Why can't you order ahead? If you know what you want, why can't you order right when you sit down? Why can't your phone buzz you to tell you your table is ready. Think of all the information the phone can provide about the menu items -- not only pictures of the meal, but nutritional information, which farm an item was obtained from. Possible substitutions. All the stuff that you have to deal with the waiter to find out. Why do you need to wait for a waiter to come by and tell you this information? Why do you have to wait to hear the specials instead of looking them up? Or cost of market-priced items. There are whole worlds of added value that apps can bring to the dining experience that would simplify life for both waiters and customers. And all of this can be integrated into reservation/review systems for a tech stack that can provide all the info about a meal, handle meal ordering and billing, handle reservations and seating, and aggregate reviews. And the staff can still be there to greet you, to bring you your food, and to resolve any problems you may have. They just don't need to wait on you, constantly polling to see if there is something you need. The moment someone with vision approaches the problem as something to add value to the customer and give them a better overall experience is the moment app-based dining takes off.
  - livueta 5y ago
    I'm poorly placed to describe it in detail, having only ever been an observer on a handful of occasions, but much of what you're describing exists today in not-even-particularly-fancy restaurants in Shanghai (and presumably elsewhere), enabled by QR codes and wechat voodoo. Think "scan code on menu to order/pay". It seemed like a very efficient system, and I'm sure you're right that the concept will take off outside China when someone builds a sufficiently it-just-werks solution (that hopefully isn't plugged into a massive method of social control). It's just too powerful of an idea space to go ignored forever.
  - rightbyte 5y ago
    Ye the waiting to pay is especially tideous since it is pointless. It is ofent a problem of understaffed though. With McDonald's type system you can see the queue and go somewhere else so it wins there too. Vapiano is a German chain that is quite nice and do over the desk orders. They hand out beeper for pizzas which is good for longer wait meals. I would wish waiters just were a thing for high end restaurant that can afford to be properly staffed.

by evgen 5y ago

blakesterz 5y ago

https://www.mercurynews.com/2009/04/22/nolan-bushnells-high-tech-uwink-restaurant-closes-in-mountain-view/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2009/04/22/nolan-bushnells-high-... Doesn't seem like it made much of a splash.

rightbyte 5y ago

McDonalds type of serving works for higher end too. My experience with 'apps' for ordering on the otherhand has been terrible. Many unnessecary user hostile steps to uppsell stuff to you.

rsj_hn 5y ago
Exactly. This is a situation similar to PEVs, where the technology is mature enough to make things work for a decent sized chunk of the market, but what it lacks is investment by someone with the necessary vision to see the benefits of apps rather than someone who is approaching the problem from a purely cost cutting/revenue maximization point of view. For example, why I do need to wait until a waiter notices me, then have them bring me a bill and dissapear, then wait for them to come back to collect the bill, then wait for them to come back and bring me a receipt? That is often a 30 minute wait when you are just trying to pay and get on with your day. Why can't I swipe my phone, have some RFID tech embedded into the table present a bill, I pay and then leave. That is a 10 second process instead of a 30 minute process. And you can still have humans around to make sure things are going smoothly and to resolve issues, but there are many portions of the dining experience which would benefit from apps instead of waiters. Think -- why are you handing a stranger your credit card? Why can't you order ahead? If you know what you want, why can't you order right when you sit down? Why can't your phone buzz you to tell you your table is ready. Think of all the information the phone can provide about the menu items -- not only pictures of the meal, but nutritional information, which farm an item was obtained from. Possible substitutions. All the stuff that you have to deal with the waiter to find out. Why do you need to wait for a waiter to come by and tell you this information? Why do you have to wait to hear the specials instead of looking them up? Or cost of market-priced items. There are whole worlds of added value that apps can bring to the dining experience that would simplify life for both waiters and customers. And all of this can be integrated into reservation/review systems for a tech stack that can provide all the info about a meal, handle meal ordering and billing, handle reservations and seating, and aggregate reviews. And the staff can still be there to greet you, to bring you your food, and to resolve any problems you may have. They just don't need to wait on you, constantly polling to see if there is something you need. The moment someone with vision approaches the problem as something to add value to the customer and give them a better overall experience is the moment app-based dining takes off.
- livueta 5y ago
  I'm poorly placed to describe it in detail, having only ever been an observer on a handful of occasions, but much of what you're describing exists today in not-even-particularly-fancy restaurants in Shanghai (and presumably elsewhere), enabled by QR codes and wechat voodoo. Think "scan code on menu to order/pay". It seemed like a very efficient system, and I'm sure you're right that the concept will take off outside China when someone builds a sufficiently it-just-werks solution (that hopefully isn't plugged into a massive method of social control). It's just too powerful of an idea space to go ignored forever.
- rightbyte 5y ago
  Ye the waiting to pay is especially tideous since it is pointless. It is ofent a problem of understaffed though. With McDonald's type system you can see the queue and go somewhere else so it wins there too. Vapiano is a German chain that is quite nice and do over the desk orders. They hand out beeper for pizzas which is good for longer wait meals. I would wish waiters just were a thing for high end restaurant that can afford to be properly staffed.