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E La Carte Raises $35M to Expand Pay-at-the-Table Technology
- mpthrapp 12y agoI've used one of these systems before, and I gotta say, I really like it.
- wehadfun 12y agoI used one and thought it was in the way. It was nice to not have to wait for the check though
- zyxley 12y agoThis would be a godsend in Europe, where to American sensibilities it often feels like you have to have a flashing light and sirens to get someone, anyone, to show up and give you the bill after you're done your meal.
- nostromo 12y agoTo European sensibilities ordering and paying from an iPad would be seen as unbelievably tacky. I suspect the hurdle here is social not technical, similar to Google Glass.
- scoot 12y agoHow would you feel about being presented with the bill, and being able to pay for it from your own device - securely, and with minimal input, and without the credit-card machine dance? Or being able to call up the bill on your own device, and pay it on the spot?
- nostromo 12y agoYeah, I think that's preferable. It could look like a regular bill holders but have NFC embedded. You could still leave cash if you want. Or you can tap your Apple Watch use Apple Pay (or similar technology).
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- stuaxo 12y agoIt's not much of a dance, he hands the reader across, I type in my pin - receipt prints out, it's pretty quick.
- free2rhyme214 12y agoHaha I couldn't agree more! A better solution I saw in Japan was a button that has the waiters come in a couple of minutes. Why American restaurants don't implement something like this reminds me why some places in San Jose are cash only.
- Meekro 12y agoI saw that kind of button at a Japanese restaurant in LA, and it's a godsend! That made it easy to pay, and easy to do other things like ask questions and order. I don't get why more places don't have that!
- JoshTriplett 12y agoSeems like it would work for the reverse case as well: if you want to sit around for a while between courses or at the end of the meal, you can.
- notahacker 12y agoThe cynic in me can't help wondering why, if there's such a big mainstream demand for ordering at the table with minimal interaction with the waiter, paper menus with tick boxes and kiosks to pay on the way out haven't been the mainstream way of ordering and paying for food for a while. Maybe I'm going to the wrong restaurants.
- howeyc 12y agoIt's not the minimal interaction that's the draw. It's the lack of waiting for the waiter to come to you.
- notahacker 12y agoYou wouldn't be waiting for very long for someone to pick up your pre-filled order sheets if the waiters didn't spend any time chatting with other guests. My point is more that the interaction with the waiter is actually an integral part of how the sit-down restaurant experience differentiates itself from fast food, as well as an opportunity to persuade guests to take extra side dishes and chef's specials from the point of view of the restauranteur. (Yes, it's probably partly a cultural thing; I don't even want to order a main course until I've got snacks on the table and a drink in my hand unless it's counter service. But notionally more efficient alternatives to traditional table service have been around for a long time everywhere without restaurant owners feeling the need to replace it en masse)
- brownbat 12y ago> notionally more efficient alternatives to traditional table service have been around for a long time everywhere without restaurant owners feeling the need to replace it en masse I take your point, always important to see if there is a cultural need before just slapping "tech" and "efficiency" on our experiences. That said, fast casual has been digging into the midrange sit down market for the last decade. Fast casual limits waitstaff interactions and eliminates the need to pay before leaving. That could be read to suggest that the market saw the need, even if established owners didn't. There's probably not a similar need when you're mostly paying for experience. I don't see tablets replacing staff at most places with a sommelier. The mid to low end of the market though has generally demonstrated demand for ways to enable faster and more fluid exchanges.
- travem 12y agoOne thing I would like is the ability to pay at the table. Moving from the UK where the waitstaff brought the card reader to the table for you (to pay with chip-and-pin) to the US where waitstaff I had met for the first time disappeared with my credit card for several minutes was unnerving at first.
- dkrich 12y agoCompletely agree. I just came back from Istanbul and they use the mobile card readers everywhere. Every bar/restaurant tab was cleared in seconds despite there being 6+ people in our group. This was new to me as an American who had not used them before. I wonder why these aren't being used in the US as they are easier and probably more secure than the current system of signature-matching.
- mpthrapp 12y agoYeah, that's the biggest advantage for me. Once I'm done eating I generally want to at least go outside to smoke/vape, if not leave right away, but far too often it takes a solid 20 minutes to wait for the bill to arrive, wait for the waiter to return the bill, and then wait for them to return with my card. When I've used one of these systems, we finished eating, I swiped my card, and then we left. Plus, the one I used had the ability to arbitrarily split the check without having to have the waiter remember the random dollar amounts to put on 4 different cards.
- jonlucc 12y agoThis device annoys me. I occasionally go to the Applebee's near me, and I've used it once. They usually are either broken or not on (either way, black screen). Anyone here with experience as a waiter with these things? Are they awesome for the waitstaff?
- autism_hurts 12y agoDoesn't surprise me. The thing is, with real POS integration (which most companies don't have) -- you could do all of this from the customer's phone rather than a stupid piece of hardware at the table.
- tiglionabbit 12y agoIt's nice to have a bigger screen so you can see pictures of the food. It makes it more fun to explore your options.
- autism_hurts 12y agoMy father taught me to never eat at a restaurant that had photos of the food.
- zeroonetwothree 12y agoIt's great not having to wait for the check. I would be really happy to have this at most restaurants (maybe not super-fancy date-type places).
- stuaxo 12y agoWhat? Just get chip and pin machines like the rest of the world.
- outericky 12y agoI enjoyed playing the trivia games on it with a group. I didn't like having to pay $1 to unlock the trivia... but then I figured on a $50-$80 group bill, what's $1. Liked being able to pay when we were ready to go. In this day whenever everyone sits and plays on their phone and takes photos of the food, this will turn the tables over a tad faster. Something the restaurants should like.