Restaurant Technology Implementation

For a long time the standards of fine dining have been held at a constant. Go to a restaurant, sit down at a nice table and talk face to face with some friends, get yours orders, and then eat. Recently though, as technology becomes an even bigger part of everyday life, you find more and more people willing to sacrifice the traditional dining experience for a more modern one that integrates technology into the dining experience. Many restaurants around the world are implementing technology into their serving techniques. One example of this can be found in some Applebees around the world in the form of a tablet that functions as a menu and an entertainment device. This lets diners see what they want to order with an interactive interface but it also provides a way for diners to entertain themselves. Now diners can share YouTube videos with eachother or browse social networking sites. Some restaurants are integrating technology into their dining experience to an even greater degree. This can be found in a restaurant in Japan where the user can hook up to a server and order their food from a mobile device that is found on the table. The food is then sent on a conveyor belt to the diner's table. After the diners are done with their meal they put their plates in a slot where the system calculates the total cost of the dinner. The restaurant also implements a system that makes diners want to eat more. They do this by providing games and special awards to diners after every fifth plate that they buy. Personally, I think that the integration of technology to dining could be a great thing if done well. Hopefully the face to face experience that today's dining gives is still preserved, but I think that being able to share some of the things that you find on the internet while talking to your friends at the dinner table would greatly enhance the quality of dining. The benefits of a social food network could also lead to some really tasty dishes for anyone's tastes. One thing that I do not want to see in fine dining is the elimination of the chefs that cook the food. I think that the fact that actual humans cook the food is an important part of our culture that should stay. The human cooked food also adds a bit of variance that helps keep eating at fine restaurants with friends an enjoyable experience. If a robot were to cook the food at fine restaurants I don' t think that the food would be nearly as interesting nor do I think that the experience would be nearly as exciting.

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