Sometimes, I bet you cringe when going to restaurants because of either the overzealous restaurant server or the rude waitress. Now, you can avoid those protocol pleasantries by ordering your dinner through a tough-screen computer. That’s right, a computer! New e-menu computers are being offered to restaurants so patrons can see images of the food they want to eat, and then touch them to order. After touching the food, the order is electronically processed and sent to the kitchen computer so the chef can cook it to order. While waiting for your food, you can play video games on the computer. Pretty cool!
Microsoft has taken this step further by releasing a computer that becomes your tabletop. This was launched in November of 2007, and has been slow to take off. Maybe the $5,000 – $10,000 has something to do with the slow take-off. These Microsoft tabletops can be a good idea for restaurants also by allowing the full menu to be right on your table. Several hundred more studies must be done before Microsoft can target the right industry groups.