A
new concept in restaurants has been adopted by Inamo in London. The restaurant relies on the latest
technologies, such as augmented reality, to entertain and provide a high-end
service to their customers. Specialised
in Asian food, their target market are customers that are fans of both this
food and technology.
All the tables are interactive
and include a touch-screen mousepad (not the whole tabletop is touch-screen) so
that customers can browse through the menu as well as order their meal through
the interface. This allows the
restaurant to save on staffing costs as very little waiters are required. Projectors are placed above the tables which
project the menu, but also allow the customers to ‘theme’ their tables by
adding a backdrop from a large variety of choices. This makes the dining experience much more
interactive from the customer’s point of view, and also helps the company
streamline their operations as they receive orders directly to the kitchen in
real-time.
A big advantage of this system
is that waiting times are less felt by the customers, as they have a multitude
of things that they can do while they wait.
As mentioned above, they can mess around with the different table themes
available to them. They can also watch
the kitchen prepare their meal through the webcam set-up for this purpose. Finally, clients can also choose to play
games to make the time pass quicker between their order time and their time of
service. This is particularly
interesting for diners attending the restaurant with their children, as these
games and interactive tables provide them with entertainment.
Photo source: freedigitalphotos.net
Some disadvantages exist with
this type of restaurant however. An
important one is the fact that this is pushing customers to become less social
as they interact with the tables rather than with themselves. Especially with the idea of having games added
into the mix, which makes people lose interest in social interaction at the
table. Although it is an advantage for
the company to reduce their waiting staff, it is disadvantageous for the
workforce in general, as this means technology is replacing human jobs. It is slightly awkward that the entire
tabletop is not touch-screen when browsing the menu and selecting food and
drinks, as we are very accustomed to using touch-screens today.
Could this concept be the new
restaurant of the future? Will more and
more restaurants choose to adopt this idea to provide a more interactive
service to their customers? In our
opinion, this won’t be the case. The
traditional restaurant is not in danger of being replaced by the interactive
restaurant, as customers still want to be served by a waiter, and have social interaction
when they go out. This interactive
restaurant concept is more likely going to appeal to a younger demographic who
is more technology-friendly, and used to multi-tasking with multiple devices
whilst interacting with friends. As it
stands now, there is a low number of restaurants that offer this type of
service and concept, so we will have to wait and see how this idea develops in
the future.
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