Idea: The State of Dining-in

It's no secret that the restaurant industry is one of the most competitive, and that the chances of a restaurant surviving its first year are much like a startup surviving its first year... next to none. To combat these low odds of survival, restaurants have been actively involving technology in their daily business operations to get the slightest advantage over competitors. They've done everything from order online and pickup, to order online and have the food delivered. F**k, the industry has gone so bananas, that some restaurants are even selling their leftovers at a 50% discount on apps like Karma.

Needless to say, restaurant-ing has been touched by the magical wand that is Technology. But I think there's one aspect of the business that remains heavily unaffected, and presents an opportunity to be seized.

Bring forward the dine-in

During the last two decades, despite tech becoming prominent, the process of dining-in hasn't really changed. For example, the following captures the process from the said time period;

1. Walk in to the restaurant
2. Get seated 
3. Read through the menu 
4. Wait for the waiter to take your order
5. Wait for food to arrive
6. Eat and call waiter once done
7. Wait for cheque to arrive
8. Pay and leave

In 2020, the dine-in process remains mostly the same, with changes only seen in the back-end order processing and method of transaction (an indirect efficiency brought on by technological advancements in Finance). Meaning, for the customer the process is almost entirely unchanged, and for the owner the process is only slightly changed.

One can argue that because the process has failed to keep up with the times, it has actually gotten worse, as customers now take longer to place an order after being seated. Why? Because they are too busy swiping on the glass screens of their phones, for love, for information, for entertainment... and even the mere process of ordering food is a distraction from that life.

So, how can this aspect of the business be changed enough to significantly impact a restaurant's ability to serve more customers, all the while spending less time dealing with them, and thus having to hire fewer waiters... in other words, affect the overall bottom line.

I think it can only be done by introducing a product that lets customers sit down on a table and place an order without needing a waiter. Here's how I imagine this would go;

1. Walk in to the restaurant (unchanged)
2. Get seated (unchanged)
3. Open the APP (change begins)
• Scan the QR code (or similar) that's present on the table you are seated on
• The app opens up the menu for the restaurant
• Read through the menu and place an order
• The app charges you for your order
• The kitchen receives your order
• The kitchen continues to update you on order readiness
4. Food arrives to your table
5. Eat and leave

In this scenario, there is very little interaction between the restaurant and the customer. AND the only interaction that does take place is when the food arrives, a step that simply cannot be eliminated unless we're serving virtual burgers and cokes.

I think there are many benefits of this solution. They are,

Customers (experience)

1. don't have to wait for a waiter
2. wait as the rest of the party places an order
3. wait to get their bill
4. wait to pay that bill

Waiters (difficulty of job)

1. don't have to constantly check in on customers
2. don't have to worry about getting their order wrong
3. don't have to awkwardly stand around as they collect money
4. can easily collect tips (if the app enables such feature)

Owners (bottom line)

1. wouldn't need as many waiters
2. can minimize menu costs
3. can service more customers in less time

This is all simple and easy, or at least in theory, and there are obvious challenges that need to be overcome for this idea to gain traction and become a part of the general public's app drawer. To do that, I imagine we will need to answer the following questions at the very minimum;

1. What is the future of dine-in vs. takeout and delivery?
2. Are any big players capable of moving in at a pace fast enough to become your biggest competitor?
• Thanks to corona-virus, don't think many big companies will be shifting focus away from their primary business models to support an untested market.
3. How willing are the restaurants to focus on this aspect of their business, when really they can optimize for delivery/takeout?
4. Will this type of product require pipelines to existing industry software (e.g. POS, ordering systems, etc.)?
5. How big is the roadblock that requires customers to download an app?

Let's see if these questions are 1) answerable, and 2) indicative of an actual opportunity.