E La Carte System Lets Tablets Take The Place Of Waiters In Restaurants [Menu Selection, Social Networking, And Games Served Up At Your Table With E La Carte]

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If you’ve been out to a restaurant lately, you’ll know first hand the perils that come along with such an act. The wait for a waiter to show up and give you a menu, then another wait for said waiter to return and take your order, then another wait to get the food you ordered in the first place, and then another wait for them to tell you how much to pay them. And if the issue of change gets involved, well, heaven help you. But one startup company, E La Carte, wants to change the way you do dining out, and they want to change it with an array of tablet PCs instead of waiters.

Basically, E La Carte says that most of the basic functions waiters serve–taking orders, providing menus and the like–can be done via tablet PC instead. But there are other functions involved in the E La Carte system, too, including a lot of social applications, where you can tell people what you thought of your particular order, or even play some games while you wait. Interest has already been expressed by places like Applebee’s, so it’s clear to see that the E La Carte might be showing up at places you already go to eat.

There do seem to be some substantial hurdles here, though. The hygiene issue is definitely a factor–would you want to be handling a touchscreen tablet right before you eat, especially knowing who else may have eaten there?–and of course the human cost. Some waiters will almost certainly be fired with this, as you’ll need fewer people staffing a restaurant. You’d be down to just people moving food and possibly collecting money (while the E La Carte service can offer payment services, I can’t imagine a restaurant turning down cash money business, as some people won’t take a debit or credit card with them anywhere they go).

Either way, you’ll see these on the West Coast (of the United States) first, at last report. If you see them anywhere, as it’s still in the early stages. It’s not a bad idea, but I can see some flaws immediately.

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