“Excuse me, we’re ready to pay,” the man seated at an Applebee’s called to the server. She picked up the electronic device on the edge of the table. “When you’re ready to pay,” she said, “you can click here and then slide your card here.”
She pointed toward a small electronic screen, pushed the device toward her customer, and then walked away.
Grabbing the screen, the man stared, confused and flustered.
“How do I pay for just my meal? They’ve combined our order,” he told his dining companion.
His companion grabbed the gadget and proceeded with the same reaction. “Why didn’t she bring us our check? We don’t know how to use this and it didn’t split the bill.”
The diner called again. “Excuse me!”
Earlier this year, local chain restaurants Olive Garden, Applebee’s and Red Robin began setting out electronic tablet devices on restaurant tables. Operating with custom software, they are for guests to use at their discretion to order meals, play games and pay the check.
While some diners are flustered by the devices, others find them quite appealing.
Red Robin customer Katey Weaver, 20, said she likes them because you don’t have to wait for the waiter to bring the check. You can slide your card into the gadget to pay the bill, and leave when you want, she said.
Weaver also noted what she considers another plus — the games that diners can play on them while waiting for the meal. “I pay the $1.99 every time because the games are so worth it,” Weaver said.
“We call them TEDs — for table electronic device,” said Michael Cassity, the marketing manager of Hazel Dell Applebee’s. They are designed specifically for restaurants, Cassity said, and are custom programmed according to the restaurateur’s wishes.
“The goal of the TED is to improve the dining experience for guests by providing faster service,” said Cassity. “When you walk in and sit down, you can order an appetizer right away without having to wait for a server.”
After dining recently at an Applebee’s with his wife, 44-year-old Tim Durr says he doesn’t like the tablet-like device. For one, he said it takes away from the personal experience you have with a waiter.
“What do you tip?” asked his wife, Amy Durr. “They may have taken the initial order and delivered the food but after that you don’t see them again.”
Cassity, the marketing manager, said despite concerns expressed by some customers, the devices don’t really replace servers.
“It doesn’t have any arms so it can’t bring you your food and it doesn’t have legs so it can’t run to refill your drink,” Cassity said. “The tablet is just here to help the server.”
Buffalo Wild Wings server Kylie Brown said that the devices prevent service errors. “If we run out of an item on the menu, we are notified ahead of time and can tell the customer before they order, unlike in the past,” she said.
Jessica Dinon, the manager of communications for Olive Garden, said the chain has seen an increase in guest satisfaction scores since the implementation.
“Our servers have it as an extra tool so they can focus more on the quality of the guests’ experience,” she said.
Moreover, using the device is optional, Dinon said. “It’s what the guest wants,” she added.
Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research at the National Restaurant Association, recently told USA Today: “Looking out over the next decade, it will become fairly routine for consumers in table service restaurants to use tablets to view menus, place orders and pay bills.”
That apparently won’t satisfy all diners. Tim Durr said if he and his wife go to a restaurant and don’t have the option to interact with a server, “we won’t be eating there anymore.”
Wanda McNealy is a student journalist at Clark College. This story appears through a Voices from Clark College partnership between The Columbian and The Independent, Clark College’s student newspaper.
