Using iPad as menu to order food, restaurant becomes hot topic

Using iPad to order food attracts young people

Last Sunday afternoon, when Mr. Meng and his girlfriend dined out at a new restaurant in Heng Bao Plaza (in Guangzhou), they were astonished by their “MENU”- an IPAD! After ordering the dishes, they continued to play games and see websites online till they finish their meal. Mr. Meng is not the only one who likes the creativity. Actually, many people come to the restaurant to have a meal only to experience this new kind of ordering method. So that’s why some people regard it as hype.

The expensive “MENU” gets hot on microblog

“I went to the new restaurant tonight, what a madness to use iPad as menu!” Similar news about iPad menu was frequently blogged on microblog since two nights ago. The restaurant in Heng Bao Plaza quickly became the hot topic on the internet. Customers said that they ordered food simply by touching the screen, turning pages and confirming the results. Besides, they can enjoy the games and video when waiting for meal.

“Wow, what if the menu was stolen as it is so expensive?” “Not everybody uses iPad, what about the people accustomed to waiters?” It seems that apart from praises, many people actually quite worried about the utility and safety of this kind of menu.

Different customers, different opinions
Journalists arrived at the restaurant yesterday, only to find that there’s no available seats inside the restaurant. There were another 30 customers outside, holding numbers, waiting for seats. Among them, many were there for the sake of iPad.

Not every table has an iPad in the restaurant, but customers were quite enjoying their new menus. However, some people just ignored the iPad on their table. They said: “we are here to eat, not to play.” There were also customers felt uncomfortable using the iPad, they finally went to waiters for help. Many first time users said that they just don’t know how to use it.

But Mr. Meng and his girlfriend highly praised the iPad menu as they were playing the online games. ”how creative and convenient it is! I get plenty of time ordering my favorite dishes and I don’t have to look at the waiters.”

The restaurant: it’s a fashion, not hype.

Wang Hong, the manager of the restaurant said that they can cut some waiters by using iPad to order food, “iPad helps us lower the costs, make the ordering convenient and bring fashion to the restaurant.” said Wang. According to him, there are already 25 iPad in use, costing nearly 100,000 RMB. After the May Day Festival this year, each table will have one iPad.

As to the heated discussion on internet, Wang feels that some people only see the surface. “We don’t want to make it big news, but simply a basic tool in the restaurant.” said Wang. He explained that their target customers are mainly young people and they want to attract them by installing iPad since many young people are interested in electronic products nowadays. “But the quality of the food is our first concern.” said Wang.

It is also said that some luxury restaurant in Hangzhou, Beijing and Kunming are already installing electronic ordering system on iPad. But using iPad not only requires computers with local area network, but also needs anti-theft system, which can cost tens of thousands money. People worried that if restaurants have to spend so much money, will they transfer the cost to the food price? Wang said that they won’t do it,” but the price level is different in different places, I can only make sure that our price is fair in Guangzhou.”