THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 27, 1996 TAG: 9605250415
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KRISTEN DE DEYN KIRK, SPECIAL TO BUSINESS WEEKLY
LENGTH: 83 lines
The ingredients needed for a successful restaurant used to be a creative menu, reasonable prices and a good atmosphere.
Today, the recipe often doesn't work without one key spice - technology. In fact, if you enjoyed your last meal out, you probably owe just as much credit to a computer as to a chef.
Computer use in the restaurant industry is obvious in some cases like at Funscape in Chesapeake.
Step up to one outlet in the food court, wait in a line for a few minutes, and when it's your turn to order, say hello to a computer.
A large screen will ``ask'' you what food you'd like to order through a series of graphics and words. Just touch the screen, and move to the left for your meal. It's that simple.
Larry Cullen, general manager of Rockafellers in Virginia Beach, was happy to learn that customers actually seem intrigued by restaurant technology when they see his employees working on the touch-screen Positouch system.
``We were one of the first restaurants to have the technology, and I didn't know how people would react. They think it's cool and often ask about it,'' says Cullen, who purchased the system in 1993.
The restaurant had used an NCR computer system but found it required too much paperwork.
Now, the numbers and types of meals and drinks sold along with the costs of the orders and employee hours and tips can be tracked precisely and simply without paper.
Employees sign onto the system when they start their shift, and enter each customer's order by touching the correct on-screen listing.
Noting the customer's preference for substitutions or special cooking instructions is clearer than handwritten requests so fewer mistakes are made when the chefs fill the orders. Customers are able to easily read and spot any mistakes on the computer-generated checks.
At Mahi Mah's, the Positouch system makes it much easier to get an order to the right chef. The Virginia Beach restaurant seats more than 450 and features 10 stations where orders can be filled.
When a waiter enters an order, each item is automatically routed to the correct station. Positouch also helps behind the scenes by tracking inventory and processing credit card payments.
``We used to have four of five machines to process credit cards, and it would take hours to sort through the informations at the end of each shift,'' explains Chuck Sass, Mahi Mah's food and beverage director.
``The system pays for itself quickly,'' Sass said. ``I'd estimate it does the work of two full-time employees.''
After analyzing several systems, the restaurant purchased Positouch in 1993 for $48,000 - an amount some people could use to open an entire restaurant, Sass said.
He thought there would be a few problems with the system at first, and he was right.
``But the repair service was excellent,'' he said. ``When I called with a problem, they were able to sign on to our system through their computer in California and pinpoint the problem right away.''
But Sass is still a little gun shy when it comes to the newest technology, and he plans to leave it to other restaurants to try out the latest - remote, hand-held touch pads which operate through Windows 95.
About the size of a three-by-five index card, servers or customers can use the pads to send food orders directly to the chefs instead of entering the request through a central ordering terminal.
Eliminating one step in the process could certainly help a restaurant like Applebees, where every tick of the clock makes a difference in keeping their promise of a 14-minute lunch.
``Speed is extremely important to us,'' says Jeff Lentini, general manager of Applebees on Virginia Beach Boulevard. ``Every second counts.''
The restaurant uses a system called Squirrel and has relied on it for the last eight years.
Lentini finds Squirrel particularly helpful when he runs a new food special every eight weeks, and he needs to change his food orders to meet customer demand.
He can look at ordering trends daily, weekly and monthly with minimal effort and plan not only his food orders but also his staffing needs based on the information.
``Plus, we also promote our specials with a short notice on each customer's check,'' explains Lentini.
As the customer reviews the easy-to-read check, he gets a quick preview of an upcoming special, which may entice him back. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by Lawrence Jackson
Restaurateur Chuck Sass at the Mahi Mah's Positouch computer. by CNB