As you enter the restaurant, a smiling waiter approaches you, greets you, and pulls out a chair for you. When you are ready to order, the waiter returns to you and whips out an iPod to take your order. Wait. iPod? Even before you raise your eyebrow, your order has already reached the kitchen and your dish is half ready. Incredible, isn't it? Several restaurants in Kerala, India have begun to use customized iPods with some software that lets waiters send orders directly to the kitchen and the billing counter as soon as he types it on his iPod.
According to Ranjith Menon, manager at Noushad Big Chef, Kochi, India this unique way of waitering has made the entire process of taking the patron's order, sending it to the chefs and preparing the bill so much faster and simpler. 4 iPods are enough to cover the 30 tables in the restaurant. An IT professional had developed the special software that runs on the iPods.
The iPod-waitering has made the customers happy too. According to one Lakshmi Harindran, who happens to frequent Big Chef, the food is always served on time in that hotel. The innovative system in use lets them offer the best possible service.
However, Big Chef is not the only hotel making use of this innovative system. Moti Mahal, located in Thrissur, also follows the same system. The idea struck the proprietor, Motilal Narayanan when he noticed similar software being used in a London restaurant. According to him, the software, which was developed in IT city Bangalore, is called open core wireless billing system.
The system has proved to be a boon for the restaurateur. He claims to have invested around Rs 1.5 lakh in purchasing two iPods and the software. These iPods also offer net access, which allows him to monitor the proceedings at the restaurant remotely. He adds that for home deliveries, the software helps in locating the destination by activating Google Maps and displaying the exact location and shortest route to take when the address is entered.
