Would You Like an iPad With Your Buffalo Wild Wings? at Padvance

Have you ever eaten at a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant and thought, "Man, I'm enjoying the wings and beer, but that waiter sure is an annoying sun on the beach!" A solution is at hand, courtesy of the Apple iPad. The restaurant is beta testing a program where customers can order food and drinks, play games, update their status on social networks, etc. on the iPad instead of having to deal with a waiter or waitress. Read more details and vital analysis (wings and beer are vital, after all) below.

Here's the skinny from Computerworld:

The 9.7-in. iPad is being tested for customers to make food and drink orders from their tables. They can also use the tablets to jump online to check out Facebook, Twitter and play interactive games.

The 830-store Buffalo Wild Wings chain is about to launch a second phase of the iPad pilot program at a Minneapolis location after working out technical kinks at a suburban Toronto site, said Tim Murphy, director of international business for the chain.

There are several important takeaways here. First, I don't care what kind of industrial-strength cases Buffalo Wild Wings is using. These iPads are going to get nasty. Between wing sauce, alcoholic beverages, and everyday germs...well, I wouldn't recommend going to an iPad-equipped restaurant without a bottle of hand sanitizer.

Secondly, this reminds me of how several restaurants in Japan work. For decades, I've been enjoying excellent food in Japan without having to deal with the language barrier. You order what you want from a vending machine outside the restaurant, go in, plop down your ticket, and your food arrives minutes later. The iPad is just modernizing that oh-so-efficient-in-that-Japanese-way system.

Lastly, I love the concept. Being a Los Angeles resident, most of the waiters I encounter are "really" actors, directors, producers, and rock stars. The vast majority of them don't want to be there and aren't shy about letting you know this. I would much rather order from an iPad than a waiter that's also asking me if I know anyone that can read his universe-altering script. That said, waitresses that are trying to be models, movie stars, and pop divas...I'm happy to see them.

What do you think of Buffalo Wild Wings using iPads to make your experience better and to get you stay in the restaurant longer?

[Via: Computerworld]

Source: http://www.padvance.com/story/would-you-like-an-ipad-with-your-buffalo-wild-wings-beta

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