Experience P'typing

The Restaurant Experience

Paying the Bill

Paying the bill could be made much easier by having a touch screen at every table listing what was ordered.  There could be a virtual table on the screen with seats around it and you could flick each item towards the person who had that dish.  You would also need to have an option for splitting a single item among two or more diners.  The bill would then come out for each person.  

This system could also integrate ordering the food.  Allowing diners to sit down and order their meal at their leisure.  The wait staff wouldn't be able to promote specials, but they'd still be on the menu.  This system would also help diners budget their meal, the bill wouldn't be a surprise at the end. 

Ambient Noise

One thing I've often noticed at restaurants is the noise level.  I've been in places were it is impossible to have a conversation and you spend the whole meal yelling at each other jut to be heard.  I think dining experiences would be greatly improved with the introduction of sound proofing of all restaurants.  Things like the shape of the room and the materials used should be played with the find the best possible environment to keep ambient noise down and allow all diners to have conversations. 

All Night Diners

I read a story recently where a couple sat at a table in a restaurant for six hours.  I am a fan of lingering over a meal (though six hours is excessive) but the story was told from the point of view of the restaurant owners.  So, what would be a good way to prevent people from lingering over a table which could sit half a dozen different couple/groups over the course of an evening?  Perhaps restaurants could introduce a surcharge (a percentage of the total bill, perhaps) when a group has been sitting at the table for more than thirty minutes after their last food item arrived.

Fast Food Ordering

I talked above about the idea of ordering food from a touch screen.  I think that this would be a really good idea for fast food restaurants.  Instead of having a server taking orders people could just navigate through a simple touch screen menu system.  This idea could be taken further and have it also dispense the food as well.  Maybe people get a magnetised/chipped card when they order and when the system says their food is done they trade the card for the food.