uWink - an interesting new restaurant concept from Nolan Bushnell, of original Atari games fame, and Chuck E. Cheese. Not exactly a takeout place, but certainly an interesting concept in restaurants, and since they use computers for ordering - it fits in this blog, although it's way too early to tell if the concept will fly.
Apparently it's very computerized, with heavy use of new technologies, such as RFID, for tracking things. Ordering is done via a touch-screen computer built into each table. The computer is not only used for ordering, but for multimedia, game play (even between tables) and advertising, no doubt.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Restaurant Portions - bad for our waistline and wallet? Not necessarily.
In a recent article in the Miami Herald the point was made regarding how portions in the restaurants aren't congruent with the intake (of calories, carbs etc.) recommended for healthy human consumption, thus creating more people with weight difficulties.
Some people, as an acquaintance of mine pointed out, simply take the extra food home and divide it into 2 or more meals. This isn't only a healthier and more appropriate way to eat, but also does wonders for cost savings, since a $12 meal split into maybe 3 portions winds up costing only $4 per meal, typically less than what one would spend by cooking at home.
The moral of this is to watch what you eat and just as important - how much you eat and split the extraneous food into multiple leftovers. Of course what makes this approach that much easier is doing the same via takeout. You simply order online, and have multiple meals in the comfort of your home, enjoying the convenience and the savings while eating the appropriate amounts of food. And thus having large portions isn't so bad, after all... provided a little common sense is applied.
Some people, as an acquaintance of mine pointed out, simply take the extra food home and divide it into 2 or more meals. This isn't only a healthier and more appropriate way to eat, but also does wonders for cost savings, since a $12 meal split into maybe 3 portions winds up costing only $4 per meal, typically less than what one would spend by cooking at home.
The moral of this is to watch what you eat and just as important - how much you eat and split the extraneous food into multiple leftovers. Of course what makes this approach that much easier is doing the same via takeout. You simply order online, and have multiple meals in the comfort of your home, enjoying the convenience and the savings while eating the appropriate amounts of food. And thus having large portions isn't so bad, after all... provided a little common sense is applied.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Looooonnnnnnnggggggg Lines at Restaurants
A new trend has been emerging, especially in more popular chain restaurants, biggest culprit of which is currently The Cheesecake Factory - long, long, lines before you even get to order your food. Sure they have little flashy beepers to notify you when it's your turn and they have large space for waiting (there's always the outside too)... but it makes one stop and think whether the hassle involved in a simple meal is worth it. Obviously for a lot of people - it is, otherwise the phenomenon at hand wouldn't be there.
This is where Takeout Online can certainly assist in the effort. Restaurants would benefit by being able to perform their duties much more efficiently and consumers would find the efficiency and convenience gratifying and certainly adding to the enjoyment of the experience... after all isn't that what it's all about?
Customers will be able to place their orders in the convenience and comfort of their home, office, library - wherever, without the limitations of time, space and noise, which they always endure onsite. They will be able to see the entire menu and take as long as they wish to make their decision, without anyone asking 'Do you need a few more minutes? I can come back...'. Then, if the restaurant does due diligence - when the customers finally arrive at the indicated time - they can immediately proceed to sit down and either avoid the wait for food entirely or only wait a short period of time. There's no need to get the waiter to come and take the order (thus saving time and eliminating any errors the waiter may make) and shouldn't be any need to wait in line.
The restaurant would get the orders ahead of customers' arrival, thus be able to manage their processes more carefully and efficiently. Try to prepare the food ahead of time, so by the time the customers arrive - the food will be ready to serve them. Since there won't be a need to have waiters take orders - that'll certainly save significant amount of waiters' time, since it's a repetitive process and can take quite a while, especially for large groups. Having the order info ahead of time would also aid in managing tables and schedule of arrivals better. And of course if someone can be seated upon arrival, with food prepared and ready to serve - that would also be a significant time saver in terms of time customers stay at a restaurant, thus enabling more customers in the same day... all clearly translating to a better bottom line... which from a restaurant's point of view - isn't what it's all about?
This is where Takeout Online can certainly assist in the effort. Restaurants would benefit by being able to perform their duties much more efficiently and consumers would find the efficiency and convenience gratifying and certainly adding to the enjoyment of the experience... after all isn't that what it's all about?
Customers will be able to place their orders in the convenience and comfort of their home, office, library - wherever, without the limitations of time, space and noise, which they always endure onsite. They will be able to see the entire menu and take as long as they wish to make their decision, without anyone asking 'Do you need a few more minutes? I can come back...'. Then, if the restaurant does due diligence - when the customers finally arrive at the indicated time - they can immediately proceed to sit down and either avoid the wait for food entirely or only wait a short period of time. There's no need to get the waiter to come and take the order (thus saving time and eliminating any errors the waiter may make) and shouldn't be any need to wait in line.
The restaurant would get the orders ahead of customers' arrival, thus be able to manage their processes more carefully and efficiently. Try to prepare the food ahead of time, so by the time the customers arrive - the food will be ready to serve them. Since there won't be a need to have waiters take orders - that'll certainly save significant amount of waiters' time, since it's a repetitive process and can take quite a while, especially for large groups. Having the order info ahead of time would also aid in managing tables and schedule of arrivals better. And of course if someone can be seated upon arrival, with food prepared and ready to serve - that would also be a significant time saver in terms of time customers stay at a restaurant, thus enabling more customers in the same day... all clearly translating to a better bottom line... which from a restaurant's point of view - isn't what it's all about?
Friday, May 26, 2006
Takeout is not just for eating - choose your Wine
A new website, Winelog, is an excellent resource for those who want their wine, but don't know their wine or perhaps want to compare notes on their knowledge. The site offers ability to view and rate wines as well as add comments. The rating system is driven by the community, it's 'social wining' if you will, and provides a clean and simple approach to picking wine in style, quickly and easily.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Tipping point
To tip or not and if so - how much? Seems like an ever present question when one goes out. Recently due to a change in food as we know it, with stores opening delis and fast-casual becoming the new breed of restaurants - the landscape is changing and the tipping question still exists.
According to an article in the Register Guard (Eugene, OR), tipping varies depending on the restaurant, but the old sentiment seems to still rule the day - it's up to the tipper and it's based on the service.
According to an article in the Register Guard (Eugene, OR), tipping varies depending on the restaurant, but the old sentiment seems to still rule the day - it's up to the tipper and it's based on the service.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Takeout and Restaurant Owners
It seems that takeout is hugely popular and continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Yet, many restaurant owners just don't seem to get the importance of that trend for their business success. Case in point my Takeout-Online.com service. Many restaurants I talked to see the light and sign up for the service, considering how affordable, flexible and unintrusive it is to their business and how much impact it can have on it. Yet, even though I mention that the service can be risk-free and even cost-free, I still get a response sometimes that "it's not in the budget" or "we're not ready to start yet"... which always perplexes me... how can something that doesn't cost anything be "not in budget"?
Restuarant Owners need to look beyond just doing what they've always been doing and adopt some of these new tools, like the Takeout Online service, to be able to stay competitive or their competition will do them in using these tools.
Restuarant Owners need to look beyond just doing what they've always been doing and adopt some of these new tools, like the Takeout Online service, to be able to stay competitive or their competition will do them in using these tools.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Personal Chefs
In addition to takeout out of restaurants, a lot of families use personal chefs to be able to not cook and yet still eat high quality foods at home. This article describes some example of this growing trend.
Monday, March 27, 2006
Fast-casual and convenience
The Arizona Republic newspaper had an article regarding 'fast-casual' restaurants and how convenience and takeout rule the world of restaurants more and more.
According to the article, some of the fast-casual restaurants's takeout accounts for 40% of their business.
Interestingly enough, all of the restaurants mentioned in the article currently don't offer online ordering, which would improve their bottom line even more so if they did.
According to the article, some of the fast-casual restaurants's takeout accounts for 40% of their business.
Interestingly enough, all of the restaurants mentioned in the article currently don't offer online ordering, which would improve their bottom line even more so if they did.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
A Great Opportunity for Anyone... with Right Attitude!
As we move into our new expansion schedule - we're looking for good people throughout the country to help us with bringing Takeout Online service to the restaurant industry nationwide.
Current opportunity is significant, because we're not only offering a piece of the action, but a piece of the pie as well. That's right, with our current plan (which I can't divulge here) - you could get a piece of the company if you actively participate with us in this important growth stage.
If you have some time on your hands and are willing to do some face-to-face time with your local restaurants - you could be looking at a very substantial residual income in not too distant future and own a piece of the company as well. Just about anyone with decent people skills can participate. I always say that the most important qualification is attitude and that's really what counts.
We provide the training, the marketing plan and materials and handle all of the technical aspects. We also have a comprehensive Web site specifically dedicated to the members of our team, where they can get a wealth of information, easily communicate and collaborate with each other and access any and all related printed materials.
Interested? Contact Takeout Online for details.
Current opportunity is significant, because we're not only offering a piece of the action, but a piece of the pie as well. That's right, with our current plan (which I can't divulge here) - you could get a piece of the company if you actively participate with us in this important growth stage.
If you have some time on your hands and are willing to do some face-to-face time with your local restaurants - you could be looking at a very substantial residual income in not too distant future and own a piece of the company as well. Just about anyone with decent people skills can participate. I always say that the most important qualification is attitude and that's really what counts.
We provide the training, the marketing plan and materials and handle all of the technical aspects. We also have a comprehensive Web site specifically dedicated to the members of our team, where they can get a wealth of information, easily communicate and collaborate with each other and access any and all related printed materials.
Interested? Contact Takeout Online for details.
New Takeout Statistics
There was an article published in Wisconsin State Journal regarding a dramatic rise in takeout consumption and decrease in home cooking.
"The number of dinners made at home from scratch continues to freefall. It dropped another 7 percent over the last two years, and now accounts for 32 percent of all evening meals in the U.S., according to the National Restaurant Association."This trend isn't surprising, considering how busy everyone is these days... but it's also interesting in the fact that people don't just go out to eat, but instead get takeout to still enjoy a family dinner together.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Introduction to Takeout
This blog is dedicated to a new phenomenon in the USA, a new lifestyle for ever-growing number of people, a different (somewhat) approach to the basic human need... a need to eat!
The discussions will revolve about food, restaurants, business opportunities (related to takeout), trends and philosophy behind it all.
The idea is to create one of the favorite stops with 'food for thought', if you will, for all things takeout.
We started a company 5 years ago, dedicated to this very topic, allowing anyone to order online, called www.Takeout-Online.com, therefore you'll see our posting concentrating on the restaurants in our areas of influence, which is currently in the State of Washington, USA. However, there's a major effort underway to expand it into many more areas and that's where the business opportunity comes in (should you be interested in joining us in this effort of providing an extremely valuable service to both restaurants and consumers). You can get more information about Takeout Online here, and here and info regarding the business opportunity here.
I'll finish this introduction by signing it with the signature my partner signs his e-mails...
takeout!
The discussions will revolve about food, restaurants, business opportunities (related to takeout), trends and philosophy behind it all.
The idea is to create one of the favorite stops with 'food for thought', if you will, for all things takeout.
We started a company 5 years ago, dedicated to this very topic, allowing anyone to order online, called www.Takeout-Online.com, therefore you'll see our posting concentrating on the restaurants in our areas of influence, which is currently in the State of Washington, USA. However, there's a major effort underway to expand it into many more areas and that's where the business opportunity comes in (should you be interested in joining us in this effort of providing an extremely valuable service to both restaurants and consumers). You can get more information about Takeout Online here, and here and info regarding the business opportunity here.
I'll finish this introduction by signing it with the signature my partner signs his e-mails...
takeout!
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