From bytes to bites

Enter the e-waiter. Restaurants in Europe, the United States and Japan are testing technology to let diners order their food direct from a screen at their table instead of depending on a fellow human being to note their choice - sometimes grumpily or erroneously.

Besides cutting costs, companies that sell the "e-menu" argue the approach has a novelty value that can lure younger customers, and boost revenues as tantalising photographs of succulent steaks and gooey desserts tempt diners to order more.

It also could extend the TV dinner. How about a computer-game dinner?

The idea may be only the latest gimmick in a trade which is driven by consumer appetites and where fads help. But at least for now, it appears to be boosting business.

In Japan, a company called Aska T3 has produced a system based on touch-screens already used in self-service canteens or for ticketing in airports and cinemas. But the field is attracting more than startups.

Microsoft says its new Microsoft Surface system, which transforms an entire table into one big touch-screen, is due to go live in spring 2008 in some US hotels and casinos, letting customers order food direct as well as play music and games.

The Seattle-based giant says on its website it will "transform the way people shop, dine, entertain and live". Microsoft argues their examples of interactive and communal technology represent the future.

From restaurants which use conveyor-belt dish delivery to one at the Dutch university of Wageningen which tracks diners with concealed cameras, technology is increasingly penetrating eateries, in an attempt to boost sales.

Adi Chitayat, Conceptic's chief executive, said taking computers into restaurants is an obvious next step after technology revolutionised the workplace, although he noted restaurants with the e-Menu still rely on waiters to deliver the food.

Conceptic is a privately owned start-up which has installed e-Menu technology in sushi bars, pubs and family restaurants.

His company is also piloting a Web-based version, to let customers log on to a restaurant's WiFi internet network and place their orders from their own laptops, hand-held computers or cell phones.

But many diners doubt the e-menu idea will take off. "I don't believe in screens, I believe in humans," said businessman Yoash Torkman. "I'll wait for 15 minutes for a waitress instead of using this. It's a gimmick and gimmicks have very short lives."

In Europe, where dining out is a time-honoured tradition as much about good conversation and etiquette as staving off hunger, waiting staff were unsurprisingly circumspect.

"See this man here? He's been coming here for 25 years," said a waitress at Italian restaurant Rosticceria Fiorentina in Brussels, who gave her name only as Giovanna.

"I know his wife, I know his daughter. Do you think it would be better if he was welcomed by computer?"

Some analysts also wonder if the appeal will extend beyond early-adopters to evolve into a tool that changes the way people eat out.

"There are always some people who embrace a new technology but others will avoid it for as long as possible," said Jackie Fenn, emerging technology analyst at Gartner consulting group.

"Will a bunch of teenagers have a blast using it? Yes. But it will take time to move from being an attraction in a small number of restaurants to something that is widespread."