Tipping-Point - meet Sweet-Spot!

Wouldn't it make sense if you could bring your POS to the table? You'd ring everything in and send orders right from the table. Give the bar and kitchen the extra time, that is normally spent, walking to the POS terminal and entering in the order. With a handheld you're done ordering right then and there. Production has a head-start and the servers can stay in their station and have more face-time with guests.

So far this sounds like a no-brainer. Why then do only few restaurants here use handhelds, which are so very common in Asia, Europe and Latin America? When will restaurants begin to use mobile ordering - in a broader, bigger way in the US?

The idea of wireless ordering is fascinating: it was 1995 when I first saw a wireless ordering system in a Denny's in Tokyo, Japan. Each server had a small pad, the size of a pocket calculator and orders were sent wirelessly to the kitchen.

I was impressed. That seemed so natural and it was way faster than the traditionl way of ordering. In 2001 I saw something even more impressive: a single person taking all orders for a whole restaurant, filled to capacity with maybe 300 plus patrons. All food and beverage was served by runners. That was in Frankfurt Main, Germany and it was the sportsbar at the local Marriott Hotel. True story.

The efficiency gains seem to be obvious. Why then, are handhelds not used in a broader way in the US? My theory: 1) Too expensive, 2) not fool-proof enough and 3) "not there yet" from a technology perspective.

That was until this year: WIDEFLY, a company from Hong Kong is entering the US market this summer. They bring a handheld to the restaurant world that is priced under $900 with a credit card reader and under $700 without. Besides affordability - these handhelds are ruggedized (can take a drop) and - most importantly - the wireless has been designed to work real well in restaurants. Plus they tweaked the power usage and made it possible to run these things with a 4 day stand-by time and up to 16 hours per day.

Under $900 - that meets a financial sweetspot. Handhelds will pick-up momentum, when the price is right. And that means, not more expensive than traditional terminals. Many restaurant people instinctively think, that handhelds should be actually less expensive than terminals. With Widefly that is true. So maybe this is the one handheld, that will push mobile ordering to a tippingpoint and a world, where wireless mobile ordering is as widespread as traditional POS.