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illustration by Nik Shulz
Made to OrderWritten by Len Lewis It’s 9 o’clock on a Friday evening. The dinner rush at a popular European eatery has shifted into high gear and shows no sign of slowing. Servers are explaining the night’s specials to customers, taking orders at light speed and barely avoiding collisions with runners bringing dishes from the kitchen and bussers clearing tables. Despite the pace, the kitchen hasn’t gotten a single order wrong, no one has to wait for a check and, perhaps most important, every payment is accounted for at the register. This scenario is playing out at more and more restaurants these days as wireless POS systems go mainstream. At a time when a recession-ravaged restaurant industry is limping through one of its worst periods, superior customer service and ultra-efficient ordering and POSsystems are more important than ever for bolstering bottom lines. The latest-generation hand held ordering device from Labware S.p.A. – the Click Menu Nano with Bluetooth technology – is upping the ante on both service and efficiency by setting new standards for weight, size and functionality. On the Menu
Labware, based in Civitanova, Italy, was founded in 1995 as a developer of POSsystems. The company is an industry leader in the development of easy-to-use wireless terminals for the retail and hospitality industries. The Nano, first launched in 2007, has clearly been one of the company’s most significant developments. Increasingly popular at restaurants throughout Europe and Japan, the device is expected to be available in other markets soon. “Service should be very fast in restaurants, and the Nano enables waiters to move quickly from one table to another,” says Pino Guerrieri, senior manager at Labware. “They no longer have to write down orders on paper and bring them back to the kitchen. Their main job becomes taking orders continuously. The Nano represents a real mobile solution for the wait staff, rather than just giving them access to a terminal.” The Nano – a fourth-generation ordering device that took more than a year to design – is the first in the line to use Bluetooth technology, according to Guerrieri. It’s also the smallest of the company’s mobile POS devices. “It is small and light – very comfortable for waiters to carry around or hang around their necks,” he says. Waiters take orders by tapping different “departments” on the touch screen to access dishes. The devices have been designed to be extremely user-friendly. They also allow for special orders. “Software called ‘the modifier’ also allows them to send special messages to the kitchen or make changes in a dish, such as using a different sauce than the one on the menu. It also allows them to add and remove ingredients at the customer’s request,” Guerrieri explains. The order is then sent to the host or POS terminal, which splits the orders, sending information to either the kitchen or the bar, where the appropriate orders are printed out and filled. The system also can be used with a small printer attached to a belt, enabling the server to print out checks on the spot and accept credit card or other e-payments. There is no limit to the number of Nano handheld devices that can work within a Bluetooth wireless network. In fact, the Nano can be part of a larger hospitality ordering system that includes B-CONNET – a multipurpose Bluetooth wireless server that allows multi-user POS terminals to store transaction data or share information with kitchen printers. A Side of Wireless
“Thanks to Bluetooth technology, we’ve been able to attain superior results in terms of performance and reliability,” Guerrieri says. “It is much faster than any other radio technology we’ve tested, and the bandwidth perfectly covers all our needs. This makes it a perfect device for busy restaurants. Another advantage of the Bluetooth (radio) is low power consumption. This virtually guarantees that the handheld device will have 48 hours (per charge), and it only takes three hours to recharge.” Moreover, the communications protocol means there will always be a strong connection that, combined with its ability to work in hidden mode, guarantees reliable, secure transmissions. And if problems arise when multiple Bluetooth enabled devices are used in the same area, Guerrieri notes, “the serial profile makes everything simpler to manage.” Bluetooth technology also holds a distinct advantage from a marketing and sales perspective. “Because it is a global standard, we are able to sell the Nano devices in any country,” Guerrieri says. As noted, the Nano has become very popular in European restaurants, and the company is now poised to break into the U.S. market. “In the past, it wasn’t widely used mainly because it was a very expensive device. Restaurant owners preferred to purchase additional POS systems rather than handhelds,” Guerrieri explains. “But we broke the (cost) barrier with the Nano, and I can say that the end-user price of the terminal is now one-third the cost of a POS machine. “For that reason,” he continues, “we are now pushing Nano in the U.S. We just signed a nationwide distributor who is starting to promote it through dealer channels. Reception for the item is very good, and I expect sales will increase considerably in the next year.” Japanese and Korean manufacturers also are producing the terminals, and sales have been expanded through distributor networks in such areas as New Zealand, Russia and Africa. Guerrieri won’t discuss specifics about the next-generation Nano. “(But) I can say that many of the new features involve software. One will be the ability to record and transfer voice messages from the waiter to the kitchen printer. We have the platform, and we’ll probably need another six to eight months for development,” he says, adding that a table version of the Nano may also beon the horizon. Len Lewis has written for and about retail for more than 30 years. He is a regular contributor to SIGnature on Bluetooth technology in the retail industry.
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