The purpose of this research is to improve the food ordering process and enhance customer experience by automating it. The main focus of the study is to develop and implement an automated food ordering system with real-time customer feedback (ASS-RTF) for restaurants. This system uses wireless data access to servers, enabling users to view menu details through an android application on their mobile devices. The order information from customers’ mobile devices is wirelessly sent to a central database and then forwarded to the kitchen and cashier as needed.
The restaurant owner can easily manage menu modifications using the wireless application on mobile devices. This provides convenience, improves efficiency and accuracy by saving time, reducing human errors, and allowing for real-time customer feedback. This system effectively addresses the limitations of previous PDA-based food ordering systems and is more cost-effective and efficient compared to multi-touchable restaurant management systems.
The business transactions have been greatly influenced by the advancement in information and communication technology (ITCH). The automation in the hospitality industry has been led by the adoption of wireless technology and the emergence of mobile devices. The combination of wireless and mobile technologies has the potential to improve business in the hospitality industry, including restaurants. The advancements in food ordering techniques have increased competition in the restaurant business [1]. The previous food ordering system used to be a manual process involving waiters, pen, and paper.
The waiter is responsible for taking orders from customers and delivering them to the kitchen. They also update order records and create the bill. However, the manual system used for this process is prone to human errors in noting down the orders. To address this issue, alternative systems such as PDA-based systems and multi-touchable restaurant management systems were developed to automate the food ordering process [2]. Although PDA devices have the advantage of portability and communication with personal computers, they also have their limitations.
PDA-based systems have limitations including lack of ubiquitous communication, exposure to health hazards, lower SPIN (graphical processing unit), and hardware support. These limitations prevent menu customization and real-time communication, and can increase restaurant expenses when needed in large quantities [2]. Similarly, multi-touchable restaurant management systems also have drawbacks. They often require low resolution output from the monitor and can produce unintended activation without touching the screen. Additionally, the cost to produce the special Infrared bezel for touch screens is very high [3].
The COOS-RTF [6] was created as a solution for PDA-based systems. It is a wireless food ordering system that utilizes smart phones for order placement. Building upon this concept, we have developed our system, ASS-RTF, specifically designed for Android Devices. The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: Section II provides a review of existing PDA-based food ordering systems, discusses the use of high cost touch screens in a multi-touchable restaurant management system, and presents the application of Android technology.
Section III of the text introduces the ASS-RTF architecture and system design. Following that, Section IV discusses the Results & Analysis of ASS-RTF. Lastly, Section V covers the conclusion and future work. II. RELATED WORK A. Need of Automation in Restaurant Sector The Hospitality industry, particularly the assistant sectors, have been playing a crucial role in supporting economies globally for many years. The typical method for food ordering in restaurants has traditionally been a manual process.
Waiters are responsible for recording customers’ menu preferences, transferring orders to the kitchen, serving food, and preparing bills. However, this seemingly simple process is prone to human errors and delays, leading to unsatisfactory experiences for customers. In today’s modern world, there is a strong interest in adopting new technologies and automating daily tasks.
New technologies and approaches have been introduced to automate the conventional food ordering system, aiming to enhance efficiency and minimize errors [1]. Wireless food ordering systems like W, I-menu [4], and FOSS [2] are examples of these technologies. These systems utilize Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) for customers or waiters to enter orders. Once an order is finished, waiters collect the PDAs for use by other customers. PDAs are compact and portable devices.
