Union Square Hospitality Group and Resy, a restaurant reservation startup, tonight announced at the TechTable Summit that every manager and sommelier at the Union Square Cafe will be outfitted with an Apple Watch to help improve customer service, reports Eater. The Union Square Cafe is set to reopen in late October and is the flagship restaurant of Danny Meyer, founder of Shake Shack.
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The Apple Watches will be outfitted with restaurant "control center" app ResyOS. Floor managers and sommeliers wearing the watches will receive notifications when VIPs enter the restaurant, when new tables are seated, when guests have waited too long to order, when menu items run out and more.
An iPad running ResyOS will act as the command center at Union Square Cafe's host's stand while the Apple Watches will pull the info inputted into the iPad in real-time. The Apple Watch's function will be focused on cutting out steps and increasing response time. For instance, when a guest is finished dining a manager will get a notification, allowing them to ping a server for the check or the guest's coat. Sommeliers will get wine orders sent to their Watch, rather than having to wait for a manager to relay the information to them.
Maureen Cushing, Union Square Hospitality's VP of Technology, tells Eater that ResyOS and the Apple Watches are "another way to respond and listen to our guests." She also notes that the Apple Watch will not replace communication between servers and management, as servers will not be receiving Apple Watches with ResyOS.
This isn't the first time that the food and beverage industry has embraced Apple products to improve hospitality. Many smaller restaurants and food trucks have opted to use iPads or iPhones as POS systems in lieu of more traditional options.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)First world solution. You would never trust a waiter with payments in South Africa, as you can be pretty damn sure the restaurant won't see the money. Card skimming devices are all over the place here, used by waiters. Now you're asking me to pay a third part OS via a device on the waiter's arm? How will I know it's not a fake third party app? Am I missing something here?
Unless I missed something, they Apple Watch won't be used to take payments. It'll be used to supplement the ways the someliers and managers can communicate.What's with everyone giving these things away?
Never underestimate how clever Apple is at marketing it's products.Apple Watch is a somewhat nascent product requiring plenty of internal help to keep it selling. Fortunately Apple's so wealthy they can keep the watch on life support forever.
Never underestimate how clever Apple is at marketing it's products.
Life support? Yesterday night I was in a bar, saw many Watches on real people .This thing is reaching critical mass, not "life support"!Apple Watch is a somewhat nascent product requiring plenty of internal help to keep it selling. Fortunately Apple's so wealthy they can keep the watch on life support forever.
The fact that institutions give away Apple Watches doesn't mean they obtained them for free. It's Samsung that packs a free smartwatch in seemingly every dish washer or smartphone in order to look less bad in market stats.
Life support?
What's interesting is Apple Devotees insecurities surface during a routine discussion of the product causing fear to make them bash Samsung for relief.It's Samsung that packs a free smartwatch in seemingly every dish washer or smartphone in order to look less bad in market stats.
First world solution. You would never trust a waiter with payments in South Africa, as you can be pretty damn sure the restaurant won't see the money. Card skimming devices are all over the place here, used by waiters. Now you're asking me to pay a third part OS via a device on the waiter's arm? How will I know it's not a fake third party app? Am I missing something here?
You are misunderstanding how Apple Pay works. It is the customer, not the business who wears their Apple Watch that is tied to the customer's iPhone. The ones worn by employees are for communicating among employees[doublepost=1475135414][/doublepost]
It sounds good but feels unnecessary in a well-managed restaurant with happy, motivated staff.
You aren't old. You just can't envision how technology can be useful in these types of environments. They aren't telling you your next task; they are updating you and other team members with important information so you don't have to waste time and quiet with constant repetition of info.Maybe I'm old but I wouldn't appreciate working in a restaurant and having alerts going off on my wrist like I was a kind of automaton telling me my next task.