I had lunch at a local diner yesterday. I’ve been there before. In fact, I’ve been there many times over a period of almost 30 years. On my first visit to the property I dined in a traditional looking diner car that may have served as the artist’s model for a Rockwell painting.
Several years after that a complete remodel was done. A liquor license was obtained, the menu was streamlined and the place took on a look that Frank Lloyd Wright may have come up with for Fallingwater if Fallingwater was an eatery. There was stone and cantilevered timber and everything was earth tone and massive. Inside, the spotless furniture and fixtures were upscale, the booths were spacious and there was luxuriously wide spacing between the tables. It was ultra modern and one could tell that the new manager, a tall thin European hipster type who checked in with every guest, was a visionary who was making that vision a reality right before our eyes. It must have been a trend in diner-land because at around the same time two other diners that I frequent had also embarked on transformative renovations.
A few years later, early on during the most severe of the Covid lockdowns I drove by and was surprised to see that the place was closed. At first I was saddened to think that another of our independent local businesses had succumbed to the crisis. Then I realized that construction was underway! This seemed to me to be some combination of brilliance, courageousness and optimism. No one is going out to eat anyway so why not take the opportunity to upgrade the place so it’s done by the time they let them open back up?
Fast Forward To Yesterday
OK, so now that my excessively long setup is at last finished, here is the point of this blog post. My wife and I finally visited this newly expanded Fallingwater Diner (Not the real name!) and I must say that it is as spectacular as ever. From the newly paved parking lot complete with electric vehicle charging stations to the huge centrally located bar, everything is top shelf. If the folks at Disney – not the park people, the folks doing the Star Wars movies – designed a diner, this is what it would look like!
The host led us to our table and asked if we had ever used OneDine. We had not so he gave us a quick explanation of how it works followed by an offer to assist if we had any difficulty.
OneDine is a “contactless dining solution”. The way it works is the patron points their phone at a QR code and then uses the resulting web link to browse the menu and order and pay for their meals. With the suppression of a momentary desire to simply walk out and find a restaurant with a familiar, although sometimes food stained and sticky plastic card menu and with a little assistance from our host, we figured out how to navigate OneDine.
From a technology standpoint it is pretty neat and the card on the table promoting it, lists higher pay for restaurant personnel as one of it’s benefits. As a person who as a child had food and shelter thanks primarily to the tips that my waitress mom could earn, I appreciate that. As a business owner I also appreciate the need to adjunct a shrinking labor force.
The electronic menu was easy to navigate and the software was intuitive and forgiving. The menu items were much the same as on our prior visits and the quality of the food was also as high as ever. It was suggested that we order our drinks first so that they could be delivered while we look at the menu and order our entrees. You will recognize this as the server metaphor – just like with a live server. We ordered coffee and it was delivered promptly. We ordered our diners and they too arrived in the typical amount of time and in the typical fashion. If we needed anything else, or if we wanted to add an item or order desert, OneDine was at the ready. Additionally, the person who seated us kept a careful watch to ensure that should we need any assistance (Gray haired = Technology challenged?) it would be administered. When we were ready to leave it was easy to use the site to pay the bill. It would have been easy to split the bill had we wanted to, and the payment options included credit card, Paypal, ApplePay and maybe a few others. After a very brief learning curve it was easy and efficient and even made us feel sort of hip. (Yea, we can hang with the young people. No problem!) I’m sure we will continue to eat at Fallingwater.
The Server Metaphor Gap
It was a fun and vaguely familiar experience but something was missing. Sort of like going back to the childhood home that was sold long ago. It’s kind of as you remember it but it is a little different and hard to relate to. It’s not the garage that some owner added at some point. It’s not the new siding. (What were they thinking when they choose that color?) It’s not the now empty corner where your mom planted her prized Silver Maple tree. Those are not what make it different. What makes it different is that the people you knew are no longer there. That’s what OneDine reminds me of. I miss the smile of recognition I got when the server walked up to the table. I enjoy the sound of the person’s voice, their gate, their dress, the faint smell of cologne or perfume or the way they wear their hair or uniform. I like hearing from the server who is packing to move to Hawaii due to a military spouse’ transfer. I like learning about the cultural experience of people who speak in a way that is unlike my own. I even enjoy interacting with the person who is doing their best but barely hiding the fact that they are having a bad day. These things all add a richness and are part of the things that I really like about classic diners.
I understand the drivers of “contactless dining solutions” and at times – in an airport, getting morning coffee on the way to work, or grabbing a quick lunch, I even prefer them. Other times, and I count eating at my local diner as one of those, I prefer the “full contact dining solutions”. Also, I’m not what anyone would call a spend thrift but I’m happy to pay a bit more for that experience.
I often say that life is about doing stuff. It’s true but life is also about interacting with people. Some of those interactions are close or intense or personal and on-going as with spouses, members of your close family or work colleagues. Other interactions are much more fleeting or casual – a shop keeper, the person sitting next to you an a plane, members of your community or…..a server. I like them all.
What Are Your Thoughts?
Do you enjoy interacting with servers? Do you feel removing them from a diner diminishes or enhances the experience? Tell me your view on contactless dining solutions and whether you’ve experienced it either via OneDine or some other technology. I suspect we will be seeing more use of this tech in the near future and I’d like to know your thoughts on it. Use the “Leave A Reply” section below or join in the open discussion on this topic.
I like interacting with the Servers. They are always upbeat and caught up in the beat of the restaurant. This adds to the dining atmosphere and experience
Thanks for the comment. I agree. I hope that at least a few of our local diners will keep live in person servers.