Stacked Replaces Menus, Staff with iPads
Bruce Horovitz of USA Today writes: The first time most folks visit this restaurant, it won't likely be for the food, wine or beer. It'll be for the iPads.
When the new chain Stacked: Food Well Built opens its first of three Southern California units in May, sitting atop each of the fast-casual chain's 60 tables will be an iPad that folks will use to design and order their meals.
The two co-founders — who founded the BJ's Restaurant chain — plan to place 100 iPads in each restaurant. Diners will use them to look at meal options; design their own burgers, pizzas and salads; and, if they want, use the iPads to pay for the meals.
But, says co-founder Paul Motenko, "We're not going to market it as an iPad restaurant." When Stacked founders first considered a concept with guests creating their own meals and ordering them on tabletop devices, the iPad didn't yet exist. IPads were the breakthrough, Motenko says.