Menus, staff being replaced by iPads

As technology improves it continually finds its way into our daily lives, replacing things that we never would have though they would.

The next stop? The service industry.

According to USA Today, the new chain Stacked: Food Well Built will have an iPad on each of its 60 tables, which people 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.

The iPads will be in metal frames that sit a few inches off the tabletops, and people ordering burgers will be able to choose the type of bun, meat and toppings by clicking and dragging icons on the device. The same goes for pizzas and salads.

Co-founder Paul Motenko said they are not planning to market the restaurant as "an iPad restaurant." In fact, he said when they first considered the idea of having guests creating and placing their own orders through tabletop devices, the iPad did not yet exist.

Others have tried iPads. Restaurants by Delta Air Lines gates at New York's John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airport installed iPads at tables that let guests custom-order meals. Bone's Restaurant in Atlanta uses iPads for its wine list. Co-owner Richard Lewis says wine sales jumped 20% since the iPads were added six months ago

Someday, they'll be at all restaurants, Lewis says. "It's the future."

The trend to go towards technology is something that appeases younger people, who want to see more of the devices in restaurants. Hudson Riehle, research chief at the National Restaurant Association, says a recent survey had two of three 18-34-year-olds favoring restaurants with high-tech gear.

But, Riehle warns, "I want to see industrial-strength iPads. It can be a jungle on the tabletop."