iPod makes waiting a cakewalk at this small biz - CIOL

The story of a Kerala-based small business owner, who has capitalized on Apple's iPod to save time and cost at his restaurant

BANGALORE, INDIA: Mothilal does not have an affluent background to brag about. Nor does he have the 'so-called' highly educated tag around his neck. However, he is not averse to technology, as is evident from his 'hi-tech' hotel, where he has made use of iPod to save on time and cost.

Owner of Mothi Mahal multicuisine restaurant in Thrissur, Kerala, Mothilal has capitalized on the iconic device by Steve Jobs. He has provided his waiters with iPods so that they can take orders from the customer and transfer the order to the cook and cash counter simultaneously. That too, in a matter of seconds. 

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“This has made a waiter's job much easier, as they do not need to carry a pen and a notepad to take orders from the customer and go to the kitchen to hand over the orders,” explains Mothilal. “Instead, the waiter can take orders on his iPod and it automatically reaches to the kitchen as well as the cash counter, as and when the customer places the order.”

What prompted him to go for such a mechanism in his business? “Well, I saw a similar kind of mechanism in a restaurant during my European trip, where I saw a waitress cover as many as five tables in a very short span of time, using her iPod. She said that the device was working on the basis of a signal system, by which the orders automatically reach the chef/cook and the cash counter at once.”

Interestingly, if a customer wants to make changes in his order, he can alert the waiter, who, in turn, can edit and modify it, and inform the cook through his iPod instantly.

In his view, the benefit of this technology doesn't end just here. “We have a provision for telephonic orders in the device, too, on which the customer can place his order through telephone. If he is a registered customer, his details will appear on Google search. Once the order is completed, an SMS is automatically sent to his mobile phone. The customer gets another SMS when the bill is generated.”

Mothilal doesn't want to be complacent with what he has installed. He now plans to upgrade the system, by which he can access the entire system from any part of the globe, anytime.

A Bangalore-based small-time IT company has installed the system in the restaurant, which cost Mothilal around Rs.. 1,50,000. “The software itself cost me Rs.. 50,000. The entire system consists of three iPods with 8GB memory each, a router, a touch screen monitor, an Internet-activated electronic printer and a computer,” he continues. “With this system in place, the waiter or the customer cannot cheat us with the bills. At the end of the day, it gives a huge fillip to my business.”

Mothilal, who also runs a Chinese restaurant in the same city, is now planning to introduce an ATM-like counter in front of his hotel. “The customer can place his order on this machine, an iPod which is bigger in size. This device will have all the details and descriptions of the foods. This will further help us reduce costs.”

At a time when small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country are reluctant to embrace IT in their business despite its huge potential, Mothilal's story should come as an inspiration.