An examination of electronic tablet based menus for the restaurant industry

Beldona, SrikanthThe menu has been considered as the primary tool for sales and communication in a restaurant operation, as it drives the production and purchasing decisions for both the customer and the restaurateurs. With the advances in technology restaurateurs have tried to improve menus to make them more appealing in order to boost sales and enhance the ordering experience for customers. In this context, there has been an increase in the application of technology in restaurants such as online ordering, mobile apps for ordering and payments and Electronic Tablet-based menus. This study was conducted to determine if the Electronic Tablet-based menu was significantly superior to the traditional paper based menu when it came to the ordering experience as well as to determine if Electronic Tablet-based menus reported greater usability ratings when compared with traditional paper based menus. To evaluate both menus, opinions were sought from the patrons of the Vita Nova, student operated restaurant at the University of Delaware. Respondents of the study were given either a paper-based menu or an electronic tablet (iPads) with the menu accessible through a menu webpage developed exclusively for the experiment. Respondents were then asked to evaluate the menus across two important criteria namely, ordering experience and usability. Data was analyzed using independent sample t-tests and bivariate correlations. Findings indicate that the Electronic tablet-based menu is significantly superior to the traditional paper based menu when it comes to the ordering experience and also reported greater higher usability ratings when compared with traditional paper based menus. Restaurateurs need to take advantage of the potential of electronic tablets to bridge the information gap that exists with traditional paper based menus. Electronic tablets have the ability to transfer greater levels of information in an interactive manner thereby enhancing the role of the menu in the merchandising.University of Delaware, Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional ManagementM.S