ACYOvermod: I ain't dead yet. Actually, I'm not familiar with the Chili's system. Haven't been there in years because I always thought their food was too salty & I'm less able to tolerate the hot stuff nowadays. I couldn't get the system to show up on my screen.
Look up "ziosk" and you'll find some of the technical details. Chili's is just one example of a company that uses the technology. I have little doubt that Amtrak could adapt the system to its own particular needs and priorities -- actual needs, not perceived 'pretty interface' needs...
If this system relies on the ability to communicate in real time through the ether, I'm suspicious of it. It's a pain in the neck when we're traveling through the hinterlands & can't get a signal. If it's self-contained, that might be a different story.
The 'customer' features are pretty much internal, with the "critical" radio links for customer ordering being handled internally, presumably on the train's WiFi network.
Extended services might require some external data, but this would be relatively low-bandwidth, and much of it (customer special dietary needs or preferences, for instance) could be preloaded at times an external network connection can be made.
If the system is extended to make 'pick-up' ordering from stops practical, I suspect no more data capacity would be needed than that available over a commercial cell-phone connection; in 'the boonies' you might need a femtocell or two in strategic locations to allow enough 'lead time' -- but this is a cinch to configure and perhaps not *that* much expense to provide relative to benefits.
Right now, it's probably best for me to be a bit restrained in what I say about the situation re. Amtrak's food service policies & practices, since I'm not authorized to speak for the Company.
Your impressions are just that: your own opinions. I think we can trust you to be discreet in any areas where discretion is advisable.
In this case, we're not looking for whether or not the Ziosk company ought to be providing service to Amtrak -- we're looking for your opinions on how the technology might make your job, and Amtrak's service, better in real-world terms. You have very good firsthand knowledge of how a system like Ziosk could contribute if configured correctly -- what things should be in and out of the configuration? What 'value-added' services make sense to provide on-train, in a dining car? Do you allow connection of personal electronics to the system, for example to allow users to 'download' their preferences or menu choices when they sit down (perhaps via a properly-written app on a 'phone) rather than navigate through the Ziosk screens? In other words -- what works, and what doesn't, in your specifically-understood context? Those things are invaluable for any UI or systems designer...
Marketing is important. 1.2 hours in one place and a half hour in another means nothing on a train. On a train you have to know how many diners you have to fit into the dining car during a given dinner hour. Then you've got to figure what fare you need have based on those dining. You don't want to serve filet mingon when porterhouse or sirloin or swiss steak would fit the pocketbook and tastes better.
But an intriguing thought comes to mind. With the mentioning of Chili's. Chili's is a pretty good mid level, mass taste, pale blue collar fare. But maybe an Applebees or Ruy Tuesday's...similar levels of fare...were to be contracted with so that service could be delivered aboard at stations where there is a franchise or restaurant of that chain. And it could be plates designed for Amtrak and not found on company's regular menus. Take orders for dinner leaving NYP and have them boarded at Stamford or MetroPark or Harmon for instance. This is just a way out thing that came to my mind but would have to be explored and planned by those in the rail dinning car marketing department along with specific chain restaurants along given routes...you could even do a Chilis' and an Applbees' and a McDonalds and a Long John Silvers along the same route and change from region to region...All that Amtrak has to have is a microwave, a coffee pot, and a refrigerator in the galley and no more than 4 or 5 people in the service (each being able to wait the table, service the ordering, and service the food when it arrives aboard,
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I think Amtrak has good, cost effective, satisfied customer system in place ---on Acela. It shoujld be system-wide. That is my opinion.
CMStPnP BaltACD CMStPnP What a leap ahead this would be for Amtrak Dining Car Service in accuracy, speed and customer satisfaction. Just used one of these terminals yesterday for lunch at a local Chili's. http://www.ziosk.com/ Like anything high tech - to be successful, it has to work. Took my daughter to lunch several months ago to a Chili's - system was down. I'll take a Texas managed Chili's any day of the week over another part of the country. Never had a problem or seen a problem with the system locally. Generally though restaurants are better managed in Texas than other parts of the country and the service is a lot faster because the market is more competitive down here. So happy my consulting project near Chicago ended. They have two speeds in a Chicago restaurant........slow and slower. Meals in a Chicago suburban restaurant averages about 1.25 to 1.5 hours vs 40-45 minutes in Texas. Which do you think makes more money?
BaltACD CMStPnP What a leap ahead this would be for Amtrak Dining Car Service in accuracy, speed and customer satisfaction. Just used one of these terminals yesterday for lunch at a local Chili's. http://www.ziosk.com/ Like anything high tech - to be successful, it has to work. Took my daughter to lunch several months ago to a Chili's - system was down.
CMStPnP What a leap ahead this would be for Amtrak Dining Car Service in accuracy, speed and customer satisfaction. Just used one of these terminals yesterday for lunch at a local Chili's. http://www.ziosk.com/
What a leap ahead this would be for Amtrak Dining Car Service in accuracy, speed and customer satisfaction. Just used one of these terminals yesterday for lunch at a local Chili's.
http://www.ziosk.com/
Like anything high tech - to be successful, it has to work.
Took my daughter to lunch several months ago to a Chili's - system was down.
I'll take a Texas managed Chili's any day of the week over another part of the country. Never had a problem or seen a problem with the system locally. Generally though restaurants are better managed in Texas than other parts of the country and the service is a lot faster because the market is more competitive down here. So happy my consulting project near Chicago ended. They have two speeds in a Chicago restaurant........slow and slower. Meals in a Chicago suburban restaurant averages about 1.25 to 1.5 hours vs 40-45 minutes in Texas. Which do you think makes more money?
What are the data sources for the comparison of restaurant management practices and serving speeds in the United States, i.e. document, page numbers, methodologies for gathering, processing and analyzing the data, etc. vs. Texas for example?
Overmod [ More seriously -- where is ACY in this thread? We need to hear from actual Amtrak personnel about how they think this system would benefit their ways of doing things.
[
More seriously -- where is ACY in this thread? We need to hear from actual Amtrak personnel about how they think this system would benefit their ways of doing things.
Currently working!
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
CMStPnPMeals in a Chicago suburban restaurant averages about 1.25 to 1.5 hours vs 40-45 minutes in Texas. Which do you think makes more money?
So much for the 'magic 20' at the Waffle House!
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