Last week, I ordered a coffee on the Starbucks app while sitting right in front of the barista, who was brewing someone else's order. I was there to meet a potential client who was running late, and I didn't want to wait for my caffeine fix.
One tap on the app, one eye contact with the barista, a nod of acknowledgement, and within seconds my coffee was ready. No queue, no cashier, no friction.
The meeting then moved to a Taj property on OMR. I sat in the lobby with a coffee shop right in front of me, and the staff were nowhere to be seen. I waved at the lady managing the adjacent store, and she fetched the barista for me.
As my guests and I started chatting, she handed me an A3-size menu spread across finger foods, soups and coffees. We stuck to the basics.
The contrast stayed with me. One experience was seamless because ordering was in my hands. The other depended on spotting a human, waving them down, and waiting for a menu.
What AI is for tech, self-ordering could be for food and beverage, especially in India. Almost every restaurant here has a dozen waiters, each managing a cluster of three to four tables. In peak hours, they run from one table to the next, taking orders, fixing mistakes, fetching water and chasing the kitchen.
We call it service, but much of it is order-taking.
Imagine a different flow. A guest walks in and opens an aggregator-style app. She orders, chooses takeaway or dine-in, and enters the table number. The kitchen receives the order directly, and the food arrives carried by a waiter, not a robot.
Hospitality stays human, and only the order-taking is automated.
Is "ResTech" the next big thing?
I think it could be. Waiters would spend their time on welcoming, recommending and care, instead of scribbling orders. Errors would fall, table turns would speed up, and the kitchen would see demand in real time.
It also changes what restaurants compete on.
Today, ambience carries the experience. Tomorrow, the ordering process itself could become the experience: how fast, how easy, how personal. That changes the equation completely.
Am I dreaming? Perhaps. But Indians already scan, tap and pay without a second thought. The habit exists.
The restaurants that blend technology with warmth will own the next decade of dining.
Will this ever happen? I believe it already has begun, one coffee at a time.
