Year of Mobile Management?

The show hasn’t even started, but a theme is already emerging for the National Restaurant Association’s mega-convention in Chicago. If the early hubbub is any indication, this may well be the Year of the Handheld.

We’ve been hit with a Duluth-scale blizzard of alerts from industry newcomers who are set to change the business come May 20. They’re using the show, still the king of industry trade expositions, to introduce apps, new uses for iPads (primarily as menus, though also as a billing mechanism), restaurant finder services (think TripAdvisor and OpenTable), and citizen-rating networks (Yelp and a host of others).

We’ve seen this sudden emergence of an industry phenomenon before. The Year 2000 was a prime example, with more computer terminals in the booths than you’d find in the programming wing of Microsoft. The exhibitors weren’t touting computers or terminals, but online services, particularly purchasing schemes of one sort or another (the buzzwords flying that year: “aggregation,” “reverse auctions,” and “economies of scale for independents.”)

Curiously, I can’t think of more than two of those companies that are still around, and they’re almost unrecognizable from what they were.

Not that this year’s handheld upstarts are doomed. Far from it, though a shakeout always follows the rapid emergence of a new product or services category. Indeed, we at Restaurant Business feel bullish enough about handhelds to devote an editor to their coverage. So now we have a specialist in social media (yours truly), food (Pat Cobe), ideas and innovation (Sam Smith) and now handhelds/mobile management (Amanda Westbrooks).

We believe handhelds will follow the path of sustainability, the big focus of NRA 2008, though everyone knew it as the green movement back then. From a minor presence the year before, a conservation sensibility had grown into something omni-present.

That hasn’t changed. Indeed, this year EcoLogic will give us what is likely the first NRA to be made of living walls (i.e., plants growing on a vertical plane) and a grass floor.

McDonald's quietly adopts handhelds

The proliferation of iPad-based menus and wine lists is generating buzz, but far more interesting is the quiet adoption of hand-held ordering devices by several quick-service giants.

McDonald’s revealed to investors last week that one advantage of its new POS system is adaptability to handhelds, “which we're beginning to implement more and more [in] the restaurants,” commented president Don Thompson. He also noted that the new POS system is compatible with dual drive-thrus.

mcDonald's is updating its sales technology in large part because the next generation requires less user input. Franchisees say an order can be input with fewer keystrokes and screens, speeding up service during crunch periods.

The operators have groused a little about the cost, which they have to absorb after investing in equipment to produce coffees, frappes and other high-ticket beverages.

Meanwhile, I can attest firsthand that Chipowithin using handhelds at some stores, including the one near Restaurant Business' headquartersb in the Wall Street area of New York. A staffer was using one recently to take orders from the queue of 35 or so people. You placed your order and payed. Then, when you got to the serving area, less info had to be provided, and the line did move faster.

The revelation about McDonald's use of handhelds came during a conference call on Friday with financial analysts. During the call executives also offered these news nuggets:

--The January offer of a 20-piece serving size of Chicken McNuggets led to a double-digit increase in sales of the product.

--McDonald's sales of hot coffee rose 17% year-over-year during the just-concluded winter.

--A frozen strawberry lemonade will be introduced in May, a part of the chain's efforts to match new drinks with the season. Thompson noted that a new smoothie flavor is also in the works.