Restaurant systems

We can already see waiters registering orders using a PDA. Within a few years, this will become the standard procedure everywhere. In the opinion of Zoltán Papp, managing director of Com-Passz Kft., all restaurants and bars will soon be using an IT system of some kind. According to Sándor Bagdi, managing director of UCS Magyarország Kft., many bar or restaurant owners invest in such systems even before opening their place. While touch screen ordering systems and invoicing used to be regarded as innovative technology a few years ago, hand-held systems, which allow orders to be transmitted to the computer directly from tables are the current trend. Gyula Sasvári, director of Dreamcreator Stúdió Bt, expects PDA-s to become even more popular in the future, as their prices are falling. Csaba Karácsony, managing director of Kamex pointed out that IT systems not only allow service to become faster but also make administrative tasks easier to handle. The activities of Hotel Informatika Kft. are based on specialisation. According to István Mérő, managing director, owners of more expensive bars or restaurants accept the fact that their guests do not like hand written bills. Fast food units are also a special target group. Dávid Szabó, head of Szintézis Informatikai Zrt., agrees that development of the market continue and that IT systems will soon be adopted by the majority of restaurants. The popularity of IT systems which can replace cash registers is also growing. Viktor Soltész Nagy, marketing manager of Enterprise System believes that the Hungarian market is not lagging behind the world in terms of technology or software. Palm tops, PDA-s and other mobile terminals are already in use. In the medium term, we can expect automatic devices to appear on tables, and in the not very distant future, robot waiters will also appear. In fact, they have already appeared in Japan. A radio frequency caller was launched by Hotel Informatika last year, which warns guests in self-service restaurants when their dish is ready. Some Food and Beverage Management Systems already exist which allow beverages to be measured, orders to be placed automatically, supplier prices to be updated through the Internet and prevent over-billing. The Hungarian market is highly sensitive to price, but requires easy to use, flexible and reliable software solutions. Financing in the form of leasing is available for many IT solutions today. The latest technologies and software solutions like automatic beer taps built into tables, PDA-based inventory management functions, or microchip wristbands for guests will not come into widespread use in Hungary in the next one or two years.