The traditional table service appears to be dying

I wouldn’t say that I go to restaurants frequently but it is my observation that whenever I go out to eat (to a pub or a café or even in many restaurants) that the traditional table service (where you sit down at a table and a server comes up to and takes your order and waits on you) is becoming rare here in Australia. Unless you to go to fancy restaurants, which is not something I do all that often.

In many places, you need to go up to the counter and place your order, you pay upfront, they hand you a buzzer, you take it back to your table and then it buzzes when your food is ready. You then go and collect your food and take it back to your table.

And in some places it’s like I just described, except instead of handing you a buzzer, they will bring your food to your table when its ready. They might hand you a table number (to place on the table) as many places won’t have fixed table numbers.

Those two scenarios were common in Australia, long before COVID-19 arrived, however what wasn’t so common was using your smartphone to scan a QR code (that is on your table) and that will take you to a link and you order your food that way.

I went out to eat the other night and had to do this. There was also a small credit card surcharge, which is not uncommon, but when electronic payments are the default, it seems a little cheeky to charge a fee for the privilege (although I’m also aware that if there was no surcharge, it would likely be factored into the cost somehow).

I was not handed a physical menu. I probably would have had to ask for one if I wanted one. I also know of another restaurant that charges a fee for the privilege of ordering through their app (even though they don’t hand you a menu). Go figure.

I’ve noticed that this has become a common experience since COVID hit in March 2020 (and everything closed for about 6 weeks and then gradually reopened and many businesses would have reassessed the way they do business).

I was also asked if I wanted to tip and I said no, because this is Australia, not the US, we don’t have that tipping culture, and hospitality staff here earn a half-decent wage (unless their employer is doing something illegal). It seems that tipping culture is seeping it’s way into Australia, but my opinion of tipping (in a country like Australia where we have a relatively high minimum wage) is that it should not be a given, it should be optional, like if the service was really good. But that isn’t the focus of my article.

Personally, as a millennial (who happens to have a degree in Information Systems) I don’t necessarily mind using my phone to do things like this but sometimes I miss the traditional service. If I wanted to order from my phone, I could have stayed home and ordered UberEats. You normally go to a restaurant because you want that experience of being served by an actual human. At least that’s my take.

To my North American readers, I understand that things might be different over there. I’ve never been there (but I’d like to visit one day). My understanding of American restaurants is that the servers rely on tips and (largely because of that) they will be super-friendly towards you and go out of their way to cater to whatever it is that you want. I’ve also heard it said that people who aren’t used to American-style customer service can find it a bit overwhelming to have sometime check in on you every 5 minutes to ask if everything is okay (I probably would, to be honest). But maybe things over there have also changed? I don’t know.

One thing about COVID is that certain trends that were already happening before COVID were accelerated by it. Like people paying for things electronically instead of using cash (I don’t mind this, to be honest). Or using apps to order your food and have it delivered (whereas just a few years ago, you probably had to pick up the phone and even then, you probably would have had to go and pick it up yourself because many restaurants did not deliver).

I don’t expect things to ever be like they used to be but we are living in interesting times. I will be interested to see what the world will be like as I grow older. Although, sometimes you do find yourself missing how things used to be.