Steak n Shake ...
 

... is now open for inside dining. However, instead of wait staff they have four kiosks at the front. You order and pay there and then sit down and wait for them to call out that your order is ready. You then go get your food and bring it back to your table.

We were up north twice in the last month and ate in a couple of restaurants with newly installed kiosks. I guess the owners are tired of waiting for people to return to the work force.

kathy

Good to know, thanks for sharing.

You would think that a high class place like Steak and Shake would provide personal service.

We ate there a week or so ago and there was no crowd. While I don't mind the Kiosk thing, because I'm there for a burger and a shake, it seems to me the new process has driven off many customers.

It's now just a fast food joint where they call out your number. I suspect this is the end because 3 tables with people at 5pm on a Thursday is not a recipe for a food joint to survive.

The workforce shortage will not improve if the minimum wage is increased.

Worked their way right out of a job.

Looks like we will be eating at home just about all the time in the future, I refuse to eat anywhere that forces me to use a Kiosk or App to order/pay for our food.

My mother would not stop at a gas station where she had to pump her own gas or pay at the pump - that just wasn't the level service she was accustomed to. I, on the other hand, would drive to the next station until I found one where I *could* pay at the pump.

Some prefer to talk to a person to take their order, especially if the prices reflect that kind of service. I'm starting to get used to the mobile order apps and a kiosk wouldn't bother me at all. But if ordering at a kiosk is not the Steak-n-Shake experience people have become accustomed to and expect then they will likely lose some business.

Good gawd! Not eating at a place where you have to use kiosk or app to order?

Get used to it. It is the future because people don’t want to get off their ass and go back to work; restaurant’s like Steak and Shake have to find a way to survive.

Look at it this way you just saved 20% . No reason to tip if there is no wait staff

Spot on
 

When will people wake up and look at the data. There is a shortage of labor as projected at least 20 years ago. To show you how unrealistic Congress is the current Federal Minimum Wage is $7.25 It’s a joke. The people we are sending to Washington are completely out of step with the people they are suppose to represent. Do you suppose the fact that most of them are millionaires has anything to do with it? Yeah, maybe a little.

That shows how most of you are so old. Coming from Jersey we were one of two states that had a law that we must have service people at gas stations because there are so many small private ones that they wanted to protect. I shudder to think with the shortage of workers what the lines would be just to get gas in today's world. We went to France about 10 or 12 years ago and at the Palace of Versailles we had to eat at a McDonald's and we first saw her touch screens there on a Sunday when all the other restaurants were closed, even the French did not know how to use them. Get used to it along with self checkout Lanes, pre-ordering on your phone, and the ubiquitous Amazon, I bet none of you understand or realize how much the world really has changed when you can't even get anyone at the department store to give you any help except for maybe the shoe department. Low skill jobs are going away for a lot of people and it's really going to hurt all the high school is mostly and the seniors that just want something easy to take up a few hours. And steak and shake is just a fast food joint folks . I can't say the food is any better or worse than McDonald's or Burger King or Wendy's.

:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

I haven't seen a full service gas station in years. I guess I'm so used to pump n go stations
That I haven't looked for a full service...
:popcorn::popcorn:

I lived 28 years in Ohio and 28 years in NJ until recently and getting fuel in the rain or snow in NJ was a breeze because some guy from India or Pakistan did the work. No idea why there aren't people from elsewhere, but they are all most all from the Indian subcontinent or just north of there. Rare Egyptian. You get to know most of them if you go enough. Nice folks usually.

They also, on occasion would steal your credit card information, short change you, over fill you (I asked for $20, you filled me up, etc.).

You take the good with the bad.

Personally, I love the scan and go App at Sam's club both inside and for gas. Drive up, it picks up the code and fill 'er up. I also love walking behind my cart with items past all the people in line in the store and go right out to the door! The first time it felt a bit like stealing, but I got over it. Now I wouldn't even consider NOT using the app in Sam's club. It's so much easier to just leave with the stuff you picked out.

and the most of them are WAY too old. Should be a mandatory retirement age

Just wait...Fairly soon you will be screened for flight departures by robots. That has been in the works for years and is being tested. Use the kiosks now so you are not lost!

We are already screened by robots. Maybe not the physical kind you're talking about, but daemons, scripts and robo applications that use big data to figure out who you are.

That thing with the lines and such at the airport is theatre for the most part. "Oh, we found this 12 ounce Key lime Jelly", yet routine security tests show that most guns and weapons sail right through.

If you have TSA/PRE or clear, it's a bit better. At least you can leave your shoes on.

If you have Global entry, coming back to the US is a breeze. You walk up to the Kiosk, it takes your picture and you're done. Hand the receipt to the guy as you walk past. That was a bunch of digital processes to match the physical you to the digital you and it's way more accurate that a minimum wage government TSA goon looking to see if you used gallon zip locks instead of quart ones.

I love the scan and go app also. I can’t imagine why people are waiting in long lines when they could pay as you go and walk out. And getting gas with the app is a huge time saver.

Who is Kiosk? I thought his name was Larry ….

I don't like paying by card only. I prefer cash. But I guess I'll save on gratuities!

And the $15+ an hour costs

I love that Sam's Club app!

Then, yes, you will have to eat at home. Many fast food and fast casual places are going to kiosks and on-table ordering and pay systems. Move with the times or get left behind.

Returning is not the issue, there is no affordable childcare, servers have died or have long covid, they have found better paying jobs, and their pay is horrible. Service industiries need the new approach. I was in Seattle where their restaurants are booming because they require facemasks and vaccine cards to get in, has not hurt their business.

We have been using kiosks for years. We always order our Starbucks thru our iPhones. Ordering from Amazon. Buy a car online. More tech the better. If people don’t want to work at the entry level jobs that are non-career type (flipping burgers, collecting money from patrons) for minimum wage, then bring on more kiosks

Used an APP once in my life, to take an Uber, and my credit card got compromised. Fool me once and it’s because I am naive, fool me twice and it’s because I’m stupid. No more APP’s for me.

I’m sorry that you will not be going to your favorite restaurant
 

but there is another place that you could make your go to restaurant and they have nice slogan,Have It Your Way. Good Luck Happy Eating

I was told MacDonald's makes more money in their drive up stations more then
having their lobby's open.

No table clean up.

Paying cash you miss out on benefits
 

I pay with card for everything but tips which I pay in cash , I get between $1,500 to 2 ,000 back every year from my card every time it goes over $500 I have them send me a check it’s not to pay my balance ( which you can ) or to go to bank ( which you can ) it’s to spend frivolous anyway you want lol

This just like white castle or smorgasbord restaurants
 

Thats not new

Steak n Shake
 

I like this place. Kiosks don’t deter me. I save 20%, on the tip I would have left the waiter/waitress.

Try ordering a salad, burger or anything else with something either added or deleted from the regular order, i.e. salad with cheddar instead of blue cheese. Good luck with that one on the kiosk!

I feel the same way about grocery pickup, park, pickup and go, can't get easier.

The McD app and kiosk are actually much better for special orders than talking to a person. All of my orders are "special" and I always use the app with curbside delivery rather than just talking to the order taker at the drive-thru. The human always seems to get it wrong! Wawa kiosks are excellent, as well.

k.

LOL. Yeah, who wants to talk to a human? They're the worst.

I've only seen it for someone with a handicap plate or plaque which I believe is required by law.

Home Depot
 

We used Home Depot curbside pickup this week. Select exactly what you want online, pay online. They give you a link to call when you are at the curbside pickup location. Our item was in our car less than 2 minutes later. I kid you not. Never going into the store again.

What card is that? I want $2,000/year too.

Skip

Not that hard to do. Especially if you use your credit card for everything. There are several cards that pay 5% cash back for travel, 3% for dining and 1.5% for everything else...