This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project addresses the issue of the delay in communications between restaurant patrons and restaurant wait staff. The delay in communications often results in the reduction of patron satisfaction and a lower table turnover rate. Thus, the Computer Aided Dining (CAD) system aims to assist restaurant management in improving communications between restaurant patrons and restaurant wait staff to minimize wasted time.

One of CAD’s main objectives is to supply restaurants with a tool to help provide better service to restaurant patrons and also, to supply the restaurant patrons with a tool that provides them with an option that could improve their dining experience. This would help lead to an increase in restaurant profits. Nevertheless, the CAD system also takes into consideration the fact that the system should try not to alienate restaurant patrons who are not technology literate.

The research for the CAD system’s main focus is on the unnecessary wait within a restaurant. One of the goals of the research is to keep the wait staff focused on the restaurant patrons’ needs and wants. Another area of research focused on is the increase in profits for the restaurants that are willing to implement the CAD system into their restaurant system. The increase in profits is deemed a result of an increase in table turnover.

The CAD system is specifically catered for the restaurant and dining industry only. However, the initial CAD system proposed in this Phase I proposal has plenty of room for future modifications. Lots of different possibilities exist, one of which allows restaurants to expand their menus by adding survey results of their patrons’ favorite dishes.