Nation’s Restaurant News - Bushnell’s uWink markets to women with video menus, nonviolent games
Part of the story…
WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. (Oct. 9) - There will be no Skee-Ball. Another message that digital-entertainment pioneer and Chuck E. Cheese’s founder Nolan Bushnell wants to impart this week with the scheduled debut here of his long-awaited uWink is that the casual-dining bistro is light-years beyond previous adult-oriented gaming and dining formats. Unlike such concepts as GameWorks and Dave & Buster’s, the upstart uWink prototype, tucked into a large shopping mall in this San Fernando Valley suburb of Los Angeles, targets women ages 21 to 35.
With recent research indicating that women are increasingly frequent players of the kind of nonviolent video games that uWink will feature, Bushnell appears to have come full circle from his decades-ago parenthood of Atari Corp. and its seminal hit “Pong.” But with uWink, he is venturing far from the pizza parlor fare of his last chain venture.
Created by a Wolfgang Puck alumnus, uWink’s eclectic menu aims to rival that of The Cheesecake Factory in terms of food quality and variety. UWink also offers a full bar. Uncluttered walls throughout the 150-seat dining room either display ever-changing “iCandy” digital art or serve as large screens for tabletop-generated game play by dining parties. Elegantly unobtrusive terminals at the center of each table allow guests to order and customize their meals and drinks, choose from a variety of entertainment media channels, and pay their tabs with the swipe of a charge card.
But perhaps most important, according to Bushnell, is that uWink aims to bring people together, unlike gaming and dining venues that promote a guest-versus-machine dynamic. “Women will fall in love with this place because of the games,” Bushnell said, “but there’s nothing immersive. We want the emphasis to be on the relationships between people. The games are just the facilitator.”
Long known as a forward-thinking entrepreneur, Bushnell invented the first commercial video game and founded Atari in the 1970s, later selling it to Warner Communications. He went on to create Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theater in 1978, a vanguard concept in family-friendly dining that now has more than 500 locations and is owned by Irving, Texas-based CEC Entertainment Inc. Bushnell has assembled a team of restaurant industry veterans to run uWink. His director of operations is John Kaufman, a key executive in the early evolution of the Los Angeles-based California Pizza Kitchen chain and former chief operating officer for the Rosti and Koo Koo Roo brands. uWink’s executive chef is Greg Schroeppel, formerly of Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group. Schroeppel’s resume also includes years of experience in foodservice research and development for such brands as Applebee’s and Arby’s. The food is designed to be a primary draw, Kaufman said. The globally inspired menu of uWink includes such appetizers as Thai-style chicken lettuce cups, barbecued pork sliders and hummus with olive tapanade served with fried yucca chips. The targeted per-person ticket is $12 to $14 at lunch and $15 to $18 at dinner, without alcohol.
October 9th, 2006 at 11:55 am
“Uncluttered walls throughout the 150-seat dining room either display ever-changing “iCandy” digital art or serve as large screens for tabletop-generated game play by dining parties.”
uncluttered is the part i like. will be nice for once to go to a restaurant where way too much stuff is pasted to the walls is an annoying “natural” way.
i like the idea of the changing wall displays to use for environment changes and tournament display. hopefully though the quality of these displays is good and does not look like a cheesy rear projection where you can see fading at the corners.
October 9th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
I, too, was concerned that the projection displays would be cheesey and remind me of science class. But when i got to the place to see for myself, I was pleasantly astonished. It’s very advanced and makes it look like the projections are a natural part of the wall, but then all of the “art” moves slowly in a trippy-like fashion. It’s extremely hip and classy. You really need to see it in person to truly appreciate it.
October 10th, 2006 at 7:16 am
if these are indeed high quality projection displays, then the uses uwink has proposed will have a much higher chance of success. so uwink is essentially proposing these monitors be used as a way to change the environment and also to display interaction occurring between restraurant customers in terms of games. I’m curious as whether it will be used for customer menu preferences. meaning top ordered dishes/drinks for the evening. or possibly a restaurant wide quiz/poll sponsored by an advertiser that asks “what is the most popular drink?” with winners receiving credit to their bill or a free piece of pie, etc. the possibility for restaurant interaction is quite interesting if these displays are high quality and able to display information clearly. i believe it will be perceived by customers in a positive way as long as it’s not constantly changing and distracting.
October 10th, 2006 at 7:19 am
just a though that came to mind. biggest bill/tab of the hour gets 10% off their total and free dessert.
October 10th, 2006 at 7:25 am
offer tables the change to take magazine quizzes possibly sponsored by maxim/cosmo and then show them which tables have the most in common. advertiser gets its name out there, a connection is possibly made between the people at the two tables, and customers are entertained.
October 10th, 2006 at 7:30 am
another possibility, allow tables to form teams/alliances to change other groups of tables. our tables really knows current events, other table knows sports. together you will probably compete better. tables split the prizes, i.e free desserts etc. tables will get to know each other. but tables must say they are available for team requests, otherwise a message cannot even be sent to them. they may very well just want to have an evening out with their friends only but watch what’s going around them.
October 10th, 2006 at 9:36 am
also, based on what you have ordered so far, it could display possible suggestions for dessert, more dishes, etc. and it could determine this based on what others in the restaurant have ordered who have also ordered similar items.
October 10th, 2006 at 9:41 am
also maybe allow for the possible rating of foods, this could help in the suggesting food part. i.e netflix. this person rated alll these foods the same as you, and they rated this dessert you haven’t tried 5 stars. you might like it….
as long as all these things actually benefit the customer in a real way, it would be great. and a lot of times at a restaurant you are not sure what to order and really would like some suggestions. but not just random suggestions, but ones based on you. the waiter may say you might like this. but if i have this complete rating system of all customers compared to my own ratings, there’s a good chance i may like that selection.
and this would also help the restaurant tweak food. if everyone is rating a specific food as very low/bad, then they can alter/remove it. i mean otherwise in a typical restaurant it may be hard to determine that appetizer 17 is not really like too much. because maybe it gets ordered a lot, but people just don’t end up liking it. so how would you know otherwise. and possibly even it could ask for suggestions with pre-done answers. should these hot wings be a) hotter b) same c) milder.
there is a really good chance for customer feedback that can be anaylyzed and turned around to create a better experience for the customer.
October 11th, 2006 at 9:45 am
ok what happens if a group of 6 people come to uwink. from what i can see the tables are designed for 4 people to have a good view of the screen and within distance to touch the screen. so the other 2 are given menus? and if all 6 people cannot view the screen will they not feel left out?
October 11th, 2006 at 9:47 am
is there a quick find option. meaning i always order plate abc. so if there a number that corresponds, then can just type that in to add it.
also, does it show your previous orders, a sort of order history. or more importantly, your most frequently ordered items?
October 11th, 2006 at 9:50 am
and since when you swipe your card it brings up your personal info, favorite drinks, etc., who then swipes the card? if all 6 people in the party have uwink cards and all 6 cards stored each person’s favorites info, then how exactly will this not be a problem? i can see of course if people are ordering at the bar, that’s different. but also if one perosn swipes, and then because of how much they all ordered, they receive food credit for next time, then that person will receive it which doesn’t seem fair.
if someone could explain the entire process of customers using their uwink cards from login to logout, that would help.
from the 18 page uwink pdf file, it explained it in terms of you check in with a card and checkout and stores info, but not beyond that.
October 11th, 2006 at 9:51 am
reason i am harping on this is because it’s important that in the process of removing annoying steps that other restaurants have, that in the process you don’t add any additonal ones that dont’ exist yet.
October 11th, 2006 at 10:29 am
Sagar: c’mon man, stop hogging all of the blog space. you can check this blog for PR’s but go to investor’s hub if you want to ramble. (special bonus: people will respond back to you at The Hub, whereas, right now you are talking to an empty room.) it’s kinda weird.
October 11th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
hehe, felt kind of weird posting with no replies. was too lazy to signup on the investors hub board, so was hoping posters would starting posting here. i’ll signup over there and join you guys.