Just when it seemed as if the near-term promise of benefits for restaurateurs from radio frequency identification, or RFID, tags was starting to smell fishy, Seattle-based Blue C Sushi began using the technology to assure product freshness, improve purchases and track customer habits.
RFID technology involves small, low-power chips that wirelessly transmit data, such as a unique identifier code, across small spaces to specialized readers. Such systems usually work with software that knows what to do with the information relayed from tag to reader, such as link the identifier code to a credit card account or compare it to entries on a list of approved users.
To date, most RFID development or development talk has centered on security, supply chain and inventory control applications and toll-road and parking lot transponders. But Mary Hamill, vice president of information technology for the Max & Erma’s casual-dining chain, recently summed up the thoughts of many, saying, “RFID is getting a lot of press, but the industry is light years away from seeing it reach mainstream status.”
Mainstream or not, Blue C Sushi’s RFID application functions today, and its developers say more features will be added soon.
Blue C Sushi operates two kaiten-style Japanese restaurants whose menu items are made by exhibition chefs and then circulated among guests by way of conveyor belt. Diners are charged according to the color and number of plates they amass. When the first Blue C Sushi unit opened in 2003, it used barcode tags on the plates and scanners to track when a plate moved on and off the conveyor belt. This was done to monitor product-holding times, or freshness, which is critical to the enjoyment of sushi and a factor watched closely by the health department.
Last month, the restaurant and its technology development partners—Microsoft Corp., RFID hardware specialist Intermec and applications developer Kikata—unveiled the system. Beyond recording when a sushi plate moves on and off the conveyor belt, the new system tracks which chef built which plate, as well as what’s on the plate. It also presents on chef-station display terminals information such as current and recommended inventory levels by type of sushi.
Blue C Sushi co-founder James Allard was unavailable for comment. However, in a case study published by Microsoft, he said the system “can send alerts to the chefs when inventories are running low,” which helps them “focus more on making good food and less on keeping track of inventory.”
Allard said the system soon would support automatic bill totaling by allowing employees to wave a handheld RFID reader over the stack of plates at each table.
Blue C Sushi’s RFID tracking system features Kikata’s Ebisu Live Inventory Management software, developed using Microsoft’s BizTalk Server 2006 and BizTalk RFID. Also used is Microsoft’s SQL Server 2005 database platform and Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition. The chefs’ touch screen workstations run Windows XP Professional.
Kikata’s application has an inventory management function designed to help Blue C Sushi track product usage trends and streamline purchasing.
Intermec reportedly worked with 3M to create robust, ultra-high-frequency RFID tags appropriate for a restaurant setting and dishwashers. Intermec fit the chefs’ cutting boards with custom RFID antennas that work in conjunction with the vendor’s IF5 fixed-mount RFID readers.
While also helping with purchasing and reducing food waste, “this technology improves our understanding of what customers want and what items are popular at particular times or on specific days of the week,” Allard said in the case study.
Blue C Sushi is still several months away from using data captured by its RFID technology for business intelligence purposes, sources there indicate. Though the project is ongoing, there’s a chance it might inspire other restaurateurs to think, “What if?”
That would be a twist, as many operators view RFID as irrelevant in the short term and others wonder if it will ever be ready for prime time in foodservice.