Our Changing World Sees Restaurant Innovations

• Several major restaurant chains are using off-site call centers to take drive-through orders with an eye towards improving speed and accuracy.
  
  McDonald�s and CKE Restaurants (owner of Hardee�s and Carl�s Jr.) are testing the call center concept wherein all drive-up window orders go to one call center, and then are immediately transmitted to the proper restaurant via the Internet.
   

• An Indian restaurant in Fullerton (CA), Sitar Authentic Indian Cuisine, is linking diners �face to face� with relatives in India through videoconferencing. The 8,000-square-foot restaurant has a 10� by 6� projector screen, plasma TVs and video cameras.
  
  Videoconferencing is like �a public phone booth� in India, says the restaurant owner who moved to the U.S. from India five years ago. Through his innovative idea, he�s tapping into a community of local immigrants who want to keep in touch with relatives back home.