Y Combinator Summer 2013 Demo Day, Batch 2

In fact, the worry I have is that they will pigeon-hole themselves into being a product for old people. When they go to expand to other markets (which according to their demo day pitch they will be), they may run into brand issues. No one, not kids, 20 somethings, or middle-aged people, want to feel old or be associated with anything that might make them feel that way (have you ever heard or seen someone rant about receiving an AARP letter in the mail?).

This is a minor nitpick and/or question. The sample conversation shown on the iPhone screen is in blue which indicates it's an iMessage conversation. Not a big deal, but it was a red flag to me because it meant I wasn't looking at a real screenshot of the product in action, but rather I was looking at promo material and I'm not sure how much of the product actually exists right now vs how much is a concept that is still being built.

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Paper is cheap and reliable; a restaurant dropping a lot of money on a number of tablets is going to be a tough pill to swallow for many. In a tiny looking place like Bumble, not a big deal. But what about a sixty seat restaurant -- do you need one for every table? How many extras do you need to keep on hand? Does it stay on the table the whole night (which would make sense)? Do you have to spray them all with that new hydrophobic stuff to keep them clean and working? Do they all need otterboxes to survive the fall from the table? Are they going to be completely locked down so there's no incentive to steal the tablets?

I see the color coded table thing. When are servers going to be looking at this, is there a "server station" tablet, too? This also means that the expo in the kitchen is going to have to be trained and be running this device. Will there be a screen in the kitchen, paper dupes for the line cooks?

How much time do customers have to change their order.. is there some final check or something before it becomes an official "order?" Do the customers have to worry about seat numbers; how does this not turn into a food auction?

While I hope this would let service staff be even MORE knowledgeable about the menus (as they have less work to do), I hope it doesn't make them lazier ("I'm just a glorified food runner now").

Concerns aside, it's very cool to be able to update things in real time and I always think reading specials is preferable to hearing the speech from the server.

edit: Okay well I was quick to post and did the further reading which answers some, but not all of these questions. I still think it's an interesting idea that will have a niche for sure (there's plenty of wine lists on tablets and the like), but the execution will play a major part in the success, I think. Also, even if Buttersystems is the best freaking thing since sliced bread, getting restaurants to train and use it effectively is the real tricky part of this, I think.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boom