Is the food industry trying to ride the wave of tech popularity? Restaurant marketing material over the last few years has increasingly been using terms like “apps” and “handhelds.” They appear in television advertisements, email campaigns, and menus.
Over the past 30 years, technology has gotten so pervasive that terminology used in this space was bound to make it into everyday life. English vernacular, at least in the US, is full of borrowed terms that have taken on a meaning that has drifted from their use in industry. Think, stat (medical), boots on the ground (military), loaded question (legal), and AI (computer science). We may be experiencing two more that have crept into the food industry.
In the case of software, a common term is “program.” Programs are also known as applications, since a general purpose computer can be applied to various applications based on the software running for a given task. For example, the computer is being applied for billing now, but will be running payroll later.
For hardware, as it evolved, it took on increasingly smaller shapes. Machines that once lived in dedicated rooms gave way to those that could be operated by a single person. Further refinement led to mid-size machines the size of a small filing cabinet, and eventually desktop computers, laptops, and handhelds.
Casual observation of the restaurant industry will reveal a transformation of restaurant operations. Many familiar chain names made their way into the news for store closings and bankruptcies. The full service chain restaurants have given way to fast casual chains, and there seems to be more pubs, microbreweries, and local restaurants now. With this evolution of the restaurant business has come an air of pretentiousness and forced charm. For example, every new place has a patio, food from “farm to table,” and the adoption of terms that are trying too hard to be cool.
Enter “apps” and “handhelds.” Searching the Internet will reveal that references to “apps” go back a few decades. Though, it was an industry term, and not used by patrons. Today, operators use the term as though patrons regularly call their food an app, while pretending the more common usage of the term is not with regard to one’s phone. Similarly, using handhelds as a menu category to encompass burgers, wraps, and sandwiches seems forced. No one was getting confused by a wrap and a burger being listed on the menu next to each other.
Tech has been hot for a couple of decades now, and the food service business is tough. If a couple of terms can be jammed into a new context, it makes sense to borrow some of the hype. After all, the tech industry has done it too. Everyone will recall the cloud this and cloud that craze. Tech even gave AI a new meaning, and it stole that term from itself.
Still, the world will be fine if everyone goes back to calling them appetizers. And it’s okay if a wrap is listed next to the club sandwich. We don’t need deeper classifications on menus, but get ready for “bowls.” As this one is used more and more, patrons can enjoy trying to figure out if it’s a salad bowl or a noodle bowl. At least with this one, the term bowl was already used for food.
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