Another chain is multiplying through California, only this time it appears to actually comes from California as well. Specialty’s Cafe and Bakery is opening its first Glendale location this Thursday morning. And while City Tavern is opening with much ballyhooed beer drafts at its booths, Specialty’s is also trumpeting some new technology. The new location is even calling itself “the restaurant industry’s most technologically advanced restaurant” on its press releases, which probably makes 4Food blow all kinds of circuits. So, what high-tech advancements are being pushed here?
The restaurant will enable customers to order and pay directly from their iPads, while the rest of the table only has one option: hiding their faces in embarrassment at either not having their own iPads or as a result of being friends with people who use them to order at restaurants. We had heard of this phenomenon coming our way before to a burger joint named Stacked, but it looks like Specialty’s has the drop on it, even though we’re still going paper, not plastic, at this point.
The other crucial piece of technology that you never asked being featured at Specialty’s is a “warm cookie radar.” This is some sort of web alert that allows you to scope out which locations of the chain has fresh cookies coming out of their ovens, not because you’re the kind of diner who insists that your cookies are consumed while still hot, so much as to remind diners that they do indeed carry freshly-baked cookies. Also, the restaurant boasts that it does more online orders than any other restaurant, so we guess it tries to keep the online component interactive and engaging…or something.
Other than those two novel uses of technology, Specialty’s will be doing what it normally does in Glendale, serving a mega menu of sandwiches, soups, and salads, along with baked goods and healthy breakfasts. Catch its new location in Glendale this Thursday when it opens and see the menu online. But please, leave your hulking desktop at home.
Specialty’s, 500 North Brand Glendale Blvd. Suite #100.
