They closed all the S&S near me a few years before Covid. We passed one the other day and had to try it. When you walk in the door you are greeted by a sign that says to place your order on a kiosk. There were 3 video screens but only 1 took cash. The older folks ahead of us had a bit of a time figuring out the menu. They finally got an order in. I watched as the “Leave a tip?” screen came up. They stared and declined. Our turn.
It wasn’t that hard to use but I never did get a second drink ordered so we settled for one. Then you find a seat and wait. After awhile your name is called and your order is sitting on the counter. You never interact with a real person. There were 3 people on staff. 2 at the grill and a third wearing headphones and carrying orders out for pickup.
I guess this seemed innovative when Covid first hit but they should ditch this depressing scenario.
My local steak n shake added one of those two lane drive thrust, which seemed really dumb because it still would take about 10-15 minutes on average to get your food from ordering to window. I had a friend who legitimately waited 30 minutes at the actual window to get 2 burgers and fries.
I loved Steak and Shake when I was growing up in the St. Louis area, so I was delighted when they opened a restaurant here several years ago. But the food and service was always “meh” here, and the restaurant always seemed kind of dirty. (When it was busy it would take them a while to get around to clearing tables after guests left, so you might have to seat yourself at a table with dirty dishes because there were no clean tables.) It closed about five years ago, then a couple years later they tore it down and put up a gas station. I don’t miss it.
My husband and I went to a S&S a few weeks ago and were also unpleasantly surprised by the kiosk situation. We go so rarely that we didn’t know if it was a new thing or not.
So we managed to order, although I had to get a larger shake than I intended because they didn’t seem to have child sizes.
Then we sat where we could watch the door. In the time it took us to eat, we saw that everyone was disconcerted by the set-up, and more than one group left rather than deal with it. I mean, it wasn’t rocket science, and there was a lobby attendant there to help, but people just plain didn’t like it.
I hate those kiosk things. I went somewhere and suffered through ordering, and meanwhile there were homeless people outside begging for change! Maybe they’re meant to make the place look high-tech and modern, and keep the riff-raff away.
Strange. There’s a Steak and Shake near my office that I’ve sometimes stopped at. I go to the drive-thru and a person on the intercom starts by asking me “What can I make fresh for you today?”
And the fresh part does indeed seem genuine. Their burgers include ingredients (like the tomato or onions) that taste like they haven’t been sitting in storage, and the burger is better than what I can get elsewhere.
The place has an old fashioned vibe (even down to the uniform), so it sounds really incongruous for them to have totally automated their walk-in customer service.
Now, at the other end is Checker’s. For those unfamiliar, Checkers serves the traditional burger and fries, but it’s entirely a drive-thru; you can’t go inside.
Last time I tried it (they do have good fries) the drive thru was entirely automated, so I spoke to a voice recognition computer, and the person who handed me my food when I checked out didn’t really need to interact with me.
But Checker’s looks so depressing - the workers are all in this little room, which must be hot considering the grill, and they have this defeatist look about them. Then again, Checkers has this thing where a person can get paid the day they work, so assume it caters to workers who are always one step from homelessness.
They were old, poor, mentally and physically compromised, maybe on drugs or alcohol. They could probably go in and hand over a bunch of change for a burger, but not technically savvy enough to figure out the kiosk routine in there.
To side track my own thread I note that Chipotle finally gave up their recent “We don’t give change” policy.
That caught me off guard as there were no signs anywhere explaining that you had to have exact change or use a credit card. I would much rather use cash for small things. But the last time I went I groaned halfway through the ordering process when I realized I did not bring any change from the car. Fortunately they are back to normal after many complaints on food forums.
Well, this past summer I went to the SnS in Joplin MO and it was the same as it ever was (cue David Byrne hand motion). Seemed fine to me.
On the same trip I went to one in a suburb of Denver and after fighting traffic I found out it was closed for dining due to staff shortages. So I don’t know.
There is one in Tempe that is sort of a partial restaurant. They don’t have everything, and it is somewhat of a letdown. I don’t know if they have the kiosk, though.
The lone S&S in Seattle didn’t survive covid, and it didn’t help that it was located on 3rd ave. downtown, which is closed to traffic most of the day and is bus-only. The marquee sign is still there, but it’s boarded up and surrounded by loitering junkies most of the day and night.
Yikes; that street really declined. That was one of the places we’d hit for lunch during PAX West; the convention center is just a few blocks away. Gyro Stop is boarded up too, and so is the Subway across the street (though it seems to be open). The jewelry store has a “door is locked - please knock” sign, which isn’t promising. How much of the city did working from home empty out?
3rd got hit a lot harder than most of the rest of downtown, but there are definitely a lot fewer restaurants downtown than there used to be. It didn’t help that there were some drug-related shootings in broad daylight and one of the workers at the Amazon store on 4th got stabbed by a homeless person during his lunch break.
The McDonald’s at 3rd and Pine shut down its lobby altogether and now just serves food from a pickup window. When I visit Seattle I try to avoid 3rd unless I need to catch a bus, and if possible I’ll take the subway instead (yes, Seattle has a subway now) since the percentage of normals to weirdos is better down there.
Hmm. Well, hopefully they can reverse that eventually. The walk down Pike from the convention center down to the Pike Place Market felt pretty sketchy in 2021, but most other areas (that we went to) were fine. Not sure that making it a bus-only route was really a great move, but I guess they had their reasons.
Before the subway went into service, most of the north-south buses downtown went through the tunnel that now contains the subway. When the light rail was installed they moved the buses to the surface and made the street bus-only to prevent delays. It’s apparently one of the busiest streets in the entire US for bus traffic, but the lack of ordinary traffic definitely hasn’t been good for business. I don’t really know what the solution is.
Not S&S, but here in Switzerland at fast food restaurants you can place your order at the kiosk machine (credit cards) or at the counter with cash. Then you take a number and sit and they will bring your meal to you on a tray (or in a bag if it’s take-away.) Very orderly, minimal contact with a person, but at least a smile and they bring your food to you. Seems a good system for everyone.
There’s a place in Seattle called Cali Burger that exclusively uses a kiosk for ordering. It apparently started in China as a knock-off of In-n-Out Burger, then got bought out by a tech bro that changed it just enough so In-n-Out couldn’t sue them. Apparently there’s an option to link your card to a facial scan so the kiosk can charge you just by scanning your face after you punch in your order, but I haven’t bothered trying to play with it.
For the record, they do taste pretty much the same as In-n-Out, but their thousand island spread isn’t as good.
I loved Steak and Shake when I worked in the Chicago area many years ago. I loved their thin, crispy fries. I’m sad to hear how much they’ve declined. Great burgers, great fries. I don’t think I ever had a shake, though.
