Be it a Web site that allows real-time employee background checks or tableside, self-service kiosks that help operators trim staff and speed service, multiple electronic exhibits in this year's show, held May 20-23, showed the foodservice business is advancing ever further into the high-tech age.

Learning about a potential employee's criminal history now can be had at the click of a mouse through the Web site of BackgroundChecks.com. According to company vice president Geoff Smith, what used to take phone calls, faxes, human runners and manual searches of county court house records now can be done in mere minutes from any computer with Internet access.

"Through our Web site, we can get criminal background information from all 50 states," Smith said. "A user pays an initial sign-up fee of $7.95 plus a sliding scale cost of $8 per search, based on the amount of information you want." If the search is simple, such as records from a local jurisdiction, the service costs less than a nationwide search.

Using

The NRA predicted show attendance to be 73,000 people. The show was expected to be one of the busiest in recent years. (Photo by Fred Minnick)

"This is a very safe and quick method of making sure you're not hiring a dangerous person," said Smith, whose company is seven years old.

The Tableside Service Restaurant Kiosk debuted at the show. The 15-inch touchscreen customer ordering system allows operators to reduce service staff and give customers the option of shortening their visits.

"When you come to the restaurant, the person at the door would ask, ‘Full-service or self-service?' And if they want self-service, they would take them to the table and show them this kiosk," said spokesperson Chante Bowser. "Since the kiosk takes the order, restaurants that use this would really only need runners for its express tables. So instead of having to staff five or six people working tables during lunches, you could have two or three."

Every menu choice, right down to specific beverages and side items, is available on screen. As soon as an order is submitted, a printout goes to the kitchen and/or bar area, where runners retrieve the made goods. Rather than hovering near tables waiting for guests' commands, staffers return to pick up areas to continually distribute food.

"Instead of a customer stopping somebody to say, ‘Excuse me. Can I get something to drink?' they simply place their own order and the runner brings it."

To allow their guests the choice, Bowser said clients she's working with anticipate using the option only on some of their tables.

The company's first rollout is expected in August, though Bowser declined to name the client. She did say a mix of independent and chain operators at the show expressed a lot of interest.

"We've had a lot of local Chicago restaurants that are interested, people who said it would be great for pizza because the customer could choose the crust style, the toppings they want, their drinks, everything," she said.

Spot Runner.com showed off its easy-to-use Web-based service that allows operators to choose and customize TV advertisements drawn from an enormous library of pre-produced spots. The site also provides in-depth demographic information to guide operators in making decisions on what shows to run their ads with, as well as what time slots.

"We have a library of ads for any business under the sun, including pizza," Cohen said, as he brought up a pre-made pizza commercial onscreen. "What an owner can do is customize this with his logo or pictures of their storefront or special promotions. Then we go into the recording studio and do any voiceovers they want."

Once changed, Spot Runner sends an e-mail with a link to its Web site, where the operator can view and approve or change his commercial before it airs.

"It is completely self-serve on the Internet," he added. "It recommends different channels and times of day based on that product's demographic. It also suggests how much you should spend and how frequently you should run your ads. It will even tell you what demographic watches what shows."

When, during the demo, the site's "recommendation engine" suggested running the pizza spot on CNBC, but Cohen overrode that selection by choosing something more befitting of the pizza demographic, a Friday spot on Comedy Central.