I have bought a few breakfasts and lunches this way in Tokyo, but I liked the spin Jeremiah places on it, as he describes the Apple store experience too.

Automatic Waitress and Cashier
On a similar note, when we went to Tokyo, you ordered food at a ‘vending’ machine, you plunk in some coins, punch the picture you want (above) and quantity and a receipt plops out. You sit down at the counter, hand the receipt to the polite cooks who serve you. This saves time as the employees don’t have to deal with money, you don’t need a waitress, management doesn’t have to worry about employee shrink (theft), and there’s no on-hand cast for robbers to steal. Oh, and you still get that friendly human experience from the chefs.

I have had similar experiences in the Apple Toronto store. I had to change a faulty ipod (it happens) and with no receipt, they simply looked up my record based on my email address, confirmed the serial numbers, and 5 minutes later I walked out with a new ipod. I was blown away.

So its interesting to me that Jeremiah takes the Apple store, and the Tokyo restaurant experience and correctly aligns them both with paperless, integrated channel, experiences, that will bring you back. The focus in the stores is on the issue at hand, not the paperwork.

Tags: paperless, tokyo, customer+loyalty