Applebee's is following in its rival, Chili's, footsteps.
According to USA Today, Applebee's announced Tuesday that it will be installing touch screen tablets on every one of its 100,000 restaurant and bar tabletops across the U.S., by the end of 2014.
"E la Carte designed Presto specifically for restaurants, creating both a best-of-breed tablet platform for operators and a fun, easy-to-use experience for guests," Applebee's spokesperson Dan Smith told ABC News.
Customers will still be able to order their meals from waiters, but with the device, guests will be able to order additional items, play video games for both adults and children, pay their check and enjoy other services.
"There's no lag time waiting for the bill, handing off your credit card, or waiting to sign," Smith said. "When you're finished with your meal, you can just swipe your card or press a button notifying your server that you want to pay by cash."
Mike Archer, president of Applebee's, said the new devices will "change the way we interact with guests in restaurants."
Applebee's has 1,865 locations nationally. The device will offer extended details on items, like nutritional and allergy information and ingredients included in various meals. The tablets will also live stream music and videos.
Applebee's is not the first eatery to add tablets to their tables. Chili's recently announced that it would be adding a computer on each table of their "823 Chili's-operated restaurants" by March 2014. IHOP is reportedly considering following the trend.
Wyman Roberts, Chili's president, said the restaurant has seen an improvement "in both guest satisfaction and customer engagement."
According to ABC News, the high-tech move is already common at eateries in parts of Europe and Asia. Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research at the National Restaurant Association, said if using tablets at eateries becomes effective, it will become more common.
"Looking out over the next decade, it will become fairly routine for consumers in table service restaurants to use tablets to view menus, place orders and pay bills," Riehle said.
