An app to match your appetite in Cambodia
| Phnom Penh, Cambodia
鈥� A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.
One of Asia鈥檚 poorest nations has one of the latest high-tech spins: A cafe here recently introduced electronic menus.
The e-menus at Coffee Room, a small shop that opened in January in Phnom Penh, allows customers to place their orders, call a server to their table, and ask for the bill by simply touching the tablet computers that are available at every table. Diners can also type in how they want their drinks prepared (such as 鈥渘o ice鈥� or 鈥渘o sugar鈥�), read ingredients, and use the 鈥渕enus鈥� to access Facebook, Skype, or Twitter.
Irina Afonina, a businesswoman from Kazakhstan who has lived in Cambodia for five years, says she developed the electronic menu to simplify the restaurant-going experience for expatriates who don鈥檛 speak the local language.
鈥淚n countries like Cambodia and Kazakhstan, it鈥檚 hard for customers to order,鈥� she says. 鈥淪ometimes you ask what is inside the dish and they can鈥檛 explain 鈥� because they don鈥檛 understand your English pronunciation or they don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 inside.鈥�
Ms. Afonina, who is also the chief executive officer of Cambodia-based IT company Cresittel, says her e-menus will soon allow people to select their native language 鈥� and to chat with customers seated at different tables of the restaurant.鈥淲e鈥檙e not providing only coffee and snacks; it鈥檚 also entertainment,鈥� she says.
