This is the first empirical comparison of manual and automatic approaches on a problem of realistic scale (restaurant, pub and coffee shop domain) with real users.
But the staff shortage may well be emblematic of a larger problem for restaurants.
Here in Shanghai, regulators have warned that illegal cooking oil could be a problem because a large portion of restaurant food grease goes unaccounted for.
Rayner said the problem of underpayment in the restaurant industry was "systemic".
A small group of 30 restaurant owners, restaurant workers and their advocates gathered this week in the kitchen of Crema, a restaurant in New York, to talk about solutions to the problem of food insecurity among New York City restaurant workers.
Existing solutions only solve a small part of the problem and restaurant owners don't want to use multiple tools," says Zenchef co-founder and CEO Xavier Zeitoun.
So the moral of the story is that lower prices and "good deals" won't solves the problems of a bad restaurant.
In some cases, it's best to call ahead and order a special meal; giving nonplussed chefs advanced notice, even a recipe suggestion, can often allay the problem of eating at a non-vegetarian restaurant, especially if your friends or family really want to be there.
Friday's, a unit of Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, reflects a convergence of restaurant marketing initiatives with growing public awareness of America's well-documented obesity problem.
The good news is that by cooking at home (yay, HuffPost's Week of Eating In), you're already helping to reduce the problem of food waste, since larger chain restaurants and fast food joints are often the worst offenders.
