WiFi Coming To... Denny's?

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=60640' target='_blank'>http://www.marketwire.com/mw/releas...elease_id=60640</a><br /><br /></div>If you asked me to come up with a list of vendors or restaurants that would announce WiFi access by the end of 2003, Denny's would never have crossed my mind. And yet, that seems to be precisely what they're doing.<br /><br />"Cafe.com, a premier wireless hotspot provider, today announced that the company will be bringing wireless Internet access (also known as 'Wi-Fi') to Denny's restaurants across the USA and Canada. Cafe.com will immediately 'light up' over 40 Denny's restaurants in cities from California to Florida and will continue to roll out wireless Internet service in Denny's restaurants throughout the coming year. Cafe.com had been working with the Denny's Franchisee Association for over 4 months to define a wireless Internet service that would fit with Denny's business operations and positively extend the Denny's brand into this new area of restaurant service."<br /><br />I have a serious question for you all on this note. I understand the value proposition at "premium" or "lounge" places like Starbucks -- not only is there often dead time at such places, but people indeed bring in laptops or PDAs and sit in a local Starbucks for hours. However, I don't see how I'd actually <i>want</i> to sit in a "discount" restaurant, like a Denny's or McDonald's, for extended periods of time and websurf. I'm curious as to what you think.

[Jason Dunn]

If I was at Denny's/McDonalds/wherever and they said "Would you like WiFi with that, for $1 extra?" I'd almost always say yes, assuming the connection process was simple enough. I'll easily pay a buck or two to check my email and be a little more productive when I'm on the go. I don't neccesarily need extended WiFi access for 30 minutes to feel more productive, just a way to grab my email and go. Or maybe I just need a Smartphone with Bluetooth. :roll: :lol:

[Jon Westfall]

Today is the happiest day of my life.

[Bloop]

well i think they are using locations like McDonalds because they are everywhere and easy to find. All you have to do i go down the freeway and look out your window.

[ctmagnus]

I have a serious question for you all on this note. I understand the value proposition at "premium" or "lounge" places like Starbucks -- not only is there often dead time at such places, but people indeed bring in laptops or PDAs and sit in a local Starbucks for hours.

At least one Denny's I've been to had the lounge scene happening - people would spend hours at a time in there. The main one I can recall atm is now a Moxies, though.

[Foo Fighter]

Oh great. So now I can finally browse the web while sitting next to all the senior citizens shoveling down those Grand Slam breakfasts. Whoopee!! :lol:

[silentmuse]

I'll use it. A good breakfast once in awhile is a good thing. (ok ok ok, let's not debate what defines a good breakfast here *grin*). I could see my self finishing up, whipping out the laptop and doing some email and slashdot reading while drinking a pot of coffee.....

[SandersP]

Didn't this restaurent lost a lawsuit for being discriminatory?

I wonder if the WiFi will have different lag based on your skin color. har har...

[dean_shan]

What's with all the Denny's bashing? I like their food.

ps I eat at the furthest north Denny's in the US.

[James Fee]

Sometimes when traveling Denny's or other similar places are the only ones available. Its not like Twentynine Palms has a starbucks to check my email at. I was just at the Twentynine Palms Denny's this week and would have loved the ability to check my email since my hotel didn't have a phone connection.

[Kati Compton]

I'm not sure what I'd avoid more.... Waffle House or Denny's.

Actually, I think I'd rather go to a Denny's than a Waffle House. Denny's doesn't have their own theme song on the jukebox. That I know of, anyway.

[toxostoma]

I have a serious question for you all on this note. I understand the value proposition at "premium" or "lounge" places like Starbucks -- not only is there often dead time at such places, but people indeed bring in laptops or PDAs and sit in a local Starbucks for hours. However, I don't see how I'd actually want to sit in a "discount" restaurant, like a Denny's or McDonald's, for extended periods of time and websurf. I'm curious as to what you think.

Janak - you don't know about the Denny's in my town :D

I go to a smaller private Christian university, who's students mostly come from upper middle class families. We have a Denny's a few miles away from campus, kind of on the edge of town. When finals come, that place is packed throughout the night with students studying. I've been at times where I can't get a parking place. The restaurant's atmosphere can be downright hilarious. I remember one time sitting a table where I could hear two conversations from the tables around me going on. At one table were a bunch of bible majors discussing deep theology issues, textual interpretations, etc. while another table within earshot had several people who were drunk and rowdy, using heavy doses of profanity. I was studying the wonderful world of zoology, my favorite subject.

Our Denny's just has a great college atmosphere. You can always count on meeting unexpected friends there, the place is really lively, and a great place to study when pulling an all nighter. Plus, you never know when someone is going to yell obscenties and have a fight break out. Police rushing to scene just increases the atmosphere. Just the other day a casual friend / acquaintance told me that a drunk airforce guy caused a big commotion and was trying to start a fight... He actually put the guy in a sleeper hold. The police thanked my friend and arrested the airforce guy for public intoxication. Now, I'm not trying to go overboard in exaggerating the place. It's not that bad or dangerous...

So, I think WiFi would be awesome. I don't even have WiFi in my PPC (iPAQ 1940) cause I didn't think I'd need it (yeah, I want it, but I was trying not to go crazy on money when I got my PPC). I might have to trade up to get WiFi or get the WiFi SD card. Hopefully I can hold out until a couple of years.

[Tierran]

My friends and I hit Denny's all the time while in high school and now its our 'hang out' when we get together. Great for breakfast at 4 am. Mmmm, grand slam :)

I think the question more is, do these restaurants want people sitting in their store for hours on end more than do we want to sit there ;) I can see it with McDonalds because most of their buisiness is to-go. But Denny's is sit down, regardless of it being cheap.

So they need to have a good reason to want you to stick around in there.

[nosmohtac]

I can see where people would laugh at this, but I think that if you don't see this as a positive thing, you aren't looking at the bigger picture.
Like toxostoma said, many cities (especially university cities) have very few restaurants or other businesses that are open all night. These places are where you will always find college students hanging around at all hours of the night, studying, eating, and catching up with old friends. I think this is a smart move for any restaurant that is open 24/7 fast food, bad food or not.

[David C]

I think this is a smart move for any restaurant that is open 24/7

Totally agree! I would go there 3 in the morning just to study and drink cofee if they have wifi because no where else in open.

Plus, what's so bad about having wifi every where? The more the merrier. I want wifi in resturants, malls. schools, movies, parks ect..

[Thinkingmandavid]

I personally avoid Denny's. like Kati waffle house just is not appealing to me. The wi fi does not mean that much to me. I am more in the Starbucks crowd, surfing the web with a mocha frap with three to five extra shots, or a cafe mocha with about five extra shots :)

[MellowYellow]

Funny how this topic is on the front page... It's currently 4:45am and I just came back from Denny's in Kingston, Ontario. I have been there all night studying, and I did use my trusty Dell x3i to check my email, msn message a few of my friends, and use google when I was stuck with my studying.

Would I go to Denny's if they don't have WiFi? Sure, because it's the only place that still opens at this late hours (even our university libraries are all closed). Like someone has said above, it's a good place to pull all-nighters. However with WiFi they just made my experience much more enjoyable.

[Ken Mattern]

When she was in school my girlfriend would often take her son to Chick-Fil-A so that he could play while she studied. Now we go there together to work while he plays. WiFi would be great as much of our work requires internet access. Of course we take notebooks and Pocket PCs.

[JohnJohn]

I think Denny's has hit a "Grand Slam" :mrgreen:

Seriously I haven't eaten at a Denny's since may Grandparents died.

[Bob Anderson]

I think rolling out WiFi in any restaurant is a good idea.

Now... I'm not sure I'm going to whip out my laptop on a table that has had it's previous occupant slop syrup all over... .HOWEVER... using my HP 5450 to do an AvantGo synch, a bit of web browsing, e-mail updates, and other sorts of activities would be a good use of time.

Or, how about having WiFi at those restaurants that always have long waits ... this last weekend I was in Phoenix and stopped by Cracker Barrel... and after waiting for an hour I got to eat. Just think of all the fun I could have had if I had internet access!

The only problem I have with all of this is that we're going to have about 250 providers of WiFi access, and we'll each have to have our own password and login for each of them. Let's hope the providers get this upcoming "obstacle" fixed soon.

[fmcpherson]

I think the data coming back from the locations that have installed WiFI (Starbucks, Schlotskys, etc.) are showing that the installs are leading to more sales. Starbuciks, Borders, etc.. have long worked under the premise that the longer people stay in the store the higher the chance they will buy more goods. I believe Schlotskys in particular showed that providing free WiFI in their stores had a singificant postiive impact, and I suspect that alone is what lead to Panera doing the same thing.

From the store's perspective there is little if any cost. Starbucks for example, got WAN connectivity between all their stores back to the corporate office thanks to T-Mobile's installation, so not only do they get more sales, but they also get better info flowing back and forth from their corporate offices... a classic Win/Win.

Likewise, I am sure that DSL connections between McDonald's to the Internet provides their corporate offices better visibility to what is going on in the stores, and if they can get patrons to subsiidize the cost of that connectivity, all the better.

In short, I think you are going to see more and more franchise stores offerring the same thing. Those out the gate first have a competitive advantage, but it will be interesting to see what happens once everyone provides free wireless access.

[peterawest]

I think this is a smart move for any restaurant that is open 24/7.
That's what I thought too. The latest I've seen a Starbucks open was 11:00 PM, so having this additional option when traveling would be great.

While I don't have WiFi for my PPC just yet, I do have it for my Notebook, so this is something I'll keep in mind for future needs.

[Jason Lee]

*sigh* Springfield MO is going to be the last place on the planet to get any of this... :(
We have Mcdonalds, Denny's, Panera, and Schlotskys... Why can't I have WiFi? :cry:

[jgrnt1]

From a business traveler perspective, this could be very big. Think how many budget hotels/motels have Denny's next door.

[sixsixty]

i hate discount resturaunts...BUT i do use wifi. i hate that there was only one choice.

i never ever eat at those places.

[AZMark]

Things to consider.....

1. When Wi-Fi becomes so pervasive that it's almost everywhere, you will just take your enabled device along, and hopefully where u go is already on your pay plan,,,added to your cell bill.

2. Companies can piggy back this service and use it to underwrite putting in WiFi in there stores/resturants. Wireless cash registers, reduced cable costs, higher connect rate back to the main office, and hey you just might make some money back at the same time if customers use the service.

3. More mobile/remote office meetings (field managers, real estate agents etc) have business meetings at Denny's than McD's. Free flowing coffee, bigger tables, booths all make it a ok place if your in need of a quick office.

[ahintz]

Where I could really see myself using this would be when I'm traveling and need a quick check on the web for mapquest, email, news, whatever. Especially on those extended car trips, WiFi in Denny's could actually be very useful.

This is very different from how I've found myself using WiFi in Starbucks, where I will sometimes go to spend a couple of hours just drinking coffee and doing either work (VPN and TS) or general surfing. I doubt I would ever go to Denny's for that.

For me the biggest question is going to be cost. I love the idea of more and more ubiquitous &lt;sp?> WiFi access, but what is cafe.com going to charge? If I have to spend an extra $5 just for a quick update on my email, then I am going to be a lot less likely to use the service. I am not sure what the threshold would be, and it would probably vary based on planned use/mood, but that is going to be an important aspect for these companies to find - when does adding WiFi to the tab become an easy purchase vs. not worth it.

--Andrew

[toxostoma]

Hey, yall know what La Quinta means in Spanish?

Behind Denny's... :D

[Jonathan1]

What's with all the Denny's bashing? I like their food.

ps I eat at the furthest north Denny's in the US.

Ditto.

[Jonathan1]

I think this is great. If for no other reason then Denny's is a good meeting location. Add WIFI to that and it makes it even better. Heck my next laptop is going to have WIFI built in. Add my existing WIFI card to that and I can share out the connection to my friends. A few bucks for 10+ people? Ya I think I can swing that :D

[MikeUnwired]

The WiFi integration is an easy one for Denny's -- you have to wait so freakin long for your food that they need to occupy you somehow! My local Denny's is the one where the US Secret Service agents charged that they got poor service due to race. I can tell you from over 20 years of visiting that Denny's that race had nothing to do with it -- they give crappy service to everyone! I've easily waited over an hour for a simple hamburger or plate of eggs. Why do I go back? Well, it's like slowing down for a train wreck -- you just gotta see what's up. At least with WiFi I have a reason to sit and wait.

[CTSLICK]

Denny's was THE place to re-fuel while pulling an all-night study session when I was in college. Bash Denny's all you want but I still like eating there every once and a while. 'Course, I love ordering off the breakfast menu at 7pm too. [Homer Simpson] MMMMM....pancakes[/Homer Simpson]

But on this topic...I think its great. I use my GPRS phone with my PDA to check email (and discussion forums ;) ) and connect to our corporate network. I can think of a LOT of places where they have a Denny's but little or no GPRS coverage. This is just another option for connectivity that I would be willing to pay for as needed. I say go team go...roll it out everywhere.

[PPCRules]

I have a serious question for you all on this note. I understand the value proposition at "premium" or "lounge" places like Starbucks -- not only is there often dead time at such places, but people indeed bring in laptops or PDAs and sit in a local Starbucks for hours. However, I don't see how I'd actually want to sit in a "discount" restaurant, like a Denny's or McDonald's, for extended periods of time and websurf.
I don't see why people have such a problem with the McDonald's, and now Dennys, thing. I'm with Jason. What I'd find useful is a place to drop in and do AvantGo and pick up email. I'm not going to sit for hours surfing in some resturant; I have more of a life than that. (Now, maybe if I was travelling, that would be different, but I don't think that will pay the bills for many locations.) But for me pricing has to be right. I'm not paying much for a two minute syncronization connection.

I think the thing with these places (I had heard Holiday stations once, also) is largely what someone else mentioned: People know where they are, or can spot them easily. And once they are there, they'll buy something else. These installations will prove a lot more practical than ones like Verizon's [now scaled back] plan to put WiFi at all their payphones (although I originally thought that was a brilliant idea).

[GoldKey]

Interesting to see people so polarized about Denny's food. From my travels it really depends on location. The one that was in Tallahassee was the worst one I have ever been to (it is closed now leaving us with almost no choices other than Cracker Barrel). I went to the one on the Strip in vegas a month ago (got sick of eating buffets) and it was great. My wife and I went to the one in Gainesville all the time when were were in college and would stay for a while doing homework, etc. I would like to see wi-fi included with a meal purchase.

[johncruise]

We've got too many high class profile people on the site today. I hope I don't see them asking for a cheap pocket pc when they can afford to eat at a high class restaurant also.

[dh]

While I would rather see more free WiFi than another pay one, any new network has to be a step forward.

Here in NJ it's better to have a 2. 00 AM breakfast in a diner than at Denny's. I like those pecan pancakes at Cracker Barrel as well. :D

[Janak Parekh]

We've got too many high class profile people on the site today. I hope I don't see them asking for a cheap pocket pc when they can afford to eat at a high class restaurant also.
Oh, come on, I don't mean it that way. ;) I'm no huge Denny's fan, but I'm not afraid of going there or something. I'd be utterly broke if I was eating at expensive restaurants all the time. I was just asking if you'd use WiFi there. And just because someone doesn't like Denny's doesn't mean they avoid IHOP, McDonald's, etc...

That said, I never really thought of Denny's as the late-night hangout. I guess it's a Northeastern effect: here, the cheap late-night hangout would be a Dunkin' Donuts. Of course, it also doesn't help that Denny's doesn't exist anywhere in Manhattan, or anywhere in NYC, as a matter-of-fact. :lol:

Thanks for the feedback. I did ask the question seriously.

--janak

[toxostoma]

Like someone else said, I think it's great that a thread about Denny's caused so much passionate discussion. Who'd have thought... :D

[maximus]

I dont know about you guys, but the denny's that I visited frequently back in austin, TX (when I need a serious meal after frustrating case discussions that usually ended around 2-3 AM) served good food. And personally I like the quiet atmosphere at denny's. Try comparing the atmosphere with mcdonalds with those kids running and screaming around...

[dean_shan]

It seems like a lot of people don't like Denny's. Personaly I love it. I started a poll (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=190934) to see who are the Denny's lovers and haters in this forum.

[TheWolfen]

I think this is a great idea. Funny thing is.. about 6 months ago I seriously thought about approaching the Denny's I frequent about adding wifi service! Now I'll be able to use my Axim for more than just reading - can't wait.

[AZMark]

Well many of you may have seen this already, but it bears to be brought up again, as it is truely one of the most important projects ever undertaken.

http://www.p7a77.net/dennys/

Sit back in awe and wonder!