Morton’s online reservation system lets guests reserve 24-7, and indeed, some do during the wee hours.

Is this the future for chain restaurants? Perhaps.

Restaurants already are experimenting with some hotel-like technology: In November, Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Domino's Pizza began offering TiVo's broadband customers TV-screen ordering. The order is routed to a nearby Domino's of the customer's choosing, and orders (not to exceed $100) are promised within a half-hour. Rather than pay ahead via credit card, customers pay cash for their pizza. Domino's did not respond to requests for more information.

Denver-based Einstein Noah Restaurant Group is testing a self-ordering kiosk at a single college campus location, says Paul Carolan, senior vice president of franchising and licensing. (He would not disclose the college's name or location.)

He predicts that preorder kiosks could work well at campus locations, where multiple foodservice operations share a central register system and where speed of service is crucial. But Carolan doesn't think self-ordering makes sense for the bagel chain's street locations.

“Our stores are 2,500 square feet, so by the time you get the kiosk in, you're 2 feet from the register,” Carolan points out. Plus, “our hospitality is pretty important to us,” he adds. “There is a downside if we go completely to no interface.”

Indeed, restaurant chains that have adopted customer-facing technology are finding that it's slow to catch on.

For example, Morton's The Steakhouse uses OpenTable.com for online reservations. Still, most patrons prefer to phone in reservations, says Patty Pleuss, vice president of marketing and sales for the 81-unit, Chicago-based restaurant chain. “There are guests who still want that personal interaction,” she says.

Morton's enters all guest information, no matter how they reserve, into OpenTable's guest database, its main benefit to the chain. The database captures and stores guest information. In May, the San Francisco-based software company announced an upgrade that will include more real-time reports and a greater depth of customer information.

Younger patrons are more likely to use Cameron Mitchell Restaurants’ online reservation system.

About 30 percent of reservations come from OpenTable's Web site, and 50 percent come from Cameron Mitchell's, says Bret Danner, operating partner at the Columbus, Ohio-based company. The online crowd is different: younger (50 or under) and less likely to no-show than patrons who reserve via a phone call to the restaurant, Danner says.

Its relative underusage is OK, because the system's real benefit is the guest database, Danner says.

“I see it more as a system to capture information to give better service,” he says. “I know you have an allergy before you come in. I can hand you a gluten-free menu before you ask for it.” About 25 percent of the company's customers make a specific request on the reservation form, Danner says.

Hungry Howie’s online ordering system lets patrons customize pizza and order a week in advance.

Even though Hungry Howie's markets the service aggressively with store banners, window clings, coupons, receipt tags and fliers affixed to pizza boxes, online orders account for only 6 percent to 7 percent of total orders.

The reason? Only 40 percent of franchisees offer online ordering, and the chain cannot effectively market online ordering until all locations are on board, says Al Newman, director of training.

Newman thinks he understands the reluctance of the other 60 percent. Franchisees are responsible for arranging setup, and fees run $50 to $60 a month. Online ordering is also complicated if the restaurant doesn't have Hungry Howie's current POS system.

Hungry Howie's frustration lies in communicating the advantages to franchisees: 20 percent higher average tickets with online orders, higher order accuracy and labor savings. “The order just appears,” Newman says. “I didn't have to pay an employee to take the order.”

Despite the slow start, he is hopeful. The number of online orders is “ever increasing,” Newman says. “100 percent would be the perfect world.”

MORE: Einstein Noah Restaurant Group's "line buster" remote order-taking device speeds service without sacrificing customer-staff interaction.