Black Rose Metaphysical

Web access moves to more restaurants, bars

TOM STAUFFER

Tucson Citizen
Published: 10.03.2007
If you’re Wi-Fi savvy, you’re probably well aware that most coffee houses are Wi-Fi friendly, though the connection will cost you at such places as Starbucks.
What you may not know is that there are also are variety of places scattered around Tucson where you can go on online with your laptop and get something in your stomach a little more substantial than a bagel or a Danish.
Wi-Fi dining is something of a sticky wicket for restaurateurs. They want to make customers happy and provide them with services that will attract them. At the same time, they also run businesses that depend on multiple turns – seating new diners at lunch and dinner as many times as possible. A dining room full of Wi-Fi users who spend hours at their tables could keep potential customers from getting a table, says Jeff Jones, who, after taking over the Silver Mine Subs franchise at 760 N. Tyndall Ave. five years ago, took the initiative to install a Wi-Fi system.
“We make it available all the time for free, and sometimes, people just get a soft drink and then stay for a while because they’re using the Wi-Fi,” he says. “But my feeling is that as long as there is room for other people to come in and eat and find a table, they can stay as long as they want.
“I can see how at some point, it could get to be a problem with some restaurants.”
Another factor that has to be considered is the way online use can alter the dining experience for other customers, notes Erv Schultz, manager of The Gold Room at Westward Look Resort, 245 E. Ina Road.
Westward Look offers free Wi-Fi service to guests of the resort but draws the line at the AAA Four-Diamond rated Gold Room, Schultz says.
“We discourage people from using their cell phones, and I think most people get the cell phone bit, because they’ve been in situations where a cell phone ringing or someone talking loudly was disruptive,” he says. “We feel like having people going online to Web sites, watching videos and listening to music could be pretty disruptive in a fine-dining setting.”
But, the resort’s more casual Lookout Bar & Grille doesn’t discourage Wi-Fi use.
“What we often get at the Lookout is people here for a business conference who just have an hour or so for lunch between meetings,” he says. “They come in and go online while they’re having lunch and it works great for everybody, but that’s not the same as encouraging people to bring their laptops for dinner in the Gold Room for dinner.”
At Fox and Hound Smokehouse & Tavern near the Foothills Mall, you’re most likely to see a sea of laptops at breakfast and brunch, especially Sunday mornings, says manager Bob Templeton.
“We carry all the NFL football games in different areas of the restaurant, so we’ll have a lot of people in here watching the games while they’re online keeping track of how their fantasy football (team) is doing,” he says. “We’ve got a big dining room with plenty of tables, so we encourage them to come in with their laptops and enjoy themselves.”
Twenty miles southeast of the Fox and Hound, laptops are a common sight at what might seem an unlikely setting – a truck stop.
“We get a lot of truckers in here with their computers, checking their e-mails and doing other stuff,” says Omar Ramirez, manager at Omar’s Highway Chef Restaurant at the Triple T Truck Stop, 5451 E. Benson Highway. “A lot of trucking companies actually keep track of where their truckers are and communicate with them by computer, so it’s become part of what truckers do.”

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