Vapiano, the no tipping chain. Anyone been?

Here in Deutsche-land we have an Italian chain called Vapiano. Looks as if they've got ten locations in the US now but mostly East Coast. I just wondered if anyone had been, or what you guys think about the viability of the concept in the heartland.

Basicallly it's casual Italian, all pizza dough and pasta are made on premises behind a glass wall so you can see. Cooking is done at stations, also where you can watch. But the big "draw", presumably inspired by the notorious stinginess of Germans, is the fact that there are no servers.

When you walk in you get an RFID swipe card. Seating is sort of Euro style semi-communal. You grab a seat, take your card to the relevant station (pizza, pasta, or salad), place your order and wave your card in front of a sensor to register your bill. Same thing at the drinks station. They give you a beeper that changes color when your food is ready so you do all the running yourself. End of meal you wave your card at the register and it tells you what to pay.

In Europe, these joints are constantly packed. Like constantly. I am not sure if people are just so stingy that they don't want to pay 1.5 to 2 euros as a tip, or, maybe they just don't like the interaction with servers? I suppose there is a certain attraction of literally seeing your food from preparation and cooking all the way to your table without the fear that someone put a booger in it.

Anyhoo, I wondered if anyone had been to one somewhere Stateside or what you guys think of the concept.

They have one in the Ballston neighborhood of Washington DC. It seems to do a good deal of business on weekend nights, but was about empty during the day. The food looked pretty good, but in that area there were so many other good things. We walked past the place 4-5 times a day on way to class, the metro, and to an amazing burger spot.

I did go in once, but opted for the local burger spot instead. I can tell you that they didn't do the card thing, orders were placed at a counter with a person and someone was running food out to tables, but not necessarily a server. But the card thing could be kinda cool, may take a little guiding to get diners to follow the program, but seems simple enough.

If the food is good enough and marketed to the right crowd, it probably would do well, the atmosphere is much more upscale than the prices so that would be a big draw in this economy. While Louisville has a strong drive to support local, the chains aren't hurting here.