In the spirit of the Internet, the service is absolutely free. So how do the two Stanford grads who started [Waiter.Com] pick up the tab? 

Restaurants pay less than $100 a month to be part of the service, which gives them unlimited exposure to a targeted market. [Waiter.Com] caters to the tired, the hungry and the time-deprived. 

"We want to be the ATM of the food world," says Craig Cohen, MBA ’94. Cohen was working at Sun Microsystems when, one day, he developed a craving for a fast and easy lunch. He called the popular deli sandwich chain Togo's to see if he could fax an order, but they weren’t set up to handle customer faxes. So Cohen joined up with Michael Adelberg, MBA ’93, a former management consultant, to create [Waiter.Com], and Togo's became their first restaurant client. 

After seven months of operation, the service has signed 110 Silicon Valley restaurants, including local favorites such as Armadillo Willy’s and Florentine’s. Next, the two friends, who met in junior high school and went to MIT together, plan to expand into San Francisco. 

"We’re trying to follow where the Internet access is good – areas where the people who are on the Net are on the Net all the time, so it’s convenient for them to order," Cohen says. For their target audience, ordering online is easier than placing a phone call. 

"I think [Waiter.Com] is the greatest idea since popcorn," says a local high tech person, who works at Varian Associates. "You can bet I’ll use it and tell my friends." 

In addition to hungry high-techies, the duo also targets the service to corporate meeting planners who organize group lunches and parties. 

For now, the service works as a high-tech middleman. A customer’s electronic order goes to [Waiter.Com], which faxes the order to the restaurant. Customers get an e-mail confirming their order was placed. Adelberg says someday, when restaurants have the technology, a customer’s order will go directly into a restaurant’s kitchen. 

Cohen and Adelberg agree that their biggest challenge is competing for attention with some 50,000 other sites. That’s when they go off-line to use traditional marketing and advertising. 

"You not only have to have a compelling site that attracts people, but you have to put considerable resources into marketing it," Cohen says. Those include putting fliers on cars in the parking lots of high-tech companies and placing "take me" business card displays at restaurants. 

[Waiter.Com]’s main competition is Waiters on Wheels, a delivery service with a $6 fee and $10 minimum order that now has an Internet site. With [Waiter.Com], a customer picks up the order himself unless the restaurant offers a delivery service. 

The internet also poses technical hurdles for customer access. One minute you try to sign on and you get a no response message, the next minute [Waiter.Com] splashes on the screen without a hitch. But in Web-world tradition the service is simple, clear and informative. Pull-down menus and comment boxes allow ample options for customizing orders. Charts and maps outline services and locations. 

"There’s a bit of a learning curve, but after people have used it once, it’s a fun way to go." Cohen says. 

The internet address is: http://www.waiter.com. 

--Callie Gregory