Chapter 6: Application of AR and VR in Food and Beverage Service

The hotel and restaurant industry has been completely transformed by the invasion of technology known as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). It is also predicted that there will be technological fusion in the future all the more. The most recent upsurge of technological development has a major impact on the hotel industry. VR and AR technologies transform management processes by authorizing users to fully or partly indulge themselves in digital settings (Orús et al., 2021). These new technologies have the capability to assist sustainable business models in the restaurant industry through managerial, marketing, and decision-making benefits (Flavián et al., 2021). Given the increasing importance of customer engagement and co-creation of value, i.e., a connection between brands and their customers, they are predominantly important in the dynamic setting of hotel businesses (Ali, 2022). The industry has witnessed significant changes over time, i.e., from conventional kitchens to culinary labs, and also from handwritten menu cards to electronic tablets. Not only does it increases operational effectiveness and customer satisfaction or engagement, but it also improves the esthetics of dining. Restaurants make use of AR and VR to give real-time feedback and speed up cooking operations. As a matter of fact, with new kinds of manual–digital interaction, the completely or partially virtual worlds produced by VR and AR systems have transformed the methods wherein information is shared and, accordingly, in communication mode (Doerner et al., 2022). With VR, it is possible for hotels and restaurants to create imaginary views, but realistic seeming worlds, i.e., an adventure tour, a hotel room, kitchen layouts, etc. (Greengard, 2019, p. 5; Zeng et al., 2020).