LAB Optic is an optical service-execution layer for restaurants: an objective, timestamped record of what the house did during the shift, tied to the revenue it protected or lost.
No POS, reservation system or guest survey can produce this record. LAB Optic does, during the shift, by section and by position.
The problem
A late greet. A manager who never visits. A plate set down wrong. A table left unbussed. Each is invisible in the P&L, each is decided in minutes, and each drives whether the guest returns.
Today management learns about these misses days later through reviews, if at all. By then the table has turned, the shift has closed and the guest has already decided.
LAB Optic changes the timing. Ceiling cameras running on-device vision models detect each step of service as it happens and record whether it met the house standard. A miss becomes a discrete, attributable fact: which table, which section, which position, how late.
The result is a service record management can act on during the shift, and an empirical link between service execution and repeat visits that no operator has had before.
What it sees
LAB Optic detects events and dwell, not identity. Staff are recognized by uniform and role zone. Every event carries a table, a section, a role and a timestamp.
01
Party seated; the service clock starts.
02
First staff approach to the table, timed from seating.
03
Server dwell at the table in order-taking posture.
04
Drinkware placed at each cover.
05
Plates placed at each cover, timed from order.
06
Position checked against the house placement standard.
07
Manager presence at the table during the entrée window.
08
Server return within the window after delivery.
09
Plates removed after the last guest finishes.
10
Presenter placed, retrieved, party departs.
11
Table cleared of all service items.
12
Table re-laid and ready for the next party.
The event set is configured per concept. Fine dining adds crumb-down and wine presentation; fast casual drops manager touch and check-back. The detection method is the same in every case.
What it measures
Each event becomes an interval measured against the operator’s own service standard. Two composites roll it up: the Service Execution Score, the single number a GM reads at pre-shift, and the Table Miss Count, which flags a table live so a manager can intervene before the check drops.
| Metric | Definition | Standard |
|---|---|---|
|
Time to greet |
Seat to first staff approach |
Set by operator |
|
Time to first beverage |
Order to beverage delivery |
Set by operator |
|
Ticket time |
Order to food delivery, per course |
Set by kitchen |
|
Manager touch rate |
Tables visited by a manager in the entrée window |
Set by operator |
|
Check-back compliance |
Server return within window after delivery |
Set by operator |
|
Placement compliance |
Plates set per placement standard |
Set by operator |
|
Clear and check latency |
Last guest finished to cleared; cleared to check drop |
Set by operator |
|
Bus and reset time |
Departure to table ready |
Set by operator |
|
Dead-table time |
Occupied minutes with no staff contact beyond standard |
Reported |
Inside LAB Platform
CPLH tells you whether the floor was staffed to plan. LAB Optic tells you whether the staff on the floor executed. A section running CPLH at 1.3 with a 40% greet miss is a training problem, not a scheduling problem, and the Panel alone cannot tell the two apart.
Service events land as a connected data source beside POS, labor and reservations, in the same ontology. One Truth.
New system-initiated triggers: live table flags, section miss clusters by day-part, position-level patterns, before the week closes.
"Why did section 3 turn slow Friday?" answered from the event record, not from recollection.
The revenue bridge. Tables with misses and tables without are compared on same-visit outcomes from the POS (tip rate, dessert and beverage attach, average check) and on return behavior from the reservation system (repeat rate at 30, 60 and 90 days). After one to two quarters an operator holds an empirical cost per miss type, calculated, not estimated, and it feeds LAB Signal as an EBITDA driver alongside RevPASH, CPLH, Prime Cost and FixPASH.
Architecture & privacy
Frames are processed in memory on an edge unit inside the restaurant and discarded. Only the event record leaves the device.
Status
LAB Optic is an AnalysisLAB system under active development. Specifications on this page describe the design intent and are subject to change as the pilot program is defined.
Now
Event set, standards framework and edge architecture defined. Privacy position under counsel review.
Next
Single-section deployment with a LAB Platform operator. Standards set by the operator; revenue bridge run on their own POS and reservation data.
Then
Service Execution Score in the LAB Panel; LAB Optic triggers in LAB Signal; multi-unit rollout.
Early access
Pilot participation is limited to LAB Platform operators. If your group runs a service standard and wants to prove what it is worth, start the conversation.
