It’s been said that people today, more specifically teenagers, spend more time online than they do watching television. With this in mind, IM Dining seems to be on the right track, offering a great new service, currently focused at college enrolled AIM users, that allows them to easily order food via an AIM instant message.

Keith Nowak is the founder of Shadow Enterprises, the company behind IM Dining. Developing the idea while studying at Boston University, he and his father patented the IM-Ordering technology (still pending) and since graduating, Keith and his father have begun developing the IM Dining business.

IM Dining works like this: a person wishes to order food from Restaurant X, so they send an instant message to an assigned screen name; for example, IM Restaurant X. They select Pickup / Delivery from a list, give details about their location, and assuming that everything is verified, they are given a link to an online menu. Once at the menu, you simply click an “Add” button, listed beside each item that you would like to order. An order total is kept track of on the website, and you can choose to pay via cash or credit card. If at any point you are having trouble, there is an actual person standing by via IM to help you complete the order. Once the order is complete, the person taking your order sends you an IM telling you how long until your order will be ready / delivered.

According to Mr. Nowak, “We [IM Dining] provide customers and their favorite restaurants the ability to have an efficient one to one conversation without any middleman.”

IM Dining only charges a 3% commission to restaurants on each order that is made via instant messaging. In my opinion this is very reasonable, considering that the IM interface can alleviate the need for extra employees. Where two or three employees might be constantly taking phone orders, one or two employees could simultaneously handle all of those orders via instant message. In addition, IM Dining will be offering unobtrusive advertisements on the menu pages of restaurants, so that the charges will not be passed onto the users and fees will remain low for restaurants.

According to Mr. Nowak, the business has been designed as an extremely scalable one. Currently only operating in a few restaurants in Boston, IM Dining is being developed so that it can be easily implemented and scaled across restaurant chains. Discussions are in progress to implement the IM Dining service in thousands of restaurants using Point of Sale software and in a restaurant chain spanning the United States. The company currently employs three full time workers and has an advisory board of five that is seeking the appropriate investments (angel, VC, joint ventures) that will bring their total vision to reality.

I actually got a chance to test the service and I have to say that it is really simple and easy to use. I see this service as being very useful, not only for college students, but for anyone who multitasks and spends a decent portion of time on the computer. In addition, the advent of the ordering via a computer system is much more efficient, and I would assume more accurate, than ordering over the telephone from another person. Having lived in both Boston and Montréal, the homes of two very diverse cultures, I cannot begin to explain how many times language barriers have been the cause of misunderstandings and faulty orders; IM Dining could alleviate this problem. Furthermore, IM Dining can reduce the need for paper menus and can increase visibility for restaurateurs as IM Dining creates additional advertising for these restaurants.

Note: I would like to give a special thanks to Keith Nowak and the IM Dining team for helping with this company assessment. They have a great team and a great customer support system.