The holy grail of this kind of technology is the ability to interact and order directly from every table. That seems to be the approach T1Vision is taking. The problem with that (at this stage) is the huge initial investment required to make that happen. Not only is the hardware cost high but it is also very challenging to integrate with existing POS systems. Not to mention changing the workflow of taking orders and getting food to tables.
Where my approach differs is that it is one screen in the front lobby. It would be used to draw people's attention and provide an informative experience and bypasses the challenge of actual order taking (for now) which makes the software simpler to develop and the hardware requirement much less so the total cost is actually reasonable for smaller/independent restaurants.
Sounds interesting. But you may want to look at online resources and other apps to see if they do not currently offer the information you are looking to provide. I am not sure how much traction your book/app would have though. There are so many travel books and apps now that your offering may get lost in the noise of the other offerings.
Perhaps, you could try partnering with existing sites/apps/books to offer this sort of information that they could incorporate into their offering. You would need to show how the experience would be for the users as well as how your information would add value.
If your idea is in fact without competition then include who are possible competitors no matter how slight. To not have any competition is a HUGE red flag. By including even the slightest of competition then you are showing that you have done your research. Also, make sure you have a rock solid way of explaining how long it will take for investors to get their money back.
Contact your group of contacts and ask them why they do not want to back you. You may be surprised at their responses. But take their advice and alleviate their concerns. Because their concerns will be the same as potential investors.
Find a way of doing it on a smaller scale that you can afford to finance yourself. You will need a proof of concept anyway so start working on that. People are more likely to invest in things they can actually see not ideas alone.
I should have mentioned that this plays on the Netflix model. And, with that, well, how long did it take before we had DVDs by mail? A longggggggg time. So yeah, there's the typical retail outlet for this stuff, you're right. And this market specifically is ginormous and will always be there. But there's currently no member of this market that's decided to go along with the Netflix model. And, at least to me, I see that as a huge opportunity.
Of course Netflix already abandoned the mail delivery model as their focus, they even tried to spin off that business, and it is only a small portion of their revenue today. There were a lot of factors that went into Netflix's success, including working closely with the USPS on rapid delivery, a terrific web presence, and catching the DVD market at a point when they were dropping in price but still a popular format for consumers. The window for Netflix was actually quite small (I suspect you are young and don't remember the time before DVDs) as DVDs were the most rapidly adopted media format in consumer electronic history, and are imploding at an impressive rate as well.
You've mentioned the Netflix DVD model a few times, so ostensibly you seek to offer some type of physical good via subscription?
Netflix's DVD model worked because everybody was used to renting movies from Blockbuster. The business model already existed: Netflix just did a better job of it and at exactly the right time. Will you have to change hearts and minds, or will you be simply "doing a better job than Blockbuster"?
It seems like you're considering some business that requires a lot of inventory, low margins, and high-operational costs. I guess I'm making a lot of assumptions.
EDIT: I guess I sound fairly negative. I'd like to add that I have a dear friend who manages to earn a decent living with a small internet-based video game rental service. It's a husband/wife team. They somehow managed to bootstrap the business, earn a loyal customer base, and maintain inventory in their apartment. They spend a few hours per day manually fulfilling orders, adding custom notes/suggestions to their customers, etc. It works quite well for them.
Sounds exciting. I would advise you to look into why the retail outlets are not using the model then. See if you can glean some points as to what they saw that keeps them out of it and see if you can come up with an idea around it. For example, if you look at the Netflix model it requires them to have several warehouses with several dvd's in stock constantly in order to meet demand. How could you alleviate this cost? Perhaps by offering it in a limited area initially.
