Salt, pepper, smartphone ...

Mealtime conversations play second fiddle to a cellphone and laptop. Photo / Getty Images

The sight of a couple ignoring each other while out to dinner in order to tap away on smartphones is increasingly common - but the hospitality industry says it has little choice but to accommodate the trend.

However, electronic gadgets at the dining table have so enraged one Australian restaurateur that he has threatened a ban.

Melbourne dining institution Colombo's will tell customers their children are not to use iPads, game consoles or other devices at the table.

Co-owner Nabil Kurban said that with gadgets becoming as common as salt and pepper shakers, he was forced to take a hard line.

"Only six months ago we never saw an iPad, but I've had a 2-year-old in here with an iPad - it's a joke," Kurban told news.com.au.

"We are letting people know that being at the dinner table for the family is the most valuable time of the day so that people can say, 'How are you, how's your day, is everything okay?"'

But New Zealand restaurateurs are more accepting of the trend.

The owner of Iguacu Restaurant in Auckland's Parnell, Julie-Ann Bell, said she wouldn't let her own children play with gadgets over dinner, but wasn't about to impose rules on others.

"I would never start telling people how to handle their kids; we're not a childcare centre."

She said the restaurant understood that its corporate customers needed to be able to be in contact with the office.

Shane Hausler, co-director of Lone Star, said use of electronic gadgets had increased in their 20 franchised restaurants, but not to "epidemic" levels.

"It is the parents' call. It's really up to them.

"And generally from a parent's point of view, as long as your kids are happy, the parents are relaxed," Mr Hausler said.

Restaurant Association of New Zealand chief executive Marisa Bidois said the industry had to be able to adapt to cultural change.

"By telling someone they can't use their iPad ... I don't know that's really going to get the kind of reactions you want in your restaurant."

She said most people had observed diners sitting in silence in order to focus on their electronic devices.

"But I mean at the same time I've seen couples sitting having breakfast and both reading the paper and not talking to each other.

"I do agree that dinner is something sacred and it's a time to converse ... but far be it for a business owner or myself to sit there and preach."

However, Australian businesses continue to fight back - a Melbourne video store has put up signs to warn people they will not be served while talking on the phone.

"We refuse to serve them now," said Anthony Barton, manager of Blockbuster Video in Port Melbourne.

"If they're standing there on the phone, we just serve the next person."