Pay by the Minute Buffet

My Brazilian freind has brought it to my attention that us Americans eat not only too much but too fast as well (I'm sure all you Brit's agree). In the rest of the world's eyes, we just inhale our food and run.

I say it's time to give "We the people of the United States" a resturant where we can profit and take pride in our savage eating habits.

Here's how it works- after the hostess seats you, he/she starts a clock at the end of your table (where the jukebox usually is in diners). After that, everthing functions the same as a normal buffet untill you are finished eating.

After you're done inhaling spare ribs and chicken wings (or maybe chinese food, but lets not stray to far away from the main idea) you hit a big red button on top of the clock ( and yes, it should be big and red in the spirit of the idea), effectively stopping the clock and paging the waitress to bring you your check. (Now is your chance to sneak in a few more bites before she gets to the table and takes your plate).

Just think- you'll never have to wait too long for a table, waitresses no longer have to deal with customers who sit at the table for an hour sipping coffee when they could be serving more customers (at the end of the day this means more tips, for those of you lucky enough to have never had to work in foodservice), and if you're tight on funds you have some control over your bill.

I already see military and ex-convicts lining up for this one.

I'm not quite sure how the resturant profits off this idea, but then again this is the Halfbakery, you don't have to think an idea all the way through.