h a l f b a k e r yI like this idea, only I think it should be run by the government.
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When a group of friends meet to go out
for a meal, awkward minutes can be spent
deciding on the genre of restaurant : is it
to be Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Italian or
Belgian-Korean fusion.
The TakeOutEatIn restaurant is the perfect
variety restaurant - a one stop, all genre,
fresh food,
great service restaurant at
which everyone can choose their perfect
dish.
When you're given the menu, it's split into
genres to allow easy reference, but each
section is, in fact, the take out menu from
a speciality restaurant nearby.
When you place your order, the
TakeOutEatIn restaurant places the order
for you which are then delivered to it's
rather sparse kitchens. They are then
served beautifully at your table.
I realise that there are a number of
restaurants out there already that provide
a little of everything. However, given the
specialist skills required to prepare the
different cuisines, such restaurants are
often a jack of all trades and master of
none.
With the TakeOutEatIn restaurant, the
customer gets the very best without
having to compromise.
The restaurant gets the advantage of not
having to hire chefs, run a kitchen and
absolutely no waste.
(?) a little out of date
http://www.darlobar.com/
but this is the place [neilp, Feb 26 2006]
(?) Gourmet Shuttle
http://www.gourmetshuttle.com/index.htm
Take a peek at their list of over 150 restaurant menus to order from, all deliverable to your home, office or special site. [jurist, Feb 27 2006, last modified Mar 21 2006]
Post-Google Food
http://www.mediamat...rticle-9883-es.html
Martí Guixé talks about Food Facility [jutta, Mar 21 2006]
Deliverance
https://www.deliver...tectCookieSupport=1
"Badda Bing-Bong Bang-Bong Bing-bong Bing" - nope, it's not like that, it's a delivery service that allows you to choose from multiple (London) restaurants, and have it all delivered in one fell swoop. (can be a bit expensive though) [zen_tom, Nov 21 2007]
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Annotation:
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This idea reads like a menu of paragrahs. I'll have a well done "specialty" with "no waste" on the side. |
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Sorry I'm in a strange mood today. |
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If I get an opinion I'll be back. |
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<on 'phone to French restaurant> One croissant, please. <to jon> If you'll be seated sir, your meal will be ready shortly. |
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I can actually see this working, silly as it is, especially in those little resaurant precincts that spring up. I worked last year in an Indian restaurant within a 5 minute walk of a Thai restaurant, an African, an Italian bistro, and some others, I forget. You could just send a kitchenhand out to get the meals. |
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Baked ! remind me to take you to the Darlo Bar in Sydney. They do exactly this - they've got four or five menus to choose from depending on your whim. |
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this is just rent a plate and knife and fork :) |
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This idea also sounds like most central food courts in most large American shopping malls, except for the part about getting "the very best without having to compromise." |
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jon, I get the feeling that you need to further explain the concept to our USian friends. |
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[po] Indeed. My understanding is that this idea is based around a venue where people go because of the food, ambience, experience etc. The ubiquitous 'food court', whilst useful in its place, is surely not anything like your gastronomic vision. |
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To boot, your idea specifically mentions that there are no chefs on site, whilst the food court (depending on your defintion of chef) would have one for each 'stand'. |
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So what your actually describing is an office canteen. Yech. |
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Take your food to the park - that's what we do! |
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I suppose it would be like that, only with nice food, and nice ambience and people you want to hang around with. |
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I was thinking the same thing about the food court- How is this concept any different? |
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A restaurant is usually a place you go because you want some nice food. A food court is a place you go because you're hungry. |
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Absolutely croissant-tastic. But wouldn't the restaurant have to pay the going rates for meals, thus causing them to have to pump up the price to the consumers? Would you be willing to pay an extra pound (or dollar. or yen. or goat) just for the convenience of not having to decide what speciality you want to eat? |
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Unless they negotiate some kind of deal with the suppliers... but what would be in it for them? Exposure, if they're a small restaurant. And how do you choose which restaurant to supply you? There are bazillions of identical Chinese takeaways in one square mile. |
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Needs a bit of thinking through, but otherwise a good concept. |
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I was being rather tongue in cheek when I annotated above because I was quite certain that this idea had appeared before in these hallowed halls. However, since I haven't found that particular idea, let me suggest that you use any handy search engine to investigate "Multi Restaurant Delivery Service". You should expect to find lots of businesses in virtually any major metropolitan area with names like "Chef's Delivery.com", "GourmetShuttle.com", "TakeOutTaxi.com", and "AlaCarteExpress.com". All of these providers contract with multiple restaurants, reproduce their menus on their websites, and promise delivery to your home, office, or picnic site in the area within an hour. Some services specialize in delivering only from the very best restaurants in your neighborhood. Others (like TakeOutTaxi, which has been in business since the early 1990s) have national contracts with multiple major chain restaurants like California Pizza Kitchen, Chevy's, Chilli's, Damon's, Hamburger Hamlet, Romano's Maccaroni Grill, and TGI Fridays, etc. |
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I've included a link to GourmetShuttle.com for your comparison which provides menus and delivery for over 150 restaurants. I've not used their service, so I can't recommend them in any locality. I have used other services like these in years past for our corporate dining rooms with varying degrees of satisfaction (and cooked temperatures) with the delivered product. |
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[jurist] - Well aware of such services, in
fact, the one in my home town was the
very inspiration for this posting. |
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The key difference is that this is a
genuine restaurant in every sense, save
for the fact that the food doesn't come
from their kitchen. |
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Business model details then [w0lfman].
Sure, a volume discount deal would be
negotiated with the restaurants that
provide the food. Extra discounts would
be negotiated on account of the extra
advertising those restaurants get and
for the number of flyers handed out. |
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The customer also pays a minimum
premium of a £1 or $1 per person on
top of the standard price. That covers
your staffing costs. |
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Finally, this is certainly not a food court
[DrCurry]. It's a restaurant in look and
feel - no separate queueing at
individual desks to collect food. You sit
down, place an order and it's delivered,
all together, at your table. |
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// From what I've heard, the major cost in a restaurant is the cost of the staff // |
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You'd be right it's one of the major costs. The others being the lease on the building and the final one being the food costs, specifically wastage. |
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The final cost of course is elimated. So, the other two costs need to be covered. Minimum wage here in the UK is £5.05 (about $8) - or, under this scheme, 5-8 covers an hour per waiter. Feasible? I'd say. |
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Building costs do need to be covered, but I'd say that this can be covered via negotiating prices with the supply restaurants with the TakeOutEatIn restaurant banking the difference. |
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as far as staff goes, you wouldn't need cooks, waitresses or washers up. |
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just someone to usher the patrons in and out and ring for their orders and someone else to calculate the cost. oh, yes and someone to put all the little containers into the bin. |
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Yeah, yeah, you're right. Go for it! |
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after I thought about it, I like this. The food court is too noisy, and there are other fun places in the US, like Wegmans, where the fabulous chefs gather and offer really good stuff, not fast food. These have nice ambiance, but again crowded and noisy. Jon's place would be quieter. + |
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but what if dessert is half way across town? |
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[xandram] I can suggest that desserts
might just have to be ordered at the same
time as your starter (entree) and main
course. |
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Or you wait. And drink some more. |
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You get my bun. I travel a lot for work and as a result eat out a lot with business coleagues. The hotels frown upon take out and everyone wants to go somewhere else. In most cities there is lots of great resturaunts all in close proximity of each other so this would cater to the business traveler very well. |
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But, but, there's more to a resturant than food...
What theme would the decor be in?? One corner middle eastern, another corner american diner? To me, an important part of eating out is the cultural experience. For some reason this idea erks me a bit. I'd be let down if I met friends out as a place like this... just seems a bit 'consumer nation' oriented. |
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For many restaurants, the majority of floor space is taken up by the kitchen and warehousing supplies. All you need here is space for dishes, janitorial supplies, and a sink area. Plus I suppose you wouldn't want to order a glass of milk or coffee from the people six blocks away, so that would be on-site. Still a huge space savings. |
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I do think Luke is right about the decor. Because it's going to cost more than any of the "supplier" restaurants, the atmosphere needs to be a big selling point. |
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// the atmosphere needs to be a big selling point.// |
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How about virtual decor so depending on what you order the decor in your direct view is relevant to what you are eating |
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Example I order Chinese food so directly in front of me behind my guest is an LCD screen surrounded by a window sill with pictures of china perhaps I can see the Chinese junkets in the water. My guest orders French cuisine so they enjoy the Eiffel tower in the windowed LCD in front of them. |
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There’s a similar place in the China Trade Building – Boston. On one floor there are four separate restaurants (all Asian food, very Asian setting). They share a common eating area. The Chinese restaurant serves Americanized fast food style Chinese, among other things, so it’s not a risky venture for those set in their ways. Authentic Thai for me, thank you. I love the concept and this idea takes it a step further. |
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Which sounds a lot like a food court (albeit a very nice upscale example) again. |
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...with the food delivered to your table. |
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... and importantly, no kitchens, no wastage, no chefs. That's the key difference between this and a food court. |
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