Show HN: People Food - $7 Office Lunches for Hungry Startups • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: People Food - $7 Office Lunches for Hungry Startups

#41

Post by optimusclimb » Thu, Dec 05, 2013, 10:39 PM UTC

jmhamel wrote: post #39

staunch wrote: post #36

1. Make it $10 or $11. It's the most a lazy and cheap person will pay and it's a lot more than $7. You're still way cheaper than most other options. Use most of the money on delivering great food. 2. Cleanliness! Make sure you put in serious effort to ensuring the things you're delivering were prepared properly and cleanly. That they arrive nicely (tape soup lids well!). One round of office food poisoning... 3. Targe…

1. We've though about it, but we really want to support the scrappy little seed-stage startups who can't afford $11 lunches, but want to eat lunch as a team. 2. No problems with that so far, but thanks for the tip! 3. That's a good idea! We've been suggesting to really small startups ( 4. You got it!

Shouldn't the scrappy seed stage startup be hitting up Safeway and buying bread and cold cuts, pb&j, or...ramen, if it wants to be "scrappy"?

Re: Show HN: People Food - $7 Office Lunches for Hungry Startups

#42

Post by jmhamel » Thu, Dec 05, 2013, 10:40 PM UTC

rodly wrote: post #38

How can I be sure you source from local markets? This doesn't scale easily either. How do you plan to combat carelessness when demand goes up and you all of sudden need to push out 1000 or 10,000 meals at lunch time?

I guess you can never be entirely sure. (Do you have any ideas about how we can prove this to people?) Sometimes, we like to slip in notes about where the food came from, but we don't have any rigid guidelines set in place right now.

Re: Show HN: People Food - $7 Office Lunches for Hungry Startups

#43

Post by GrinningFool » Thu, Dec 05, 2013, 10:46 PM UTC

rodly wrote: post #38

How can I be sure you source from local markets? This doesn't scale easily either. How do you plan to combat carelessness when demand goes up and you all of sudden need to push out 1000 or 10,000 meals at lunch time?

a) you'll just have to trust them, the same as you trust any merchant to deliver what is promised.

b) turn down clients until they can accommodate.

Re: Show HN: People Food - $7 Office Lunches for Hungry Startups

#44

Post by jmhamel » Thu, Dec 05, 2013, 10:49 PM UTC

optimusclimb wrote: post #41

jmhamel wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. We've though about it, but we really want to support the scrappy little seed-stage startups who can't afford $11 lunches, but want to eat lunch as a team. 2. No problems with that so far, but thanks for the tip! 3. That's a good idea! We've been suggesting to really small startups ( 4. You got it!

Shouldn't the scrappy seed stage startup be hitting up Safeway and buying bread and cold cuts, pb&j, or...ramen, if it wants to be "scrappy"?

That's definitely the traditional idea. Here are two reasons that I think $7 is worth their money:

1. Foods like pb&j and ramen aren't exactly going to keep your brain in tip-top condition all day. Unbalanced meals can make you feel very tired.

2. Many of these scrappy startups can't make the time to even order groceries online. (source: I lived in a hacker house for a year)

Re: Show HN: People Food - $7 Office Lunches for Hungry Startups

#45

Post by jmhamel » Thu, Dec 05, 2013, 10:50 PM UTC

GrinningFool wrote: post #43

rodly wrote: post #38

How can I be sure you source from local markets? This doesn't scale easily either. How do you plan to combat carelessness when demand goes up and you all of sudden need to push out 1000 or 10,000 meals at lunch time?

a) you'll just have to trust them, the same as you trust any merchant to deliver what is promised. b) turn down clients until they can accommodate.

Wow, this was much better than my answer! Thanks :)

Re: Show HN: People Food - $7 Office Lunches for Hungry Startups

#46

Post by jmhamel » Thu, Dec 05, 2013, 10:51 PM UTC

budwin wrote: post #40

What a wonderful idea. Just FYI, I went to share this on facebook, and the thumbnail was white on white. You might want to put a few metadata tags in there.

Ahh thanks for noticing that! Just added it to the infinite to-do list :)

Re: Show HN: People Food - $7 Office Lunches for Hungry Startups

#47

Post by tejay » Thu, Dec 05, 2013, 11:08 PM UTC

If I lived in SF I'd totally jump on this. I was so productive in college because I lived right next to a gym and my dining hall had unlimited eating from 7am until 8p, every day.

Re: Show HN: People Food - $7 Office Lunches for Hungry Startups

#48

Post by GrinningFool » Thu, Dec 05, 2013, 11:13 PM UTC

jmhamel wrote: post #45

GrinningFool wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a) you'll just have to trust them, the same as you trust any merchant to deliver what is promised. b) turn down clients until they can accommodate.

Wow, this was much better than my answer! Thanks :)

Heh, np. I"m not in the area so I won't be able to sign up, but this seems like one of those "holy crap, why didn't someone think of this before" kind of ideas. Good luck with it :)

Re: Show HN: People Food - $7 Office Lunches for Hungry Startups

#49

Post by dshanahan » Thu, Dec 05, 2013, 11:38 PM UTC

jmhamel wrote: post #3

karangoeluw wrote: post #2

Good idea. But I think pricing needs an update. Usually eating out is $5 a meal.

Thanks! Just curious, but where can I get a $5 meal in SF? (Not trying to sound rude, I just can't find anywhere that cheap :) Also, I would say that most popular catering option in SF is ZeroCater, and their website says that meals start at $12-14/person.

just found a banh mi stand outside the SF Fed today ~$4 per sandwich. Was surprised, to say the least:)

Re: Show HN: People Food - $7 Office Lunches for Hungry Startups

#50

Post by jmhamel » Thu, Dec 05, 2013, 11:42 PM UTC

GrinningFool wrote: post #48

jmhamel wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, this was much better than my answer! Thanks :)

Heh, np. I"m not in the area so I won't be able to sign up, but this seems like one of those "holy crap, why didn't someone think of this before" kind of ideas. Good luck with it :)

Thanks! :D