21–30 of 69 posts
It would be even cooler if a quadcopter delivered your grilled cheese sandwich within minutes no matter where you were. Why doesn't that exist yet?
Quadcopter are very fast and can go very far before they lose power. And a single sandwich is not a very heavy load.
If you are outdoors and can give it your GPS coordinates, a single restaurant/quadcopter port, could serve a very large area.
I don't mean to be dense... but why would I want to order food on my phone? I'm reminded of Paul Graham's office hours video on TC. He asked one of the founders if his product solved the biggest problem in his life. I don't think there's a single person on Earth whose biggest problem in life is, "I have to tell the cashier what I want to eat before I can get fast food."
I don't think The Melt is doing this right, but it could be useful. Let's say you ordered it from an app that sends the restaurant your GPS coordinates at the time of the order. It then continues to send your coordinates as you travel to the restaurant. On their end their software computes an estimated arrival time allowing them to precisely time cooking to be fresh and ready for you to eat when you arrive.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you ask me, screw the grilled cheese restaurant. A grilled cheese van would be a licence to print money, second only to a cupcake van.
Will Y Combinator invest in my grilled cheese van? :)
edit: Actually I think the ideal would be two technical founders with complementary skills. One knows how to make a grilled cheese, and the other one knows how to drive.
see http://www.meltbarandgrilled.com
[1] I guess he called his "The Melt"
edit: first hit in Google for "The Melt" as well.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think The Melt is doing this right, but it could be useful. Let's say you ordered it from an app that sends the restaurant your GPS coordinates at the time of the order. It then continues to send your coordinates as you travel to the restaurant. On their end their software computes an estimated arrival time allowing them to precisely time cooking to be fresh and ready for you to eat when you arrive.
That makes a lot more sense. I still don't think I'd use it ("fast food isn't fast enough" is not a complaint I've ever made), but at least I can understand why someone would.
Really? I just went down to Cheeseboard Pizza to get a slice, but the line was too long, so I went somewhere else. If I could have ordered and paid while I walked and then just picked it up when I got there, that would have been sweet.
Mind you, I'm pretty impatient.
I know restaurant names are often re-used, but I wanted point out there is already an awesome gourmet grilled cheese restaurant called "Melt".[1] see http://www.meltbarandgrilled.com [1] I guess he called his "The Melt" edit: first hit in Google for "The Melt" as well.
It would be even cooler if a quadcopter delivered your grilled cheese sandwich within minutes no matter where you were. Why doesn't that exist yet?
You know... that sounds doable. Quadcopter are very fast and can go very far before they lose power. And a single sandwich is not a very heavy load. If you are outdoors and can give it your GPS coordinates, a single restaurant/quadcopter port, could serve a very large area.
I don't mean to be dense... but why would I want to order food on my phone? I'm reminded of Paul Graham's office hours video on TC. He asked one of the founders if his product solved the biggest problem in his life. I don't think there's a single person on Earth whose biggest problem in life is, "I have to tell the cashier what I want to eat before I can get fast food."
I think there's an ad-hoc, informally specified set of standards for when a problem is "big enough" that people will pay to have it solved. What you're looking for is something within that range where you can out-executing the competition. Searching for "the biggest problem" oversatisfies the first half of that proposition at the expense of the second.
All that said, I find little inconvenience in the current fast food ordering process. Often there is a language barrier, but a combination of numbered meals and ambivalence towards picking off what I don't want solves that issue.
Possibly the restaurants could find value in making the experience "good enough" to keep me from going down the street and paying more at $fancy_restaurant where ordering is (relatively) hassle-free? I'm not convinced that can be done via phone in the lowest-common-denominator fashion of fast food.
All the restaurant-related startups and announcements lately are an almost-daily reminder for me that when you have a good idea, jump on it. Ah well. I didn't have the contacts to pull it off, and it was only half an idea. :)
If you ask me, screw the grilled cheese restaurant. A grilled cheese van would be a licence to print money, second only to a cupcake van.
Grilled cheese and tomato soup van in the fall/winter.
Cupcake and Icee van in the spring/summer.