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Deep Thoughts on the Food Tech Revolution by Captain Obvious McClure

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Re: Deep Thoughts on the Food Tech Revolution by Captain Obvious McClure

#51

Post by angryasian »

malachismith wrote: post #46
angryasian wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is really against what most restaurants should try to do. I'd rather have a place make 10 dishes very high quality than 50 ok dishes. With a large menu its very hard to provide quality and consistency.

Is this statement based on your experience working in quality focused restaurants?

this is my experience from working in many restaurants (not as a cook) along with being a foodie. While food tastes differ and is subjective, all you'd have to do is compare the best restaurants menu with a food buffet.

Re: Deep Thoughts on the Food Tech Revolution by Captain Obvious McClure

#52

Post by malachismith »

angryasian wrote: post #51
malachismith wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this statement based on your experience working in quality focused restaurants?

this is my experience from working in many restaurants (not as a cook) along with being a foodie. While food tastes differ and is subjective, all you'd have to do is compare the best restaurants menu with a food buffet.

There are hundreds if not thousands of amazing dim sum restaurants in Hong Kong and Saigon that prove you wrong.

Beyond that.... as a former back of the house restaurant employee (10+ years, Cordon Bleu, blah blah) I can tell you that the only time fewer dishes is a guarantee of higher quality is when the staff isn't skilled.

Re: Deep Thoughts on the Food Tech Revolution by Captain Obvious McClure

#53

Post by nathan_long »

hackinthebochs wrote: post #35
nathan_long wrote: post #23

I do not want to interact with more technology in a restaurant, but I do think restaurants tend to have stunningly bad websites. Most restaurants have either 1) a giant PDF or 2) a crazy interactive Flash experience. (Would you like to build an animated pizza? Would you like a Taylor Swift CD with your pizza?) When I come to a restaurant's site, I want to see this: 1) Location and hours 2) HTML menu with pictures Thi…

Why is flash automatically seen as bad? When done right it is a seamless experience that only the most technical could possibly take issue with. I, for one, enjoy papa john's interactive pizza order menu.

It isn't always bad, but it's definitely slower than text and images. My purpose in ordering a pizza is to order a pizza. When I'm doing a task, I don't want fun animations; I want to finish quickly. What do you have, what does it look like, what does it cost? Pick, pay, done.

Ordering a pizza is not part of the evening's entertainment; eating a pizza is.

Re: Deep Thoughts on the Food Tech Revolution by Captain Obvious McClure

#54

Post by davemcclure »

angersock wrote: post #47
kolektiv wrote: post #10

God I'd hate this. Restaurants are places of relaxation, company, discovery, beautiful foods. I want to order something which sounds good and then see whether it is - I want it to come to me as a surprise - "Oh Tuscan Rabbit? I wonder how the chef will do it confit... Oh! Wow, let's try this then!" It's not about efficiency, it's about atmosphere. I don't want a glowing screen anywhere near my dining table. I don't w…

It's not merely efficiency, though--the reason that these types of ideas suck is that they only care about buy-in from customers. What the customer thinks would enhance their experience. What the customer thinks would be nice "too many choices oh noes!". The fact is that for the true clients in the market (the restaurants ), we need to look at what makes their lives easier. And over the course of centuries, we've fig…

umm...

1) if it's a customer problem, it's a restaurant problem. 2) simplicity helps restaurants as much as customers 3) shorter wait time / quicker payment helps restaurants as much as customers 4) happy customers order more, come back more often 5) pretty sure we have experience in the industry, from 20+ investments in the category. certainly several of our entrepreneurs know what the hell they're doing, especially ElaCarte (also YC co & Lightbank co)

in short, the issues noted are just as much "restaurant" problems as customer problems -- and if you think those aren't connected, you've got even bigger issues as an entrepreneur.

anyway, you're entitled to your opinion. but I'm pretty sure you're assuming a zero-sum game here when actually the solutions help both sides.

Re: Deep Thoughts on the Food Tech Revolution by Captain Obvious McClure

#55

Post by davemcclure »

kolektiv wrote: post #10

God I'd hate this. Restaurants are places of relaxation, company, discovery, beautiful foods. I want to order something which sounds good and then see whether it is - I want it to come to me as a surprise - "Oh Tuscan Rabbit? I wonder how the chef will do it confit... Oh! Wow, let's try this then!" It's not about efficiency, it's about atmosphere. I don't want a glowing screen anywhere near my dining table. I don't w…

interesting. rather elitist perspective, and seriously out-of-touch with most mainstream consumers.

I'd hate to build a business based on pissing off customers, but I guess you're welcome to give that a spin.

best of luck with that.

Re: Deep Thoughts on the Food Tech Revolution by Captain Obvious McClure

#56

Post by davemcclure »

MattRogish wrote: post #43
kolektiv wrote: post #10

God I'd hate this. Restaurants are places of relaxation, company, discovery, beautiful foods. I want to order something which sounds good and then see whether it is - I want it to come to me as a surprise - "Oh Tuscan Rabbit? I wonder how the chef will do it confit... Oh! Wow, let's try this then!" It's not about efficiency, it's about atmosphere. I don't want a glowing screen anywhere near my dining table. I don't w…

If I want the most efficient dining experience I'll order in or go to a fast food place. I go to a restaurant for the UX: a date night, the atmosphere, getting out of the apartment, people watching, hanging with friends, etc. Downtime is the point! It is supposed to take time. It gives me a relaxed period of time to talk with the people I'm with while drinking beer/wine and waiting for the food to arrive. To enjoy th…

so you really believe that keeping people waiting is what they want?

seriously? seriously? bueller?

ok fine, guess I'm the only customer in the world who hates waiting in fine restaurants.

yeah, right.

Re: Deep Thoughts on the Food Tech Revolution by Captain Obvious McClure

#57

Post by davemcclure »

malachismith wrote: post #27

Dave, You're a smart cat. And you've been really successful in the tech / entrepreneurial venue. But this piece perfectly illustrates a common problem among successful tech entrepreneurs. You've not only assumed that a problem you struggle with is universal, you've also assumed that your success and expertise within one industry means that you know how to operate within other industries (that you don't know about). W…

1) I've been a customer of restaurants for far longer than I've been a tech entrepreneur.

2) I've been an investor in over 20 food-tech based Startups. I'm not clueless about the industry.

3) I come from middle-class (or lower-class!) america -- Appalachia, to be exact -- and my opinions are not based exclusively on either fast food restaurants nor high-class ones, but rather all of the above.

you're welcome to your own opinion, but I'm hardly I'll-informed about the industry, from either customer or operator perspective.

Re: Deep Thoughts on the Food Tech Revolution by Captain Obvious McClure

#58

Post by davemcclure »

johnrob wrote: post #26

A few issues: 1) Will implementing these features actually increase profit? This was never addressed. 2) Restaurant revenue does not grow exponentially into the sky like many internet businesses do. There are hard limits on growth. Thus the ROI on measurement (A/B testing) won't be nearly as high. 3) Is a digital ordering system (with all the bells and whistles) something that is high on the priority list of a typica…

1) yes. proven already at 100's of restaurants using E la Carte PrestoTablet systems. immediately positive economics. also reduced turnover time, so more available spots for additional customers.

2) there's plenty of inefficient market to address... literally hundreds of millions if not billions of customers. certainly millions of restaurant.

3) absolutely. and should be higher on priority, if they only knew how much money they would save / make.

again, we put our money where our mouths are. check out http://elacarte.com if you don't believe me.

Re: Deep Thoughts on the Food Tech Revolution by Captain Obvious McClure

#59

Post by malachismith »

davemcclure wrote: post #57
malachismith wrote: post #27

Dave, You're a smart cat. And you've been really successful in the tech / entrepreneurial venue. But this piece perfectly illustrates a common problem among successful tech entrepreneurs. You've not only assumed that a problem you struggle with is universal, you've also assumed that your success and expertise within one industry means that you know how to operate within other industries (that you don't know about). W…

1) I've been a customer of restaurants for far longer than I've been a tech entrepreneur. 2) I've been an investor in over 20 food-tech based Startups. I'm not clueless about the industry. 3) I come from middle-class (or lower-class!) america -- Appalachia, to be exact -- and my opinions are not based exclusively on either fast food restaurants nor high-class ones, but rather all of the above. you're welcome to your…

Being a customer of restaurants and being an investor in food tech start-ups is not the same as understanding operating a food service business.

That logic is similar to the logic of people who say, "I love cooking, I'll open a restaurant." (which, by the way, is one of the major causes of the high rate of infant restaurant mortality).

Re: Deep Thoughts on the Food Tech Revolution by Captain Obvious McClure

#60

Post by bcambel »

malachismith wrote: post #59
davemcclure wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) I've been a customer of restaurants for far longer than I've been a tech entrepreneur. 2) I've been an investor in over 20 food-tech based Startups. I'm not clueless about the industry. 3) I come from middle-class (or lower-class!) america -- Appalachia, to be exact -- and my opinions are not based exclusively on either fast food restaurants nor high-class ones, but rather all of the above. you're welcome to your…

Being a customer of restaurants and being an investor in food tech start-ups is not the same as understanding operating a food service business. That logic is similar to the logic of people who say, "I love cooking, I'll open a restaurant." (which, by the way, is one of the major causes of the high rate of infant restaurant mortality).

"I love programming, I'll open(start) a web company" (which, by the way, is one of the major causes of the high rate of infant webstartup mortality) and I think that is perfectly fine.
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