This does bring the question up in my mind of what a restaurant that wasn’t a luxury would look like, ie, something that sells ready to eat food at prices that make it competitive with cooking at home, and which is healthy enough to eat on a daily basis without ill effect. My guess is that it would be largely a matter of having to carefully choose recipes that both use ingredients that are cheap in bulk, and able to be at least partially automated to keep staff costs low, but which are still nutritious and rely on minimal processed ingredients. Probably soups and chili and the like I’d imagine.
It’s a place where they have a large tray of food and you just plop some on your own smaller tray. Basically the same as the college dining hall. A small amount of staff can provide meals for thousands during the lunch hour.
I’ve heard of them before, but my assumption was that whatever factor about fast food had killed them off, probably would still be in play to prevent them returning unless optimized even further somehow
Not an expert, but I’d guess that automats were an urban phenomenon that were displaced by the post-war boom in cars. You sat and ate in at an automat. There was no take out window. A quick look shows that the last one in New York closed in 1991. Also found an article saying they might come back
This does bring the question up in my mind of what a restaurant that wasn’t a luxury would look like, ie, something that sells ready to eat food at prices that make it competitive with cooking at home, and which is healthy enough to eat on a daily basis without ill effect. My guess is that it would be largely a matter of having to carefully choose recipes that both use ingredients that are cheap in bulk, and able to be at least partially automated to keep staff costs low, but which are still nutritious and rely on minimal processed ingredients. Probably soups and chili and the like I’d imagine.
It’s a place where they have a large tray of food and you just plop some on your own smaller tray. Basically the same as the college dining hall. A small amount of staff can provide meals for thousands during the lunch hour.
Hmm sounds like luxury to me.
You may be interested in automats.
I’ve heard of them before, but my assumption was that whatever factor about fast food had killed them off, probably would still be in play to prevent them returning unless optimized even further somehow
Not an expert, but I’d guess that automats were an urban phenomenon that were displaced by the post-war boom in cars. You sat and ate in at an automat. There was no take out window. A quick look shows that the last one in New York closed in 1991. Also found an article saying they might come back
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/theyve-been-gone-for-20-years-but-now-automats-are-back-with-a-high-tech-twist/2852749/