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Gfron1, I believe over 500 people have viewed. People must really like "bad ideas", but honestly Gfweb, I think Tri2cook sort of nailed it. Its just the fundamental opposite of what a restaurant is, which I'm posing as an interesting hypothetical experiment....bad or good, not really the point. Under what conditions is it possible, is the point. I cant really get up on stage on thursday and say, "after much debate, i realized my idea was a bad one". Our professor has owned numerous restaurants and has really pushed us to pursue the idea Deryn, you nailed it. Target market is really everything here. I think the nostalgia I'm talking about becomes more than a craving. It becomes a yearning. Millennials are super nostalgic as a whole. And exactly, for the target market of this establishment you can write off adventurous eaters, and consequently, most of the eGullet crowd. I actually love to cook and go on culinary adventures, so its not really for me either. Smithy, yes, I mean generally $20 per one person is what it would be, but if someone asks for something very very simple, perhaps that the restaurant already had in stock, it could be around $10. Also, idea works a lot better say if someone takes a date, which would be a good way of showing someone your exact personality with a meal you constructed. Think of the elderly too though. If someone has aged to the point where cooking for themselves is difficult, this platform would offer something for the more stubborn elderly person who insists on a dish being prepared a certain way. Targets: picky eaters, people with dietary restrictions, the lazy and nostalgic, the elderly New study from the Washington Post: Less than 60% of dinners cooked at home, 40% of the survey even considered cereal "inconvenient". Things are getting bad. I should also add, that although I posed this question, I'm not within the target market. I love to cook and go to adventurous restaurants, and will even travel great lengths just to get something I like.

GFAweb, the problem that's being solved is not a dire one. Nonetheless, people who crave a highly specific dish, catered to their exact tastes really cannot get that experience on demand unless they cook it themselves, or have a chef. And in the scenario where they cook it, it might lack the touch of a professional chef. True "problems" aren't always necessary. Take, for instance, a very popular establishment in Nashville called Sips N Strokes, where customers can drink wine while they learn how to paint. People not being able to drink wine and paint is certainly not really a problem either, but it still has become a major hit with over 50,000 likes on facebook. I think the experience of getting a meal made to a customers exact demands has appeal. It represents an amount of control not possible in any other restaurant setting. It's definitely something that's very easy to sneer at though, I understand that. LisaShock, all of that is incredibly insightful (thank you!); however, I think with increased speed comes less control. Millenials who don't have money definitely love the cheaper option. But what I really think about millennials is that they love control. Saving money on dining is actually a form of control because more money in the pocket means more freedom. Once millennials grow up a bit and get jobs, I think they'll develop a sense of patience for the amount of control this concept offers. With that said, the concept needs a lot of ironing out. It would definitely be considered a high end product possibly with private dining rooms, and perhaps with a more causal parlor room for the fixed menu as you suggested. But here's another angle that I think could work. If you make the relationship between the customer and the chef more personal, then you kind of have something. Say on the website there were chef pages, featuring their specialities, where they were trained, etc, so people know who's cooking their food and thus know what to request/expect. That is something not very common in today's restaurant culture, excluding of course very high end restaurants where the chef is the draw. Bottom line, upon reading the responses thus far, this service would probably not suite the demands of the culinary elite. Rather, it would maybe be more for your average unmarried guy who has some money in his pocket, and who I will now use as a hypothetical example. His mom might have always made him a flank steak seasoned with old bay because he's from Louisiana and thats how he likes it, with mashed potatoes and peas. Not wanting to track down a restaurant that serves that specific cut of steak prepared with old bay (not gonna happen), with those specific sides, or go to the grocery store because he's very busy, this service would help this very regular guy from Louisiana get his favorite childhood meal prepared with restaurant quality aesthetics. I think there's something very comforting about that. Thanks again to all who have responded. Y'all have been super insightful.

Pastrygirl, you asked what purpose this serves to fill. This is an aspect I have not fully laid out yet because this is a culinary forum and all. The idea itself is very much routed in today's social media trends, specifically the app Pinterest. Our original idea was to use accredited recipes from Pinterest as the chief recipe source. Customers would forward pinterest recipes to the restaurant and so on. Among, you guessed it, millennials this app has become very popular as a cooking aid. People post recipes with a very desirable photo and others pin it and share it and all that. Basically, a partnership with the social media app is part of the business plan. They would help hire the big chefs and get the whole thing off the ground. Overall though, it would really be focused on popular, simple, and doable recipes. Having said that we could also discuss the nature of cravings. How long do they last? Sometimes like I crave a donut, but that's very broad. I think its a different (feel free to disagree) when a menu item is highly specific—especially fried food. I've fried chicken and pork in my chicken and its a lot of work and a huge cleanup. I sometimes have a highly specific craving for fried pork chops, a very rare menu item, but one that is very easy to prepare in a restaurant style kitchen. Thanks again to all who have replied

I don't have to get funding for this for this project or anything, so I guess I'm primarily curious if it were possible, under what conditions would it appeal to you? Like even if you think this a "really bad idea," say someone did pull it off, its new in town, does the idea interest you enough to try it? Thanks again to those who have responded. Don't be afraid to be snarky or anything. The idea itself was meant to be completely far fetched and incite thought. Pretty much every sit down restaurant is the same exact format: you order the food they suggest you'll like. We wanted to try to rethink that based on individual consumer demand, which, yes, were happy to say is a pretty crazy idea. As someone who loves restaurants this goes against the purpose of any restaurant (which for me is to try new things and leave it to the experts), but with this restaurant you would technically be trying something new (the concept itself) and something familiar (the food you request). I'm sorry if this is ringing a very familiar bell to any of you, I'm actually a film major and while I love food and know a lot about its significance, thinking through the business side of it is very new to me. Thank you for pointing that out Pastrygirl. The debate among my group is whether to make this a catering service, a restaurant or a take out only service. JeanneCake, thank you very much. I really need an A. I really like the supper club idea. There's not really any in Nashville and I've only been to one and it was a really cool experience.

Additionally, if you are someone that eats out on holidays, would you (if you could) use your family's recipes or and have it prepared for you at a restaurant? The responses so far have been fantastic. Overall, I'm looking more for whether this idea is desirable for potential customers, as opposed to the technical challenges it poses. This is based off of the business principle that if something is desirable, it will eventually be made. Thanks again to all who have responded thus far

Thank you all for the immediate response. I've posted to four other forums about this and didn't receive a single response, so thank you very very much. Lisa, very interesting points. The restaurant would technically need to do the impossible; however, the chefs would have the option of turning down a certain recipe or offer something similar if its outside their comfort zone. I can also imagine a chef getting super frustrated and quitting around once a week. Thanks for your response Smithy, that is what "metric based" meant, sorry if that was confusing. Thank you for your thoughtful response, it was very helpful. Some more research needs to be done on what exactly the atmosphere would be, thank you for pointing that out. Rob1234, that's true we would have to be highly specialized with unique dishes that arent available within the city. The more unique, the harder it is to pull off. Thank you for pointing this out to us. Blue_dolphin, very true. I think we would have to make expectations clear that a mother's love can realistically affect how something tasted. Dietary restrictions is something we considered, that could definitely be a niche, thank you for pointing that out. Gfron1, that's a good point and interesting that you think the height of the quality is not distinctly important. Pastrygirl, well shoot. Do you think it could work with larger quantities, say for corporate events, birthday parties, etc?

Hi everyone, My name's Harrison and I'm a college student. I'm currently doing academic research on the development of a new style of restaurant where the customer can request any food they like with 24 hours notice. If you have any sort of random craving (within reason) you would be able to send it to the restaurant. They then calculate the cost, run that by you, and at least 24 hours later you would be able to sit down and enjoy your customized meal. Does this sound at all appealing to you or anyone you know? In addition, the most popular custom food items would be featured on a weekly fixed price menu. This menu would be totally metric based which is pretty cool. Basically, were trying to rethink the restaurant based more on immediate consumer demand as well as consumer access to their own recipes. If you give the restaurant a recipe that becomes popular you get free meals as a reward. All the logistics of this sort of business would be very complicated to pull off. This project is totally hypothetical and purely academically motivated; however, I would very much like to hear if you feel you would pay around $20-30 to get a personal meal in a restaurant setting. If no, would you if money was no object? This is a project for a culinary entrepreurship class at my university in Nashville, TN and I could really use y'all's help. The teacher recommended we reach out to forums like this one in our research for extra credit. Have an awesome day and thank you so much for reading! -Harrison Thompson