Dinner Lab. Is this a good idea?

[gfweb]

Interesting piece. The concept isn't even a little bit attractive to me.  Pay upfront for membership in a focus group that dines sporadically in places ill-suited for eating a meal (a parking garage, really?).

 

They are going to monetize this by starting restaurants that exploit the recipe data generated from the labs. Doesn't sound promising.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/business/dinner-lab-brings-the-wisdom-of-crowds-to-haute-cuisine.html

[rotuts]

seems like a lot of money for something you can't choose.

 

if they plan to profit from my opinion, they would have to make it worth something to me.

 

Im out.

Edited August 31, 2014 by rotuts (log)

[Lisa Shock]

There are other ways to get data, and get it a lot more scientifically. There are market research companies all over the place that do taste tests, I have participated in them myself.

[lesliec]

The wisdom of crowds?  Ummm ...

 

This sounds very much like an event business, as somebody in the article said.  I could see it being sustainable in big enough population centres - pop-up restaurants can be fun, but I don't always want to eat in a (probably drafty) motorcycle garage.  You'd need a good population base so there was always a supply of first-timers coming along.

 

But were those plastic wine glasses on the tables?  Ugh.

[pastrygirl]

How can you reap the wisdom of the crowd and not end up playing to the lowest common denominator?

 

Otherwise, I could sort of see this as fun, if you had a SO or group of friends to go with and were into offbeat dining experiences.  The price isn't bad for a tasting menu, and you have an added theater component.  But I see this more as a novelty event than as a way to build restaurants.  I'm just not convinced that crowd-sourcing a fine dining menu is going to result in the same kind of experience that having a skilled, visionary chef create it.

[gfweb]

This almost sounds like a B-school project brought to life.

[Martin Fisher]

It's not about the data, it's not about crowd sourcing, it's not even really about the food...It's about attention and publicity....I see it as a stunt to take advantage of social media and other appropriate publicity and the like (they do get a lot of press) to build the business to the point of direct or indirect profit....if they can't make real profit, maybe they can sell the whole deal  to some rich moron.

Edited September 1, 2014 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[Katie Meadow]

Giving diners an opportunity to rate their food probably increases their willingness to pay large amounts of money for the privilege. Everyone seems hooked on rating everything, and wow do most of them love sound of their own....keyboard. See Delia Ephron, also in today's paper--it's very funny.

[cakewalk]

Agree with most of what is said above. But it does look like a good opportunity for the chefs, lets them spread their wings a bit. Not the intended goal of the enterprise, but it's there.