Posted on 12/15/2016 7:15:48 AM PST by upchuck
NEW YORK (FOX5NY) - Imagine going out to eat and never interacting with a server or cashier. You can do that at a new restaurant in New York City.
Eatsa is an automated restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. It opened as an East Coast anchor for a small chain that started in California.
There are no cashiers and you order on an iPad or your phone. The meal appears in a little locker. Customers tap to open the door for their meal.
You'd better love quinoa. The food is all vegetarian. Bowls cost about $7.
The restaurant opened this week at 285 Madison Avenue, between 40th and 41st streets.
(Excerpt) Read more at fox5ny.com ...
An idea as modern as the 50s. :0)
Those automats were a ripoff. The 75 cent peanut butter sandwich ($4 today) had NO JELLY, and barely any peanut butter!
Yep, way old tech.
It sounds dreadful.
No thanks.
This isnt a machine and it’s a good idea to be able to see the kitchen when eating in NYC
You’re so right. Back in the 1970’s we had automated dispensers in our lunch room at TWA in Kansas City. Only filled the machines early on Monday morning. Tuna fish sandwich was good on Monday and Tuesday but if any still there on Friday best not go there. They did have awesome coconut cream pie though.
LOL! I thought of the ‘automats’ as soon as I saw the article ;-)
Again, Back to the Future was off by a year...
That’s the first thing I thought of.
By the 1950s H&H Automats had been around for more than half a century.
The original Horn and Hardart Automat opened in Philadelphia in 1888. Photo of it on postcard was postmarked 1904.
1966 H&H menu.
Thank you.
Last and final time I was in Whataburger, the burger flipper had his hand stuffed way down in his pants digging around in his butt. That's one reason I cook at home.
Probably could add a zero to all those prices to bring it close to today’s costs.
Anyone willing to guess if there is a ‘tip jar’ on the premises?
Apparently there are a few of those old style automats in the Netherlands. They’e open 24/7 and are quite popular with the late night party crowd.
CC
Only open for lunch or breakfast/lunch but not dinner. Or closes at 9 pm depending on the site. Closed on the weekends. Not very good business sense to close for dinner and weekends.
Have to give them points for hiring someone to up dozens of new entries on yelp and other sites but you’d think they’d have been smart enough not to post them all on the same day.
The prices shown on the 1966 menu were pretty much the same as the 1971 prices at the NYC Automat on E42nd and Third ave. Ate there frequently when I worked across the street.
But given that prime corner location at today’s high retail rentals there’s no way it would work.
While there were no servers, there were plenty of people working behind the walls of the machines cooking and preparing the hot plate meals to load the machines. Producers, not food transporters, which is all wait staffers are essentially in high volume fast turn over operations. No offense to waiters intended.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.