The Restaurant Idea

So, part of the genesis for titling this blog came from the fact that I often come up with ideas, inventions, and well, yes, theories about things. George is a very rooted individual, not given to flights of fancy, and I think he gets tired of hearing my fool proof ideas- he likes that I have a place to vent them. He also doesn't want to admit that sometimes my ideas are really excellent and if he had invested in them, we'd be rich.

Take for example the idea I came up with about 4-5 years ago. I was trying to show my grandmother, who was bed-ridden in a nursing facility at the time, digital pictures of her great-grandchildren. I did at least, have a laptop, and could put it on a slide show and put it on her "lap" and let her see them. I say lap, because when you are lying in bed, you don't really have much of a lap- more of a mid-section. Anyway, I thought it would be awesome if we had a type of viewer, or screen, that was about the size of a picture frame, and you slid a CD or disk/usb in and the viewer then showed a slide show of your pictures on the disk. It would be about 8x10x3 inches- not very heavy- battery powered and very portable. Maybe some brightness, speed control features on the side. No sound, but just a picture viewer. George hears the ideas, nods, agrees it is a worthy idea and that's where it stops. Fast Forward to last Christmas, and all of the major electronics stores, and even my local CVS have this very product! Digital Picture Frames- retailing for about $100. Of course, other than my word for it, you have no proof I came up with this idea first.

So- here are two of my best ideas, born out of parenting frustrations, that have yet to be realized, and I'll claim whatever trademark/patent pending/intellectual property I can. So if you steal the idea- I can say I deserve a cut! Here goes: The first is more of a concept than a product. I just read a friend's blog describing the horrible experience of taking active children to a public eatery and trying to have even a snippet of adult conversation while keeping the steak knife out of the 4 year olds hands. What if there were a restaurant where you went in with your family, and we shown to your seats and handed menus (no counters for ordering or trays for carrying food to your table). The tables were comfy and maybe even had nice placemats or (gasp) a tablecloth (I'd be okay with a plastic covered table cloth even). While you looked over the possibilities of good, basic american fare- healthy sorts- not all chicken nuggets (but maybe some on the side for the wee ones). You know, quiche, salads, sandwiches, pasta, burgers etc. Then, once you glance at the menu, the kids can run off to the staffed kids play place! Just like at chick-fil-a or McDonalds- slides, ladders, general run and play mayhem. And there's a college student aged type person who moderates/mediates and generally keeps the mojo flowing amongst the tykes. Meanwhile, the adults sit in peace and quiet, talking and generally enjoying a minute or two while the food is prepared. When the food is ready, its brought to the table, the kids are summoned to come to the table and dinner is served. After 2.6 minutes, when the kids are done- they can go back to playing while the adults finish chewing their first bites. When the adults have had enough time, they pay the bill, leaving an oh-so-hefty tip for the good tasting, unrushed and fulfilling meal. What a concept, eh? I'd eat there at least twice a week.

The second idea is also food centered. I salute Chik-fil-a and like eateries for the innovations in sauce dipping cups. Anytime you get honey mustard, bbq or polynesian sauce, it comes in this nice plastic cup that contains all the sauce in one place, but opens up wide enough for dipping into. Great for the nuggets. But, what about the ketchup for the fries? Well, for that you have to rip open about 4 of those little ketchup packets and squeeze them onto a couple of well placed napkins, making a ketchup pond for dipping into. Why, of why for the love of all things simple, can they not put the ketchup in one of those cool plastic dipping cups? I haven't seen anyone spread their ketchup on top of their fries in years- and as far as ketchup in the car for to-go orders? Fogettaboutit!

And remember- if these hit the market- I get a cut!