

Flip creator gets into the grilled cheese business, Sequoia invests  - logicalmoron
http://venturebeat.com/2011/06/01/the-melt-flip-sequoia/

======
hugh3
Well, I _do_ like grilled cheese, and I'm happy to have five more opening in
the SF Bay Area (please be Berkeley, please be Berkeley) but... really?
Sequoia Capital funds grilled cheese restaurants nowadays?

I mean, apart from anything else it's going to make 'em look especially silly
if it fails. I can see the annual report now. "This year we made $50 billion
from five IPOs in the computer-aided drug discovery, computational nanotech,
and metamaterials sectors. We also wrote off $10 million we invested in a
grilled cheese chain."

~~~
patio11
"We also paid a trifling sum of money for an option on participation in
whatever the next thing the Flip creator does after he gets the grilled cheese
thing out of his system."

------
hook
It would be even cooler if a quadcopter delivered your grilled cheese sandwich
within minutes no matter where you were. Why doesn't that exist yet?

~~~
bh42222
You know... that sounds doable.

Quadcopter are very fast and can go very far before they lose power. And a
single sandwich is not a very heavy load.

If you are outdoors and can give it your GPS coordinates, a single
restaurant/quadcopter port, could serve a very large area.

~~~
hugh3
Given advances in ballistics I think a grilled cheese cannon would work just
as well, and be cheaper.

~~~
matwood
I would be blowing $$$/week ordering grilled cheeses for unsuspecting friends.

------
RyanMcGreal
I was thinking of starting a company that sells pet supplies to retail
customers by way of a website. Think I'll be able to secure VC funding?

~~~
dchest
Only if it involves QR codes, NFC technology, and group buying.

------
ctdonath
Reminiscent of Starbucks' "Mobile Pour" joke ... which isn't that far from
viable in a high-dollar high-traffic area.

[http://www.starbucks.com/blog/introducing-starbucks-
mobile-p...](http://www.starbucks.com/blog/introducing-starbucks-mobile-pour)

------
powertower
It's an interesting angle here...

When someone wants to eat, they pay immediately by mobile in a quick and easy
way (hopefully), and hence lock themselves into not being able to change their
minds, or going somewhere else, or not going anywhere but home.

------
DanielStraight
I don't mean to be dense... but why would I want to order food on my phone?
I'm reminded of Paul Graham's office hours video on TC. He asked one of the
founders if his product solved the biggest problem in his life. I don't think
there's a single person on Earth whose biggest problem in life is, "I have to
tell the cashier what I want to eat before I can get fast food."

~~~
MatthewPhillips
I don't think _The Melt_ is doing this right, but it could be useful. Let's
say you ordered it from an app that sends the restaurant your GPS coordinates
at the time of the order. It then continues to send your coordinates as you
travel to the restaurant.

On their end their software computes an estimated arrival time allowing them
to precisely time cooking to be fresh and ready for you to eat when you
arrive.

~~~
DanielStraight
That makes a lot more sense. I still don't think I'd use it ("fast food isn't
fast enough" is not a complaint I've ever made), but at least I can understand
why someone would.

~~~
hugh3
_"fast food isn't fast enough" is not a complaint I've ever made_

Really? I just went down to Cheeseboard Pizza to get a slice, but the line was
too long, so I went somewhere else. If I could have ordered and paid while I
walked and then just picked it up when I got there, that would have been
sweet.

Mind you, I'm pretty impatient.

~~~
blasdel
Just get their phone number and call ahead for takeout — it's pretty common
here in Seattle even for places that don't deliver or even have a counter to
order at.

There are some terrific sit-down restaurants that have tons of excess kitchen
capacity.

~~~
hugh3
Heh, that'd never work at Cheeseboard. They make great pizza, actually, but:

a) They only make one type of pizza per day,

b) You stand in a line which always goes out the door in order to order it

c) Same line for eat-in or take-away.

They have a constant stream of pizzas coming out of the ovens and getting cut
up. When you're standing in line all you're waiting for is for the guy at the
front to find out how many slices everyone wants and to take their money.

~~~
krakensden
When they did their big remodel, they really should have added space for a
second cashier.

------
timtadh
I know restaurant names are often re-used, but I wanted point out there is
already an awesome gourmet grilled cheese restaurant called "Melt".[1]

see <http://www.meltbarandgrilled.com>

[1] I guess he called his "The Melt"

edit: first hit in Google for "The Melt" as well.

~~~
hugh3
Fun exercise: find a Mongolian Barbecue that isn't called "Genghis Khan".

~~~
brk
<http://www.gomongo.com/>

What do I win?

~~~
hugh3
You win a free meal at a delicious Mongolian Barbecue!

It's called the Genghis Khan. Just go there and tell 'em I sent you.

------
yesbabyyes
Well, Chuck E Cheese was founded by Nolan Bushnell who before that founded
Atari, so it might just work!

------
davidw
I make a pretty mean sandwich, with oven-fresh bread, mozzarella, tomatoes,
and prosciutto, with a bit of salt and pepper for seasoning. Anyone care to
fund me?

I'll name my shop "Panini Veri" (non quelle schifezze spacciate per panini
italiani!)

~~~
hugh3
Hmm, I think I'd need to try a sample before I invested...

~~~
davidw
All you have to do is drop by Padova. Wine, as per the other comment below, is
included.

------
ansy
He could at least deliver to arbitrary locations like "Ronnie" the underground
cheese griller in NYC.

[http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/he_making_gouda...](http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/he_making_gouda_livin_CbUxrE7kGNTMUQch9afQlJ)

[http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/09/21/am...](http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/09/21/am-
nycs-undreground-grilled-cheese/)

He was covered quite a bit last year for taking orders via text message and
for being mildly subversive of the NYC health department.

------
Mrich30
The article on one side and the serious comments on the other side have me
really torn, please help me - this is satire right? Right???

------
wccrawford
All the restaurant-related startups and announcements lately are an almost-
daily reminder for me that when you have a good idea, jump on it.

Ah well. I didn't have the contacts to pull it off, and it was only half an
idea. :)

~~~
hugh3
If you ask me, screw the grilled cheese restaurant. A grilled cheese _van_
would be a licence to print money, second only to a cupcake van.

~~~
cpeterso
Will Y Combinator invest in my grilled cheese van? :)

~~~
hugh3
Depends. Do you have a cofounder? Are you aged between 20 and 25? Are you a
_technical_ founder who actually understands how to make a grilled cheese on
your own, or are you just expecting to hire a grilled cheese expert?

edit: Actually I think the ideal would be two technical founders with
complementary skills. One knows how to make a grilled cheese, and the other
one knows how to drive.

------
pwim
I wonder if he was inspired by NYC's Underground Grilled Cheese:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1713815>

------
signa11
there is no tech bubble.

------
pitdesi
Any idea how much he paid for <http://melt.com> ? Is it just me or do there
seem to be a lot of high-profile domain name purchases lately? (though I say
that, only color and melt come to mind immediately although I'm sure there are
some others... I know Pizza.com sold for $2.5m, which is ridiculous
considering what they are doing with that name)

------
larrik
Best. Headline. Ever.

~~~
logicalmoron
Friend at D9 says they are damn delicious, too

------
daimyoyo
So when Sequoia is investing in a fast casual restaurant, can we say that the
bubble is now officially in play? I understand wacky tech ideas no one
understands, but a restaurant? Really?

~~~
Apocryphon
Relax. They're not issuing stock yet.

