

The Kitchener Snack Bar - MilnerRoute
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1381454414/a-food-lovers-dream-the-kitchener-snack-bar?ref=home_location

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tzs
I've suggested a similar idea to a few people. I called mine the "fine dining
food court" (FDFC).

There would be one dinning area that is served by 4 different chefs. These
chefs would be at the stage in their career where they want to get out and run
their own restaurant, but do not yet have the money or the name recognition to
pull it off. The FDFC would be a stepping-stone for them to that goal.

The FDFC owner would provide a large kitchen divided into 4 independent work
areas (much like the kitchens you see on cooking competition shows like
"Chopped" or "Next Iron Chef" or "Top Chef"). There would be a large pantry
and walk-in fridge stocked by the FDFC, which any of the 4 chefs could take
from as needed. There would also be some private pantry and fridge space for
each chef that they could stock on their own.

The FDFC would deal deal with front of house, and would also provide sous
chefs to assist the chefs (the chefs could also bring their own assistants, of
course), and would deal with all the business aspects of the FDFC.

Each chef could provide several dishes for the menu. The menu would be sure to
credit each dish to the appropriate chef.

The idea is that it is a lot cheaper for a chef to lease a cooking spot at
FDFC than it is to open a new restaurant. He can spend a few months at FDFC,
concentrating on a doing a few signature dishes well, to showcase his talent
to the public and to potential restaurant investors, so he can get the name
recognition and financial backing to strike out on his own.

The chefs would just deal with food. The FDFC would operate a bar for those
who want to drink before dinner (or instead of dinner...) and would also deal
with wine.

One of the owners of the FDFC should be an experienced and successful
restauranteur, who would provide advice to the chefs if they wanted it.

The beauty of this is that the owner of the FDFC makes his money from the bar
and from wine, and from leasing space to the chefs. If a particular chef's
menu bombs, there will be another young chef eager to take his place. This
should be a lot less risky financially for the FDFC owners than owning a
traditional restaurant.

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na85
FYI putting "food court" in the same sentence as "fine dining" is a bit of a
non-sequitur for most people.

At least where I'm from, food courts are pretty much synonymous with cheap,
greasy fast food.

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randallsquared
I think the cognitive dissonance is kinda the point.

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rocky1138
I had to do a double-take. Kitchener, Ontario making the front page of HN?
Obviously, this was not to be :)

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whitewhim
I had the exact same reaction :)

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taternuts
They do something like this in DC -
[http://www.unionkitchendc.com/](http://www.unionkitchendc.com/)

