I can has 'Cheezburger 2.0'? (photos)
Meet 4food, the New York burger joint start-up that mixes fast food with slick tech and substitutes social-media game mechanics for traditional marketing. It's either revolutionary or a horrible idea.
4food hits midtown Manhattan
Update: A slide was removed at the request of one of the people in the photograph due to privacy concerns.
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4food's scoreboard
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Of course, there are iPads
4food staffers walk around the store with iPads to take customers' orders for custom burgers. Patrons can select bread, meat, filling for the donut-like hole in the middle of the burger, and toppings. Combinations will ultimately permit over 140 million possible burgers.
Order a burger at 4food, and your receipt will come with a Wi-Fi password, naturally. The three levels of seating have power outlets at every seat, too.
Read the related article: "Is this the burger joint of the future?"
The audiovisuals
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Inside 4food's kitchen
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Ordering at 4food
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Of course there is social media, too
Read the related article: "Is this the burger joint of the future?"
Om nom nom
Your intrepid reporter invented "The Jetsetter," a consciously pretentious salmon burger on brioche topped with a melange of Brussels sprouts, gruyere cheese, hummus, and lettuce. It costs a total of $6, which is expensive as far as burgers go overall but not too bad by New York standards.
It was, in all honesty, extremely tasty. But it's a big question mark as to whether 4food can keep up enough demand to offset the obvious costs of cutting-edge tech, high-quality ingredients, and green initiatives, not to mention a big flagship location in pricey midtown Manhattan. Idealism, after all, isn't a business model in itself.
Read the related article: "Is this the burger joint of the future?"