One of the trends in our lives has been less and less casual contact with other human beings. There's the whole Bowling Alone phenomenon, but in addition there are ATMs and self-serve gas and ticket kiosks and so on. Covid is accelerating that and I fear there is an element of sacrificing humanity in the quest for efficiency.

Now a Thing: Digital-Only Restaurants
https://www.newser.com/story/298780/now-a-thing-digital-only-restaurants.html

Quote from: rcjordan on November 16, 2020, 02:31:47 PM
Now a Thing: Digital-Only Restaurants
https://www.newser.com/story/298780/now-a-thing-digital-only-restaurants.html

Automats are making a comeback.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/nyc-automat-announces-massive-deal-to-franchise-500-locations-in-north-america/ar-BB1aScY8

https://www.livemint.com/news/automats-make-a-comeback-in-covid-19-pandemic-11604898582551.html

>Digital only restaurants

Travis Kalanick's (Uber founder) new venture is CloudKitchens.com. They rent commercial kitchen space to delivery-only restaurants. Huge potential IMO. Currently building in 40 U.S. cities.

https://www.businessinsider.com/cloud-kitchens-travis-kalanick-san-francisco-location-address-pictures-2019-11

>rent commercial kitchen space

This will be huge. Locally here there is a guy who has been working with restaurants to partner them up with other food producers that can utilize their facilities during times the restaurant is closed.

My wife and I have been looking into some commercial kitchen space recently. There are some shared kitchens but they are all pretty limited in what they can do. But if we could get some space a day or two in an existing restaurant kitchen that would be ideal. She has been making and selling out of our home but we have had some interest from restaurants that want to sell her biscuits but in order to do that we would need commercial space.

In the local food groups I am in there are at least a couple dozen people doing the same type of things. Stay at home moms selling cheesecakes, guys selling some bbq on the weekends, people selling ethnic foods that are hard to find in restaurants here (tamales, lumpia, empanadas, etc.). Easy, affordable access to commercial kitchen space will definitely help grow a LOT of small businesses. Most of these people don't want a normal restaurant but just want to be able to sell their products for people to take home and eat.

Bill Gates says 50% of all business travel will go away post-pandemic - Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-business-travel-office-work-predictions-post-pandemic-2020-11

^{Well, where's the ambiance?}

The Robotic Future of Restaurants: 75% Smaller, No Humans In The Kitchen, Fits In A Shipping Container

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2020/12/11/the-robotic-future-of-restaurants-75-smaller-no-humans-in-the-kitchen-fits-in-a-shipping-container/

> ambulance

I was immediately thought of that restaurant that was overrun by rats that has been in the news.  With no humans in the kitchen it could be a long time before rats are detected.

>rats

I was just reading about that.  They didn't close the place until the rats chewed through the cash register cables.

>rats

Seal the doors and ozone them. (Ozone is my current answer to everything, hhh. When all you have is a hammer...)

Quote from: rcjordan on December 11, 2020, 08:47:56 PM
Seal the doors and ozone them.

My first thought as well - with no humans in there, you can kill everything. Even safer, just flood the place with nitrogen and kill all aerobic life periodically. Removing humans opens a lot of possibilities for improved hygiene.

> rats

Are we sure those weren't politicians masquerading as rats?  Hard to tell.

>ozone them

Politicians.

^{Okay it was a cheap shot but I'm fine with it.}

>with no humans in there, you can kill everything

IIRC, when I was helping my daughter with the nursing home defense I ran across some health department or NIH regulations allowing ozoning of food and food prep areas.

Also, I read somewhere that while ozone doesn't kill roaches they do tend to flee the area and go somewhere else.

>>flee the area

For bedbugs in hotels, it is now standard to kill them with heat. Since they tend to flee, though, you need to first heat up all adjacent rooms above, next to, below and diagonally, so they flee into the target room. Then you crank the heat in the target room until they're dead. I guess exterior walls are okay b/c once they're out of the building the die of other things? Not totally sure.

Anyway, point being that you want to make sure you plan for where they flee to

"as the Covid crisis accelerates workplace technology change"

More than half of UK's furloughed jobs at risk of automation - The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/dec/15/more-than-half-of-uk-furloughed-jobs-at-risk-of-automation-report

>commercial kitchen space

Restaurants Turn To 'Ghost Kitchens' For Survival
https://kjzz.org/content/1644150/ghost-kitchens-restaurants-launch-take-out-only-branches-they-adapt-pandemic