Re:What happened to cheap food? Diners, Automats, and afford...
by carabiner on Wednesday May 15, 2024 @02:30PM
(#40370622)
There used to be cafeteria restaurants beyond IKEA and corporate campuses though. In Seattle we had Bakeman's, where you could get a freshly made sandwich, soup, and slice of pie for like $11 (yes it'd be higher today with inflation, but even in 2016 it was still very cheap for a fresh meal in central Seattle). In Russia they still have stolovaya, very much like the IKEA cafeteria: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g298484-d3201436.... I ate at them in 2009 and loved them.
I really wonder if something like a food truck serving rice & lentils with a side of yogurt for $5 a plate would be economically viable in any US city. Some people just want food that tastes OK, is fairly healthy, and frees them from doing dishes that night.
Re:What happened to cheap food? Diners, Automats, and afford...
by JohnFen on Wednesday May 15, 2024 @05:17PM
(#40372460)
> Some people just want food that tastes OK, is fairly healthy, and frees them from doing dishes that night.
That would be amazing. I'd love to have such an option.
Re:What happened to cheap food? Diners, Automats, and afford...
by galdosdi on Wednesday May 15, 2024 @09:54PM
(#40374481)
Essen is like this in Manhattan, probably the closest spiritual successor to Horn & Hardart and the automats there is. A big buffet cafeteria. Not too cheap though, though OK for manhattan commuter office worker lunch prices I guess
Unfortunately in most markets cafeteria style restaurants, especially affordable ones, are rare. A shame, it's my favorite genre of restaurant
You'll notice two things. One, the unfilled gap, quality and convenience, which most Americans remark upon when visiting e.g. Japanese convenience stores. (Diners and fast casual try to fill this niche.) And two, the forced joining of food and service quality.
We saw one side of this union broken in family dining, e.g. Ruby Tuesday's and Chuck E Cheese: price + service, with convenience trumping food quality. Automats are the inverse. Price + food, with service quality being sacrificed. Unfortunately, this means suppressing labor. And that is controversial [1]. (Apart from, as the narrator points out, for those of us with access to company cafeterias, airport lounges, IKEAS, et cetera.)
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/11/nyregion/nyc-restaurants-...