7 ms·

Small Vegetable Plant to Debut for Use in Restaurants

41 points by ph0rque 16y ago

petervandijck 16y ago
An automated mini lettuce factory. Very cool. 90,000 US$. Not so cool anymore. "Recoup the investment in about five years." Way too long. Opportunity for a hardware startup? I'd say yes.
- ph0rque 16y ago
  I looked at this and said, $90 freaking k? I bet the hardware costs are less than $1k.
- sasvari 16y ago
  Opportunity for a hardware startup? I'd say yes. I second. There should be also a possibility for a DIY project. This doesn't look too complicated to build.
  - petervandijck 16y ago
    I think restaurants would pay for this, if it takes little space, can be outdoors (even in the winter), and is much, much cheaper and easier to use.
- ojbyrne 16y ago
  It doesn't even automate the adding of seeds.
- DLWormwood 16y ago
  This appears meant for use in Eastern Asia, where real estate (especially for farming) can cost dear in places. Also, I can see how this machine could be adapted to nurture other kinds of vegetables that might also help recoup the investment.
- jules 16y ago
  Not to mention that during the summer you'll be competing with good old gardens. Growing lettuce is as easy as throwing a handful of seeds on a patch of land and harvesting a couple of weeks later.
  - KC8ZKF 16y ago
    Except for the birds and the rabbits and the weeds and the insects and the mold and the soil and the rain...
    - jules 16y ago
      Hasn't been a problem for me. Yes, the birds eat some of the seeds, but plenty remain. Slugs can be a problem though.
  - petervandijck 16y ago
    Restaurants don't usually have gardens.
- allenp 16y ago
  The $90k could be price anchoring in order to have leverage when negotiating a deal with a chain of restaurants ( so they end up selling them at $20k / ea since they are selling so many).
- ultrasaurus 16y ago
  I imagine they have to re-coup the fixed costs over not many units. But the real target isn't restaurants saving money, it's some combination of the coolness factor (this won't be hidden in a back room, it'll a part of the dining room) and riding on the coattails of the local-food-is-always-better movements.
WillyF 16y ago
I think that they may want to change their terminology. By plant they mean factory, not... er... plant.
- nodata 16y ago
  I didn't even get the meaning of "plant" as meaning "factory" until I read your comment AND looked at the article. "Heavy plant crossing" also used to confuse me.
- zck 16y ago
  "Plant plant for restaurants"?
rjett 16y ago
Am I missing something, or is this nothing more than fluorescent lighting and an irrigation system neatly packaged? Do plants grow faster in this environment? Do the shelves adjust for different plant heights? Does the payback change if you're growing anything but lettuce? Also, it seems to me that this vegetable factory would only be suitable for a restaurant that had a very predictable and very specific amount of traffic coming in the doors; otherwise, you're growing too much or not enough of what you need.
- maxharris 16y ago
  Am I missing something, or is this nothing more than fluorescent lighting and an irrigation system neatly packaged? Try growing your own vegetables for commercial use and then comment on how "trivial" this is. What they're doing provides a lot of value. With their system, a restaurant can reliably provide fresh vegetables to its customers without waste. You just grab up what you need, as you need it, without transport, storage, etc. Do you know what it's like to have a fridge full of rotting lettuce because you've had a slow week? I hope this makes it big - fresh vegetables with less waste means cheaper and more appetizing vegetables. If this works out, it will make people healthier. Hooray for capitalism and the innovation it enables!
  - rjett 16y ago
    I was asking this question because if it is just fluorescent lighting and a built in irrigation system, I think it would be much cheaper than $90,000 to roll your own.
xal 16y ago
This looks related to prop 19 :-)
Dylanlacey 16y ago
The daily maintenance takes an hour. An HOUR. Most kitchens don't have a spare 5 minutes, let alone an hour. Maybe this will be popular in places with gadged crazy chefs/customers, but I can't imagine it being a raging success. I'd rather get my lettuce from a producer who knows what he's doing and just charges me per head.
burgerbrain 16y ago
(1240) watts (24 * 365) hours * 10 cents per kilowatt hour That comes out to about 420USD per year just to run this thing. And that's at 10 cents per kilowatt hour. In areas which I suspect this sort of thing would be more popular (California, the new england area, New York, etc) it's going to cost you nearly twice as much. Sure at 90000USD you might break even after 5 years, but you'll still actually be more than 2000USD in the hole at that point that's to power consumption. That's not even starting to take into consideration the amount of money you'll pay in wages having your employees waste time with this thing.

41 points by ph0rque 16y ago

An automated mini lettuce factory. Very cool. 90,000 US$. Not so cool anymore. "Recoup the investment in about five years." Way too long. Opportunity for a hardware startup? I'd say yes.

ph0rque 16y ago
I looked at this and said, $90 freaking k? I bet the hardware costs are less than $1k.
sasvari 16y ago
Opportunity for a hardware startup? I'd say yes. I second. There should be also a possibility for a DIY project. This doesn't look too complicated to build.
- petervandijck 16y ago
  I think restaurants would pay for this, if it takes little space, can be outdoors (even in the winter), and is much, much cheaper and easier to use.
ojbyrne 16y ago
It doesn't even automate the adding of seeds.
DLWormwood 16y ago
This appears meant for use in Eastern Asia, where real estate (especially for farming) can cost dear in places. Also, I can see how this machine could be adapted to nurture other kinds of vegetables that might also help recoup the investment.
jules 16y ago
Not to mention that during the summer you'll be competing with good old gardens. Growing lettuce is as easy as throwing a handful of seeds on a patch of land and harvesting a couple of weeks later.
- KC8ZKF 16y ago
  Except for the birds and the rabbits and the weeds and the insects and the mold and the soil and the rain...
  - jules 16y ago
    Hasn't been a problem for me. Yes, the birds eat some of the seeds, but plenty remain. Slugs can be a problem though.
- petervandijck 16y ago
  Restaurants don't usually have gardens.
allenp 16y ago
The $90k could be price anchoring in order to have leverage when negotiating a deal with a chain of restaurants ( so they end up selling them at $20k / ea since they are selling so many).
ultrasaurus 16y ago
I imagine they have to re-coup the fixed costs over not many units. But the real target isn't restaurants saving money, it's some combination of the coolness factor (this won't be hidden in a back room, it'll a part of the dining room) and riding on the coattails of the local-food-is-always-better movements.

WillyF 16y ago

I think that they may want to change their terminology. By plant they mean factory, not... er... plant.

nodata 16y ago
I didn't even get the meaning of "plant" as meaning "factory" until I read your comment AND looked at the article. "Heavy plant crossing" also used to confuse me.
zck 16y ago
"Plant plant for restaurants"?

rjett 16y ago

Am I missing something, or is this nothing more than fluorescent lighting and an irrigation system neatly packaged? Do plants grow faster in this environment? Do the shelves adjust for different plant heights? Does the payback change if you're growing anything but lettuce? Also, it seems to me that this vegetable factory would only be suitable for a restaurant that had a very predictable and very specific amount of traffic coming in the doors; otherwise, you're growing too much or not enough of what you need.

maxharris 16y ago
Am I missing something, or is this nothing more than fluorescent lighting and an irrigation system neatly packaged? Try growing your own vegetables for commercial use and then comment on how "trivial" this is. What they're doing provides a lot of value. With their system, a restaurant can reliably provide fresh vegetables to its customers without waste. You just grab up what you need, as you need it, without transport, storage, etc. Do you know what it's like to have a fridge full of rotting lettuce because you've had a slow week? I hope this makes it big - fresh vegetables with less waste means cheaper and more appetizing vegetables. If this works out, it will make people healthier. Hooray for capitalism and the innovation it enables!
- rjett 16y ago
  I was asking this question because if it is just fluorescent lighting and a built in irrigation system, I think it would be much cheaper than $90,000 to roll your own.

xal 16y ago

This looks related to prop 19 :-)

Dylanlacey 16y ago

The daily maintenance takes an hour. An HOUR. Most kitchens don't have a spare 5 minutes, let alone an hour. Maybe this will be popular in places with gadged crazy chefs/customers, but I can't imagine it being a raging success. I'd rather get my lettuce from a producer who knows what he's doing and just charges me per head.

burgerbrain 16y ago

(1240) watts (24 * 365) hours * 10 cents per kilowatt hour That comes out to about 420USD per year just to run this thing. And that's at 10 cents per kilowatt hour. In areas which I suspect this sort of thing would be more popular (California, the new england area, New York, etc) it's going to cost you nearly twice as much. Sure at 90000USD you might break even after 5 years, but you'll still actually be more than 2000USD in the hole at that point that's to power consumption. That's not even starting to take into consideration the amount of money you'll pay in wages having your employees waste time with this thing.