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The long term answer is likely automation. (Same answer as Lyft and Uber) My guess is short term it’s a matter of checklists with largely common underlying in

The long term answer is likely automation. (Same answer as Lyft and Uber) My guess is short term it’s a matter of checklists with largely common underlying ingredients. Or perhaps everything is prepackaged and unfrozen upon order. (The larger the menu, the more likely the former)

matthewdgreen 6y ago
We already have this automation. You can find it in the pre-packaged entrees section of your grocery store’s freezer aisle. The problem is that outside of a few limited categories, most people find frozen pre-prepared food to be unsatisfactory when compared to fresh food. So the concern is that automation may just mean “supermarket-quality food becomes the norm, while all the real restaurants go out of business”.
- mixedCase 6y ago
  So that would mean people prefer lower quality food for lower prices over mid-to-high quality food at higher prices, and society gets what it wants. Win-win. If there's demand for higher quality food, then I'm confident the doomsday scenario of "all the real restaurants go out of business" is not going to happen. We just might have to wait a little longer for delivery or travel a few more minutes to get to such a place.
  - matthewdgreen 6y ago
    If you think that "people prefer lower quality food for lower prices" == "society gets what it wants, win-win", I suggest you take a look at any 1970s cookbook. This country spent years wiping out local bakeries and butchers and replacing them with factory foods. It was a dire time, and we're lucky today to have so many better options. This Twitter account gives you a fun look at what we don't have to deal with anymore, thank god: https://twitter.com/70s_party?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor https://twitter.com/70s_party?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcam... ETA: In case this isn't clear, what I'm trying to say is that sometimes powerful economic forces can provide us with deeply suboptimal results. It would be an objectively bad thing if every good pizza place in my city went out of business and got replaced with Freschetta. But it really could happen.
    - mixedCase 6y ago
      > It would be an objectively bad thing if every good pizza place in my city went out of business and got replaced with Freschetta That would just mean that the people prefer Freschetta. It's not like it's going to replace every single good pizza place by getting little to nobody's business, in your scenario where it replaces all restaurants it's going to get all the business because everyone wants lower priced shitty frozen pizza; and that's why these thought experiments are a stretch. As long as there's still people willing to pay more for a better pizza, there will still be kitchens providing them, and if no one's doing it, that is your cue to open or invest in one and get some of that business yourself.

matthewdgreen 6y ago

We already have this automation. You can find it in the pre-packaged entrees section of your grocery store’s freezer aisle. The problem is that outside of a few limited categories, most people find frozen pre-prepared food to be unsatisfactory when compared to fresh food. So the concern is that automation may just mean “supermarket-quality food becomes the norm, while all the real restaurants go out of business”.

mixedCase 6y ago
So that would mean people prefer lower quality food for lower prices over mid-to-high quality food at higher prices, and society gets what it wants. Win-win. If there's demand for higher quality food, then I'm confident the doomsday scenario of "all the real restaurants go out of business" is not going to happen. We just might have to wait a little longer for delivery or travel a few more minutes to get to such a place.
- matthewdgreen 6y ago
  If you think that "people prefer lower quality food for lower prices" == "society gets what it wants, win-win", I suggest you take a look at any 1970s cookbook. This country spent years wiping out local bakeries and butchers and replacing them with factory foods. It was a dire time, and we're lucky today to have so many better options. This Twitter account gives you a fun look at what we don't have to deal with anymore, thank god: https://twitter.com/70s_party?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor https://twitter.com/70s_party?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcam... ETA: In case this isn't clear, what I'm trying to say is that sometimes powerful economic forces can provide us with deeply suboptimal results. It would be an objectively bad thing if every good pizza place in my city went out of business and got replaced with Freschetta. But it really could happen.
  - mixedCase 6y ago
    > It would be an objectively bad thing if every good pizza place in my city went out of business and got replaced with Freschetta That would just mean that the people prefer Freschetta. It's not like it's going to replace every single good pizza place by getting little to nobody's business, in your scenario where it replaces all restaurants it's going to get all the business because everyone wants lower priced shitty frozen pizza; and that's why these thought experiments are a stretch. As long as there's still people willing to pay more for a better pizza, there will still be kitchens providing them, and if no one's doing it, that is your cue to open or invest in one and get some of that business yourself.