Take In — instead of take out — is an American Express popup restaurant that will run through April where you go there to eat but use an app to order delivery from other restaurants.
Located in Finland, it’s a new kind of restaurant without a kitchen because it doesn’t need one. You don’t eat their food.
Credit: heidijosefiina
After ordering food using the Wolt app, “[g]uests eat their dinner in the Take In dining room.” They have bar service as well. Apparently it’s a solution for groups of people who can’t get everyone to agree on one place to eat.
Credit: milttonshowroom
Not everyone buys the concept, however.
The Take In model more resembles, if anything, the rise of coworking spaces — think of it as co-eating. Still, food cooked and served in the restaurant generally tastes better. Once a diner is going through the effort of not wearing sweatpants and also leaving the house, why not just spring for a full restaurant experience?
Of course the idea isn’t to create a new successful restaurant enterprise.
- It’s temporary. It’s edgy. It’s different. The point is to garner attention.
- It’s by American Express. So it’s about branding, being seen as trendsetting, and on the cutting edge of food as a way of appealing to a target demographic.
On that score it would seem to be a success, though since different divisions handle these sorts of activities in the U.S. and abroad I wouldn’t necessarily expect to see it translated here soon. But major corporations sponsoring innovative pop up restaurants in urban settings seems like an underexploited opportunity.
(HT: Marginal Revolution)
Does the recipient pay for the delivered take-in food or is it part of the Amex Centurion Lounge concept?
This is a restaurant not a lounge, so you pay normally what you order. Interesting pop-up concept I will try.
Relatedly does Amex charge a fee for the use of space (and silverware, drinks, etc. if provided) or is it purely promotional value to them?
Aside from “groups of people who can’t get everyone to agree on one place to eat”, it seems like a good place for out-of-town (or foreign) visitors to check out, or maybe couples on a first date. Is it safe to assume the Wolt app takes American Express cards only (and not Chase Sapphire cards)? 🙂
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