The Melt

I met a friend at The Melt today for lunch. Started by the guy who invented the Flip camera, The Melt is a high-concept grilled cheese fast food restaurant. Here’s how it works.

1. You go online and pick out what you’d like to eat. 

2. You customize your order (bacon and tomato are free!) and pay for it online.

3. Your emailed receipt has a QR code on it, which you scan once you arrive at the restaurant.

4. At this point, they make your food, and it’s ready in about 5 minutes.

5. If you are smug like me, you then look at folks waiting in line and wonder why they didn’t pre-order online.

The process worked really well, despite it seeming somewhat strange to order food online but then have to scan a QR code to get them to actually start making it. I got a cheddar on whole wheat grilled cheese (with tomato!), with a cup of black bean soup. The soup was thin and watering, and the grilled cheese was fine — it reminded me of college and cooking on my Forman Grill. 

The whole experience felt curious to me. The process, the price ($10 for the soup and sandwich) and the feeling that I was part of something that was entirely manufactured to be one-day spread across the country… it felt odd.