SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Food trucks aren’t exactly new, but most only have one specific type of cuisine — even if that cuisine just happens to be all the latest rage in molecular-gastro Indian-Irish fusion. Not only that, but you’re often stuck waiting in a long line to order and pay, then waiting some more for your food to be ready.
EAT Club, launched a private beta last week, has a unique spin on the way that users get lunch. The service hopes to get rid of all the hassles around waiting in line, paying, and waiting for your food, all with a convenient food truck that serves a variety of foods, and a mobile app to handle ordering and payment.
Over the last few years, EAT Club has served lunchers on the Peninsula with a variety of different food choices, but now it has made its was up to San Francisco, where it will serve startup kids and other hungry office workers. And it’s coming here with a food truck specially designed to provide eaters with a variety of awesome food choices.
EAT Club’s food truck will have a variety of dishes from multiple restaurants available all in the same truck, giving customers a selection of cuisines to choose from. Charter restaurants participating include Bar Tartine, Nopalito, City Smoke House BBQ, and Onigilly, among others. Altogether, EAT Club has more than 30 restaurants signed up so far, and will have options from at least three available on any given day.
How did EAT Club get those restaurants on board? Partly through the food truck itself, which is designed to provide the best experience for customers. A gutted-out old school bus, the EAT Club truck has been renovated with mobile ovens for hot foods and refrigerating units for cold foods. The end result is that all dishes are loaded into the truck right from the kitchen, so that when a customer picks up his food, it’s kept at the desired temperature.
So the food is great, but what about the service? EAT Club handles that with a mobile app that allows you to choose among a bunch of different food options. It provides you with details about why the dishes were picked — EAT Club has a food curator, natch — and more information about the restaurant.
Once you’ve found something you like, you just click to order and the app automatically charges your credit card. After that, you’re free to head down to the truck at your convenience and just pick up your food. No waiting, no fuss.
To start, EAT Club will have its food truck parked around the Financial District and SOMA neighborhoods in San Francisco, hoping to appeal to office workers downtown who don’t have lunch provided to them every day. The app is available now in private beta, as the company tries to measure demand and make sure that it’s got the right amount of food ready for new users.
Find the original article by Ryan Lawler at Tech Crunch <here>