Show HN: A new way of eating out – by dropping in
cozymeal.com
cozymeal.com
Also, I wonder if Cozymeal might find opportunities on the operations/materials side of this equation. I know that e.g. sourcing and selecting ingredients is frequently a very personal experience for chefs and restauranteurs, but I can't help but think there could be some upside to facilitating volume pricing of certain ingredients for members within a particular region, not unlike how members of hobbyist electronics groups will organize group buys of components. If ingredients are a bridge too far, they might apply the same logic to more practical items—flatware, napkins, menus, and so forth.
I think there's something sublime about that. It seems the technology drives culture in many ways and it happens when an innovation goes viral and benefits people faster than the law can react.
Some technologies don't get the chance to do that. People see harms before they can feel the benefits and start to turn public opinion and law against the innovation. Segway's and Google Glass are in that category, I think.
Just because it's illegal doesn't mean it's not a killer idea.
Congratulations, Cozymeal!
By the way, none of those other ideas are illegal (in the US). Taxi drivers can own their own cabs; some do but most do not due to the expense of acquiring/maintaining an adequate vehicle. It's always been okay to rent your "spare bedroom" to strangers--just as long as you occupy the remainder of the unit (though whether your lease or HOA agreement allows this is a separate issue). Sharing your physical copy of an artistic work has always been allowed. Private mesh networks have never been illegal. Cryptocurrencies are legal forms of exchange (or in this context, "consideration") between two consenting private parties, just like any other form of property.
1) get popular 2) get hassled by local government 3) make deal with local government
I don't see why this idea is different.
Edit: Also Facebook only sign in is a deal-breaker. I never use services where it's required.
The quality of the food and the experience in general are very important to us. Every host has to go through a vetting process before he can join our site.
Our guests use Cozymeal for the great food but also the amazing experience they get in terms of meeting new people and enjoying delicious food in a nice ambience without the unpleasant noise and rush you often have in restaurants.
Recently, some of our hosts started offering cooking classes which are also very popular.
You've created a cute site, but now that you're running it as a business that interacts with the real world you need to step up to the plate and treat it like a real business. And that means dealing with the unsexy stuff like licensing (for yourself or your hosts).
In two weeks, if you haven't added something to your site about this, I'm going to personally call the SF Department of Public Health myself.
Seriously - the world is not as black and white as you would want it to be... we do not need regulation of every single little aspect of our lives.
Have you fucking eaten at restaurants in SF? Try Sam Woo you asshole - that place was an SF legend; and it was one of the most disgusting places.
Threatening someone on HN with "if you fail to do X Ill call and report you by Y date" deserves my response.
I stand by that comment. Your comment is written solely to make your self look so much "better" than me, is it not.
Get off your high-horse Patrick.
Patrick, either you are on the side of me being able to voice my opinion, or you are in favor of me censoring it due to your, or some poster's, concern for sentiment.
I am concluded that you're more in favor of me being censored when you can have your apologist worldview unoffended and you can continue to feel morally high.
Look, we have never agreed on HN, I feel you are an apologist and you may feel I'm an extremist; but let me tell you one thing I am not: one who censors the opinions of others - I am one who engages another in my beliefs.
Why don't you take a stress pill, sit down calmly and think things over...
You are correct! My apologies - I have no idea why I typed that so many times, Bill.
This is not remotely the same thing as friends splitting up the cost to buy food, or reimbursing one friend for purchasing food for a social gathering. We don't regulate social gatherings between friends because they have other means to deal with issues that could arise, even, if necessary, the tort system.
There are different expectations when dealing with commercial food transactions--and some of the major expectations are that the food be safe and prepared safely.
The law (and especially tax law) looks at the substance of the transaction, not its form. Calling a payment for commercial services a "donation" doesn't make it a donation. If it did, every business would ask for "donations" instead of payment. Indeed, as a matter of tax law, calling the Lyft fees "donations" actually makes it worse for the drivers--they can't offset the "donation" income with their Lyft-related expenses. (Lyft can't recharacterize the donations it receives on behalf of the drivers as fee compensation when it remits payment to the drivers because it takes the position that they're independent contractors and it is merely acting as a collection agent.)
It'd be great if you could figure out a way to provide social trust that wasn't through a FB login though.
This is amazing, and my wife and I cant wait to try it.
We need to book a sitter and plan a date night around this.
They site should include the option to "book and Uber to and from"
Site is still down, but the facebook page has more info: https://www.facebook.com/cozymeal
https://web.archive.org/web/20140101130924/http://cozymeal.c...
Hopefully the site will be back up soon :)