Standing waiting for a table at a restaurant recently and listening to the hostesses repeating the mantra "10 to 20 minutes" to everyone who walked in the door while watching servers enter orders into the restaurant's POS system I realized those systems are not currently integrated at all. But there's some huge scheduling benefits to integrating them. When servers key in orders to the POS system they put in a table number. So the system could know not just what tables were "in use" but...

Standing waiting for a table at a restaurant recently and listening to the hostesses repeating the mantra "10 to 20 minutes" to everyone who walked in the door while watching servers enter orders into the restaurant's POS system I realized those systems are not currently integrated at all. But there's some huge scheduling benefits to integrating them. When servers key in orders to the POS system they put in a table number. So the system could know not just what tables were "in use" but...

A laminated business-card sized piece that contains the convention city's most common (basic) menu terms defined and translated into the major conventioneer languages. Terms like: vegetarian, beef, pork, chicken, etc. would help visitors navigate menus. Recently I was in Germany for two weeks, and when you travel on business you eat out for pretty much every meal. There were quite a few terms in each city I was in that kept appearing, and I would eventually learn them, over time, but having a...

This is an idea for a website. The user chooses which foods they have on hand (limited to less than 10, say) that they'd like to prepare a meal with. The site would then provide recipe suggestions. I realize food recipes would be much more complicated, as there are endless recipes out there.

Soup and Salad Restaurant business. Ride the health food wave with a soup and salad biz. Business Overview Light and healthy lunches are in, and starting a soup and salad restaurant can potentially put you on the road to financial freedom. Ideally, a small restaurant that serves soups and salads will be located in an

Cookie Sales business. Get people to line up for your addicting desserts. Business Overview Do your family and friends tell you that you bake the best cookies in town? If so, putting your cookie baking talents to work for you has the potential to make you rich. Mass producing specialty or gourmet cookies is a very easy business to put into action. Simply rent or secure commercial kitchen space, perfect the cookie baking process, design interesting packaging for the cookies, and...

Gourmet French Fry Stand business. Offer a specialty concession that customers will remember. Business Overview French fries are probably the most popular fast food product sold in North America, and starting a gourmet french fry stand may be just the new business opportunity that you've been searching for. Ideally, a french fry stand should be located in busy areas of the community such as mall food courts, beach areas, or close to schools. What separates a gourmet french fry...

My idea is to have disposable nipples that screw onto kids milk jugs at fast food restaurants. Restaurants can keep these on hand just as they do straws and lids for regular disposable cups. I also would like to see disposable sippy cup lids that latch onto the regular disposable cups. I am a mother and found this would be helpful when I forgot to bring my childs bottle or sippy cup.

Neighborhood Bar business. Start a local hangout where everybody knows your name. Business Overview If you own this kind of place you can expect to know many of your regular customers. As on the TV show "Cheers," you may find yourself taking phone messages for customers or cashing their paychecks. It's because of the friendly "home away from home" atmosphere that neighborhood bars are successful. Some of these pubs open as early as 6 a.m., and they sometimes close earlier than...

Kitchen Cutting Boards business. This is a great low cost startup that offers as much opportunity in artistry as it does in utility. Business Overview Kitchen cutting boards are easy to make, and there is a strong market demand for the product from both homeowners and commercial kitchen chefs. Once you have mastered the art of producing high-quality kitchen cutting boards, you can then move on to butcher block tables as the market demand for this specialty product is huge, and...