Restaurant video game rentals
I took the kids out last night for dinner while Martha was at the wedding and they all happen to be into playing Gameboy games right now, so they each brought their own. Sitting there waiting for the food to come, it struck me how peaceful they were being (not that they’re usually out of control or anything), and that’s when it hit me.
You could load up a restaurant with a stock of previous generation (so that they’re cheaper) hand held game systems (probably the GBA SPs right now), and a bunch of games for pretty cheap, and then they could rent them to parties with kids for somewhere between $5 and $10 a pop (you could vary the price and make it relative to the cost of the food at the restaurant) for the duration of their meal. The rentals would probably pay for the initial investment with a couple days, and then it would be pure profit, with some minor repair/replacement costs, which you could mitigate by stipulating that they pay the replacement cost if they break or lose it.
I bet that tons of parents would spring for it, just to keep their kids mellowed out during their dining experience. BTW, before anyone jumps in with this, please spare the lectures about how the kids should be behaving themselves anyway, and if the parents just raised them right…. blah, blah, blah. After all, this is just a good, old fashioned money making idea, and since when has commercialism is our society worried about sending the wrong message?
22 Comments
$5 is waaay too much.
back in the day, my orthodontist had sega game gears at every station for the kids to mess with while getting their grills put in check.
You could sell to the resturant rather than rent to the families because wouldn’t the resturant want a cut from your profit since you would be using their property or whatever? I agree that $5 is too much, maybe $2.
Yes, I should have clarified that I would propose that the restaurants can rent them to the individuals for whatever charge they want (I think $5 is reasonable for a lot of restaurants), or they could give it to them for free, if they felt that they wanted to do it as just a crowd attraction thing. This is what I was trying to suggest originally, but it probably didn’t come across clearly.
You would just contract with the restaurants to supply them initially, and optionally replace their supplies occasionally, at least until they realize they don’t need you, but at least you could probably make quite a bit up front.
You (or the restaurants) could always experiment and/or do market studies to determine the most effective/profitable price point. I would think that generally people who eat out at restaurants are in the “disposable income” mood anyway, even if it’s false disposable income (credit cards, etc.), and $5 isn’t that much money these days, relative to the total cost of a meal for a family at most sit-down restaurants.
I’m thinking $5 is cheap for a peaceful meal. I bet you could get old people sitting next to you to pay it for you.
i guess $5 isn’t much comparatively if you’re eating at chez je ne sais quoi, but if you’re dropping fifty bucks a plate wtf are the kids there for? if you’re just going to chez red robin, $5 per kid is a big ding on the check.
I guess it’s all relative, depending on the size of your party and ratio of adults to kids, etc., but I still think that there’s a lot of people who would throw down $5 at the drop of a hat, especially for the reasons Martha described.
For us, it might not make sense, since with two adults and three kids we usually have an ~$40 total bill for a place like Red Robin. BUT, if you had two couples (or a lager party - family gathering, etc.) who want to have a conversation with each other, each with one kid who is likely to disrupt that conversation whenever they get bored, you’d be much more likely to spring for that $5.
Or you could (as a restaurant) just distribute them for free as a competitive advantage for your restaurant, which could even become a draw for people without kids, knowing that they’re less likely to have to listen to / put up with whining, bored, etc. kids at this place.
I bet it would be big. The first restaurant to offer it free would get more family customers to beat out those that charge a fee. Then the other restaurants would have to offer it too and then you could sell more units. :-0
Although, we didn’t allow games at dinner at home or out.
Times they are a changin’, Dave.
What about checking out books for free? The restaurant wouldn’t have to pay very much and the couples without families would love the peace. But how would the parent’s ever ‘make’ there kids read rather then be crazy.
That’s why video games would have the edge over books (for most kids) or what most restaurants already have (coloring papers, etc.).
With video games, the kids will actually be the ones begging to get them, and probably ending up being more annoying than they would have earlier unless the parents say OK.
It may be a good idea but I’m with Dave on this one. Dinner is for eating and conversing. Maybe Dan and I are on our own here but, we don’t watch TV, answer the phone or let Avery play with toys while eating. We are so mean that we don’t even let her get out of her highchair till we are all done eating. I guess it’s partly “training.” When we are out to dinner or at a friends house we don’t want her wandering around while we are eating.
I know we only have one one year old. Just wait… but hopefully dinner time will still be “our” time to be together for years and years to come.
…until she sees that red robin rents video games.
I think its a great idea, especially for those big group dinners. They can last a long time and for a 2yr old it just gets to be to much.
I like the idea. Sara, I agree, dinner is family time, but sometimes when you are out, things that would be ok at home are not ok when you are out…extremely loud voices and the such. It is nice to have an option to keep them quiet for a bit. Most of the coloring pages the restaurants have are pretty lame…especially for a 5th grader. But, we don’t usually have much trouble with Christian. Kristen…exactly.
Parents- pack a special bag for your kids to take to restaurants and other places. Fill it with crayons, markers, paper, coloring books, puzzles, dolls… just a suggestion! of coarse if it’s a 6 course dinner and 4 hours long, then geez, even I would need a break from that!
Is it possible to play game boy with others in a restaurant wirelessly?
Coloring sheets are lame in the restaurants.
When we went to BJs with Lexi we brought a few small toys of hers and ate fast
BJs was perfect - it is loud there so we could be loud too and the service is fast.
We didn’t rush out but it was enough. The baby had fun looking at other people waving to them.
Dinner time has been the one time we get together regulary as a whole family through the years. It is more of a goal for us that is flexible. Our kids seem to like it and are continuing it.
There are so many more electronic handhelds now too. Lexi, age 18 months, has some, they just appeared:0
I know how busy it can be and whatever works for a family is good for them.
New purpose/rule/goal while watching movies is ” don’t answer the phone and stop the movie “, Unless you hear the message and it is an emergency.
Sara, just wait until they start providing the games in the restaurant. Dan will probably get them for himself…
But, yes, in general, I agree with the no games, etc. policy during meals, especially at home. Even that night at dinner I didn’t let them play them while we were eating, only while we were waiting.
It’s wierd how Sara and I truly believe kids should be proper at the dinner table and sit throughout being calm no matter, but on the other hand I’d like to go to a resteraunt and not have the kids at another table distract our time, so while I wouldn’t give a GB to Avery or S* I would probably give one to the brat running around red robin screaming his head off because he wants ice cream with gummi bears not gummi worms.
We should get Cylons to raise our kids.
What I/you would/should do at dinner, I think, is irrelevant. It’s a good business idea.
I take it Dan has started getting into BG… I still haven’t seen any of the new ones, but I do remember watching and liking the old ones.
Randy is right but then again I don’t sell pot. I’m just kidding though, I do.