No Time For Lines
"Bring us our lunch!" yell workers. He obliges.
With the average lunch "hour" only 29 minutes long,
fast food is often not fast enough. But Mark Wiser, president of
Food Bucket Inc., has figured out how to feed the masses on a tight
schedule. His Chicago-based company touts itself as the
"ultra-convenient, no-brainer deli." With carryout and
delivery service in addition to dine-in, Wiser says virtually
everyone gets their food delivered within 15 minutes of ordering;
walk-in customers get fed even faster.
"We provide what we think-and we've measured it-is the
fastest carryout line in town," Wiser says. "We have
people who literally rollerblade in."
Wiser, 37, began Food Bucket after a dozen years' experience
in the restaurant industry. With a business model designed to serve
people who eat at their desks, Wiser opened his first store in July
1998 to test his concept. The first store did so well, a second
followed eight months later. Both stores, in Chicago's Loop
area, offer almost no seating, which helps Wiser keep start-up
costs at about $40,000. In July, he opened a third store in
Chicago's upscale Gold Coast area with a scant 620 square feet
and 20 seats. With a simple menu of soups, salads and sandwiches,
it's been relatively easy to structure the Food Bucket
business, Wiser says.
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"Our business model is not to have million-dollar stores,
because we don't need to," he says. "We expect the
average Food Bucket to be profitable and expandable at $200,000 per
year in sales."
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