and are considered pretty normal wherever you go,
photographs Vintage Everyday, but back in the late 1940s there was an alternative, the “Motormat” in 1948, a drive-in located in Los Angeles implemented a
unique system using conveyer belts to deliver food, this innovative idea,
patented by Kenneth C. Purdy was known as the Motormat,
20 stalls arranged like spokes around the central building, ingeniously a metal bin on a conveyor belt played the roles of a waiter, busboy,
and server, Purdy stated in 1949 that this system saved customers 30 to 50% of
the time it would take at a typical drive-in,
customers would find glasses of water, a menu, a pencil,
and a pad, they would fill out their order, push a button, and send the bin
back to the kitchen, located at the centre of the circular structure, whilst the
food was being prepared, the bin would return with the bill, once paid the order was delivered,
although it served an impressive number of customers, with
3,000 meals sold on its opening day and nearly 40,000 served in the first two
weeks, the Motormat concept never truly gained widespread popularity, as it
happens I can see one reason many customers would not return, the chances of
someone getting a fender bender must have been pretty high, with customers
reversing out of their space to then have a minor ding with a car circling looking
for a space, but there it is, it must have seemed a good idea at the time!
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