Could restaurants become better aligned if instead of food we paid them for time?
The “anti-café” concept is like this. I’ve never been to one myself, but I’ve seen descriptions on the Web of a few of them existing. They don’t provide anything like restaurant-style service that I’ve heard; instead, there are often cheap or free snacks along the lines of what a office break room might carry, along with other amenities, and you pay for the amount of time you spend there.
The “anti-café” concept is like this. I’ve never been to one myself, but I’ve seen descriptions on the Web of a few of them existing. They don’t provide anything like restaurant-style service that I’ve heard; instead, there are often cheap or free snacks along the lines of what a office break room might carry, along with other amenities, and you pay for the amount of time you spend there.