* Fantasy Shark Tank Product Friday: Restaurant-Logo'd Glass Drinking Straws
(* Denotes update bliki appendage, below.)
If this writer had more time and resources this product would roll out before the end of August to restaurants in San Francisco, then across the U.S. and beyond. But this writer has no time so if you happen upon this post: steal this idea and make it happen.
In the olden days of the 1990's, restaurants would offer at the hostess stand a glass bowl full of free matchbooks with their logo address and phone number printed on the cover. Coffee tables at home and city apartments would display in their own glass bowl a variety matchbook collection showing that apartment dweller had visited the hippest restaurants in town.
Why not do the same with reusable glass straws?
A few hurdles stand in the way of feasibility: glass straws, as of right now, are expensive. They'll be more expensive with customized logos.
However with greater numbers of customers, manufacturing costs could drop. And straws-as-advertisements in posh city apartments or hip home coffee tables would recoup some of those costs.
A practice of returning the used glass straw to the waiter or bartender before getting the check, or to the bubble tea cashier at the next visit (see, glass straws already inspire return customer visits) could earn for the customer a one- or two-dollar credit on the bill. Returning a straw would not be stigmatized as a sign of restaurant patron poverty because people could simply say they have too many glass straws at home already.
For young children, though, glass straws may not be safe. How about reusable plastic straws - looks like someone at Amsterdam Printing is already implementing these printable durable reusable "mood straws."
There should be no extra charge for a child to get a reusable "mood straw." Why? It's a hard policy for customers to take advantage of in excess - there are only so many kids we can borrow to visit the bubble tea store. It's a small financial risk, but the child will be delighted, likely beg his parents to return to the food establishment, and become a loyal customer for life.
* Update 8/8/1018: Outside Magazine published a roundup of the best reusable straws around, made of both stainless steel and glass. They all look good, but cleaning these will be a major inconvenience. Paper straws, I think, will be the best solution since they breakdown when they hit the ocean water.
This work by AJ Fish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Why not do the same with reusable glass straws?
A few hurdles stand in the way of feasibility: glass straws, as of right now, are expensive. They'll be more expensive with customized logos.
However with greater numbers of customers, manufacturing costs could drop. And straws-as-advertisements in posh city apartments or hip home coffee tables would recoup some of those costs.
A practice of returning the used glass straw to the waiter or bartender before getting the check, or to the bubble tea cashier at the next visit (see, glass straws already inspire return customer visits) could earn for the customer a one- or two-dollar credit on the bill. Returning a straw would not be stigmatized as a sign of restaurant patron poverty because people could simply say they have too many glass straws at home already.
For young children, though, glass straws may not be safe. How about reusable plastic straws - looks like someone at Amsterdam Printing is already implementing these printable durable reusable "mood straws."
* Update 8/8/1018: Outside Magazine published a roundup of the best reusable straws around, made of both stainless steel and glass. They all look good, but cleaning these will be a major inconvenience. Paper straws, I think, will be the best solution since they breakdown when they hit the ocean water.
This work by AJ Fish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
