In the same way that many books built an audience before a word was ever written thanks to their author’s penning a blog or contributing to various online publications, the ‘model’ is applied to other areas.
In Online, a Community Gathers to Concoct A Neighborhood Eatery, Jane Black (Washington Post) tells us how Linda Welch decided to use the power of Crowdsourcing to lay the groundwork for a vegetarian/raw food restaurant she plans to open in Washington DC.
With the help of Neil Takemoto who was launching CoolTown Beta Community at the same time that Linda was toying with the idea, they created a community site, Elements (the name of the restaurant to be).
It counts so far over 300 members and the Washington Post piece tells us that: "So far, 386 Elements community members have helped develop the concept
(a sustainable vegetarian/raw foods restaurant), the look (a
comfortable gathering space with an open kitchen), the logo (a bouquet
of colorful leaves, my illustration) and even the name".
Restaurants are a tough business to start with and as Linda Welch says in the piece "Most businesses are started because you have a great idea, and you
take it out to the public to see if they like it" with the
Elements project "This is the opposite. We’re finding out what people
want and doing it."
This gives new meaning to the term ‘open kitchen’.
Thanks to Springwise for bringing this novel idea to our attention
Other restaurants as projects: ‘Acorn House’ Restaurant (London)…’Seasonal, Sustainable, Simple’