Bet you didn’t see this one coming. Jonathan Kaplan, former founder and CEO of Pure Digital Technologies, the company behind the Flip family of portable video cameras, has announced his next venture will be into the exciting and cut-throat world of grilled cheese sandwich production.
Kaplan’s new company, called The Melt, will initially open five location around San Francisco in the second half of the year, with ambitious plans for 500 locations nationwide by 2016, each costing between $500,000 and $1 million to open.
At this point you may be thinking “….what?” – and quite justifiably. The progression from best-selling digital video camera to delicious molten snack is hardly a logical one – however Kaplan is putting a techie twist on the traditional restaurant model. Users can select their orders from a mobile website (and presumably an app eventually), which will generate a QR code which can be scanned at the restaurant to automatically place your order.
The current menu seems a little minimalist, and is obviously a work in progress. However the two combos available are named “The Walt” and “The Kara” for veteran tech journos Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, whose D9 conference Kaplan announced the new venture at this afternoon.
We weren’t entirely convinced this wasn’t an excellent prank, but apparently investment firm Sequoia Capital has already put money into the company – reportedly enough to pay for twenty locations.
When asked why he’d decided to get into the grilled cheese business, Kaplan simply replied “grilled cheese makes you happy.” Amen.
