4

Work 50 minutes for meal at Tokyo eatery www.straitstimes.com

posted by  banzaitokyo | 6 years, 3 months ago

No money to pay for a meal? No problem - just work for 50 minutes.

That is the recipe to combat hunger for Ms Sekai Kobayashi, 33, a former engineer who will not turn away penniless customers at her restaurant Mirai Shokudo (translated as Future Eatery) in Tokyo.

"Instead, we offer meals in return for 50 minutes of labour at the restaurant. I use this system because I want to connect with hungry people who otherwise couldn't eat at restaurants because they don't have money."

1 | #13173 by  banzaitokyo | 6 years, 3 months ago
To me this sounds like a brillian idea, but only from the first glance. But if I think about it for a moment, more and more questions start to come up. There are all kinds of regulations in the food industry and just from looking at a person you can not tell if he carries some kind of contagious illness. And in 90 minutes if you want them to provide any result, you don't have time to explain them much about how things run so that leaves them a little time to actually do something. Besides it eats your own time. I am no chef but I wouldn't feel comfortable letting someone from the street to work in my kitchen. Maybe I am just too cautious but I feel that work in food industry should require some basic training.
comment
0 | #13174 by  Yubi | 6 years, 3 months ago
May be the intention is good, but the execution is not so great. I am not sure if I will be comfortable eating here, because the "staff" are not trained and might not maintain the sanitation. It could have been better to get the people to do some other work than food preparation, and provide meal coupons as a reward.
comment