Any more information on the Atari Cafe, the "Roadside Restaurant of the Future" from Antic Magazine?

[Big Player]

Since I owned an 800XL and was working in a restaurant at the time, I loved reading about the Roundup Coffee Shop in the May 1986 edition of Antic Magazine. It made me want to go into a restaurant and place my order with an Atari 8-bit.  Too bad I didn't live anywhere close to Cedar Ridge, California.

 

The text of the article:

 

https://www.atarimagazines.com/v5n1/ataricafe.html

 

Scan of the same article, the pictures are easier to see. (page 47 if it doesn't link to the right page)

 

https://archive.org/details/1986-05-anticmagazine/page/n46/mode/1up

 

Does anyone have any more information? I searched the Atari Age forums and the rest of the internet and couldn't find anything other than what is in the magazine article.

 

Seems that owner Monty Carlton had a neat setup, with an 800XL and black-and-white TV on each table.  All were connected with two Supra Micronets and using custom software.

 

 

[zzip]

Wow, a concept that was too ahead of its time!

 

 

[+Stephen]

Wow - I'd never heard of that before.

[Big Player]

1 hour ago, zzip said:

Wow, a concept that was too ahead of its time!

 

 

Agreed, decades ahead.

 

What brought this article back into my mind was my father went in to a Steak 'n Shake to pick up a bottle of their burger seasoning and he told me all the wait staff had been replaced by touch screen kiosks. I sent him the article since he bought my 800XL for me and owned a sub sandwich shop in the late 80's-early 90's.

[TGB1718]

That is so awesome 😁

[+Philsan]

It would be nice to find the software...

[+davidcalgary29]

They should do something like this at PRGE. If you don't want to walk to Burgerville (and who wouldn't?) the existing in-house dining options are awful (and boring),

[Big Player]

An Antic Interview episode would also be great.  I'll tag Kay @Savetz and Randy @rkindig in case they don't know about the place. I wish I could help with the research but I started this thread to find out more about the restaurant and the owner.

[Lord Thag]

On 12/13/2023 at 4:29 PM, davidcalgary29 said:

They should do something like this at PRGE. If you don't want to walk to Burgerville (and who wouldn't?) the existing in-house dining options are awful (and boring),

I think the contract requires you use the convention center's in house (and vastly overpriced) food catering options. I don't believe they allow you to bring in external vendors, sadly, as this would be a fun idea. Rick would probably know better, I haven't been involved since around 2012 or so.

[+davidcalgary29]

3 hours ago, Lord Thag said:

I think the contract requires you use the convention center's in house (and vastly overpriced) food catering options. I don't believe they allow you to bring in external vendors, sadly, as this would be a fun idea. Rick would probably know better, I haven't been involved since around 2012 or so.

I thought that might be the case, but you'd think someone would still want to try something like this on a minor level. Or how about using old tech to power old tech? I'd love to see an 800 power an automat machine (using a joystick, of course).

[Lord Thag]

2 hours ago, davidcalgary29 said:

I thought that might be the case, but you'd think someone would still want to try something like this on a minor level. Or how about using old tech to power old tech? I'd love to see an 800 power an automat machine (using a joystick, of course).

Given how much interest retro gaming events I've done have drawn, I absolutely think you could have a successful local business that charged a fee to give access to a bunch of retro systems and provided some good food/drinks. We had a local arcade that did that with a few consoles and they did great until the owner decided embezzling was a good idea lol

 

Maintenance/component failure would likely be a pain in the ass though, and probably a significant cost. I'd certainly be a regular!

[+davidcalgary29]

Well, if I lived in a city, "The Fuji Cafe" would be a thing, and you could use a ZX81 to call a BBS or an A8 and a ST to have a head-to-head MIDI Maze battle. Spa area: Synapse Relax and Tempest 2000 treatments. And, at last, that pricey Oscar Databar unit could be repurposed from its life as ancient paperweight and coded to be a balky and fragile menu scanner! QR Codes are so last year.

[jhd]

19 hours ago, Lord Thag said:

I absolutely think you could have a successful local business that charged a fee to give access to a bunch of retro systems and provided some good food/drinks. We had a local arcade that did that with a few consoles and they did great until the owner decided embezzling was a good idea lol

 

Perhaps the business was less successful than the owner had hoped, and/or he wanted a faster return on his investment.

 

Some years ago, a video game cafe opened in Calgary, Alberta. According to media coverage, it was more focussed on NES than older games.

 

I never got there before I moved -- it was located some distance from where I lived -- and I do not know if it is still in business.

 

ETA: It is apparently still around: https://www.supersmashcafe.com/

 

Edited December 20, 2023 by jhd

[Lord Thag]

9 minutes ago, jhd said:

 

Perhaps the business was less successful than the owner had hoped, and/or he wanted a faster return on his investment.

 

Some years ago, a video game cafe opened in Calgary, Alberta. According to media coverage, it was more focussed on NES than older games.

 

I never got there before I moved -- it was located some distance from where I lived -- and I do not know if it is still in business.

 

ETA: It is apparently still around: https://www.supersmashcafe.com/

 

We have several retro game/arcade places in my state that do very well. This place... was definitely a case of the owner being sketchy AF. There was a whole range of nefarious stuff going on apparently. Too bad too, we used to do our game meetups there and it was a great little spot. I'm hoping someone else picks up and runs with the idea.

 

Most of the issues I have seen with these places is that a lot of them get opened by passionate gamers who don't really have any business experience or sense. So they don't last. The owners that do have good sense though tend to do very well. We've got one local place that has about 600 pinball and arcade machines. It's amazing, like walking through a wormhole into a 1982 Aladdin's Castle. 

[+davidcalgary29]

Huh. I may have to make the drive down there next year -- I haven't been to Calgary in four years.

[rkindig]

On 12/18/2023 at 1:20 PM, Big Player said:

An Antic Interview episode would also be great.  I'll tag Kay @Savetz and Randy @rkindig in case they don't know about the place. I wish I could help with the research but I started this thread to find out more about the restaurant and the owner.

Thanks for the tag!!  What a cool concept; and in the 80's!  It would be a fabulous interview, if anyone who was involved is still around to talk about it.  I've been looking for more ANTIC interviews, so this one would be great.  I'll try to research it more, but I hope someone out there knows something about this.

[Big Player]

1 hour ago, rkindig said:

It would be a fabulous interview, if anyone who was involved is still around to talk about it.  I've been looking for more ANTIC interviews, so this one would be great. I'll try to research it more, but I hope someone out there knows something about this.

If nothing else, Gigi Bisson wrote the article and she was interviewed by your podcast. Maybe she will remember something.