Making lunch a social networking game

Thursday night I had dinner in the future, and the hamburgers were shaped like doughnuts.

Before I get to these strange hamburger shapes, let me explain why they were from the future: my burger was created on the Internet and broadcast to Twitter, Foursquare and Facebook, part of a multiplayer online game, and my order was checked in by a receptionist with an iPad.

It's the result of a new, hyper-connected, "healthy fast food" restaurant called 4Food, which will open in New York City on 40th and Madison Avenue next month.

Customers start by going to 4food.com, where they can build a burger. There's a list of options to choose from, including the type of burger bun, a beef, turkey, veggie or salmon patty, condiments and more.

This is also why the burgers are shaped like doughnuts: customers are asked to pick a "scoop," which goes into the middle of the burger, from options like avocado and chili mango, baked beans or mac and cheese.

Once you place your order, you can give it a name and off you go to pick it up. And this is where the game aspect comes in.
4Food has a leaderboard that shows the most-ordered burger. That turns it into a social networking food game.

Here's how it works: I create a burger, call it "The Bits Burger" and broadcast it to Twitter or Facebook. Each time someone orders my special creation, I get 25 cents credit in the restaurant and my burger rises up the leaderboard. The more customers order my burger, the higher it goes and the more credits I get, until I'm eating free.

It might sound like a lot of work for lunch, but as we've seen with the proliferation of online gaming on sites like Facebook, adding a gaming and competitive aspect to an everyday experience, like lunch, could incentivize customers to promote 4Food online.

Thursday night's event, which was sponsored by the technology blog Gizmodo, offered its own competitive prelude to the leaderboard with some predesigned burger creations called Android, BlackBerry and iPhone.

In addition to a connected burger, the space is as plugged-in as you will find: there are more power outlets in 4Food than I've seen in the lighting and electronics aisle at Home Depot. And of course there will be free Wi-Fi too.

One of the store managers told me last night that 4Food also plans a mobile app in the next few months so customers can place orders from anywhere.