Flip Founder Moves From Camcorders to ... Grilled Cheese?

Chloe Albanesius - PC Magazine

Has Flip founder Jonathan Kaplan abandoned technology for the life of a foodie? At this week's D9 conference in California, Kaplan announced that his next big thing is The Melt, a new fast food joint that specializes in grilled cheeses and soups.

"The Melt is a new fast casual eatery that combines innovative technology with simple, fresh quality meals. Blending gourmet taste into everyday classics," according to the restaurant's Twitter feed.

At this point, The Melt has a booth at D9, but plans to "soon" have four locations in the Bay Area: downtown San Francisco at 115 New Montgomery St; Lower Market at Embarcadero Center One; Bay Bridge at 345 Spear St; and the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto. Kaplan told Inside Scoop SF that The Melt hopes to have 500 locations by 2015.

Kaplan is best known as the founder of the Flip handheld camcorder. Cisco acquired the Flip business in 2009 for $590 million, but surprised consumers in April when it announced plans to restructure its whole business, dump the Flip, refocus its home networking business, and integrate its ūmi home telepresence product into its enterprise offerings. Kaplan left Cisco in February.

Fear not, Kaplan is not leaving technology behind completely. Besides unveiling the restaurant at a tech conference, Inside Scoop SF also reported that The Melt will use tech in order to get its products into consumers' hands. Customers will order and pay for their food via a mobile app or online, but they won't have to say where and when they will pick up their order.

"When the customer arrives at the restaurant, he/she scans the QR code received from ordering, and then the order is cooked (sandwiches take less than a minute to make) and the customer picks up the order, without having to wait in line," Inside Scoop SF said.

There are also a few high-tech panini presses and soup aerators in the kitchen.

What can you order? In honor of Wall Street Journal reporters and D9 moderators Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, The Melt currently features two WSJ-centric combos: "The Walt," which is gruyere on white wheat and wild mushroom soup, and "The Kara," which is sharp cheddar on potato bread and tomato basil soup. Those soups and sandwiches can also be ordered separately.