When your educated, but your father is deprecated (+ a free business idea, you're welcome)

Okay guys, so I haven't been the most active here yet, but I'm the kinda guy who over-analyzes mostly everything to be able to be certain of my decision-making. It can be cumbersome, but in the long run, it's mostly positive. 

Today, I feel like sharing a concern of mine and perhaps get a different perspective on it. 

My father and I

Have always had a semi-decent relationship. He's of middle-eastern origin, while my mother is Norwegian. Needless to say, there were complications after a while which led to them splitting up. My best guess is that the cultural differences were too much when the whole "crush/super-love" phase faded. 

 I've always been stuck in the middle, between an old-fashioned father that promotes respect, abstaining from alcohol and working hard, and a mother who is caring, reflected and really intelligent. And so far, everything seems fine, right?

So my father suddenly decided to start a restaurant

This was back in fall of 2011, and the restaurant is still going strong! (Let's call it "the normal one" for reference) There have been bumps in the road, for instance, he went into the restaurant business with two partners, they opened a second location together, but ultimately went into a clash and split. (Let's call the lost restaurant "the tapas one") 

I was always proud of my father and proud of how hard he worked to make everything worked, but I often doubted his methods, both in terms of marketing, social media promotion, interacting with the customers etc. I often tried to come with input as to how he can improve his service and business. I understand that it can be hard for him to trust the knowledge of a (then) 17 year old, but on the other hand, I wish he had. 

Fast forward until today

This spring, I graduated from the University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway, as one of the top students. 4,5 GPA is a pretty big deal over here, and I'm proud. It's not because I've worked more than everyone else, but harder and smarter. The degree was a Bachelor's in IT and Information Systems. 

Still, when I try to give him advice on how to improve his business and workflow, I can't get through to him. He really does not care about any advice I have, and he disregards them as they come explaining how "they are not interested in that stuff, they just want to make good food". 

The last time he said that, I almost snapped, and replied in anger: "Not interested in what, money? That's what you're not into?". 

But it is frustrating. Knowing that you have top grades in courses like "E-commerce", "Digital innovations" and "Corporate finance in IT". (I feel like I have to point out, I also took CS courses like Algorithms and data structures, a course in Open Source, advanced databases etc, so I feel like I have a diverse and complete education). 

Yet, he does not respect my input enough. 

Well, Robin, what was the input you were giving?

So, I know that this will probably sound funny, but in Kristiansand, Norway, there has been a lack of take-away food with drivers delivering the food to you. The trend earlier has been that the pizza places have drivers, but if you wanted anything else you'd better get your ass up and get to the city/restaurant. 

Until now, meet: Nibbler (https://nibbler.no/)

A somewhat cool platform where they have listed up all the available restaurants, menus and everything. Nibbler takes the payment when you place your order, so the food is already paid for (through your credit card) and the only thing that's left is to deliver the food. This is where they get smart. They actually got a deal with a local taxi company (yep, we still very much use taxis as Uber is illegal in Norway, more on that rant in another post to come). But anyways, it works as follows:

When an order comes in, the entrepreneurs of Nibbler often are available to drive out the food (because face it, early stage you wont have enough orders to hire drivers full-time), and if the orders should start stacking, they go to the taxi drivers which gets a cut of the driving fee(or the whole thing, not sure about the rate actually). But it's kinda brilliant, as taxis normally dont have anything to do in Norway except for the weekends. We are a rich people, but we also love our money, so no taxi if the bus is still going. 

(To support on that last comment, I'd like to recite a quote from a respected celebrity chef in Norway who told me: "The difference between Norway and France is that in Norway you have rich people eating a dry piece of toast for lunch on work when he arrived in his $100k car, where a frenchman would ride his Vespa scooter over to a cozy restaurant and enjoy a glass of wine with his delicious lunch". This is very much true).

So it's a win-win, the drivers get something to do, the restaurants are now able to structure nice meals ready for take-away and post their menus on the platform, and the people get take-away delivered on the door!

And who's the big loser here? My father. The father of the "top IT guy" in town. Who can't do shit about it, as his advice is not taken anyways. And what does he rather use me for? He calls me to magically help him export his contacts from his old phone to his new phone, and get's pissed when I instruct him to do this he can't manage. Even though this is as far from what I work with as possible. I'm a software developer, not a phone/modem support guy.

He refuses to adopt to the platform, even though I've told him many times. And this is where I start to pick up the random threads I left off earlier. The part about him not being interested in money? I confronted him with the fact that the "tapas restaurant" (his competitors now, as they fell out and have each their restaurant) are doing ALL THE THINGS  I tried to reccommend my father to do: 

• Promotion in social media with happenings and new courses nicely displayed
• Nibbler integration (which they have had earlier, but with a messy display, but now they did the exact thing I tried to tell my father: compose a manageable number of take-away items, which is manageable both for the kitchen and the customer to order, adopting from the LEAN way of thinking)

But he still stays strong, claiming that he knows everything best. Because of course, it can be frustrating to be 50 years with 30 years in the food and restaurant business, and some punk comes and tries to tell you how to conduct your business. I just wished he knew that it comes from a good place, and that I only want to help him succeed. It's not that I'm trying to invade his world of food, I just want him to know that his world is currently part of my world; the digital one where just making good food isn't always enough.