This Wichita inventor thinks he might have a solution for struggling Wichita restaurants
As the weather turns cold and COVID-19 cases continue to surge in Wichita, a local man says he’s come up with a way to help Wichita restaurants survive it.
Charlie Bible, who lost his job at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, has developed design plans for a tiny portable dining room that restaurants could use to keep diners protected during the pandemic.
He even built a prototype in his driveway, prompting one fascinated neighbor to tell him, “You’re going to be a billionaire.”
Bible has named his invention DineSpace, and he’s already shopped it around to several local restaurants, he said, including places like The Kitchen, Georges French Bistro and Tanya’s Soup Kitchen.
“I thought, ‘There has to be some way I can help through this situation we’re in, this challenge we’re in,’” said Bible, who lost his job in April with Bystronic, a company that manufactures laser cutting machines. “I really like going out to eat. I saw the restaurants suffering, and I thought, ‘Well how can I help change that?’”
Photos of outdoor dining contraptions being employed in bigger cities — like individual tents and plastic igloos — have been all over the Internet since fall’s arrival has limited outdoor dining, widely believed to be safer than indoor dining.
So far, no one in Wichita has jumped on that trend, and most restaurants are relying on outdoor heaters to keep customers coming.
Bible’s invention is more of a little shed than a tent. It’s about 50 square feet inside with just enough room for one four-person booth. He built it using regular construction grade lumber, he said, and he fitted it with a retractable window for food delivery.
The unit, which Bible said would “fit nicely in a parking space,” is appointed inside with laminate floors, beadboard walls and a see-through plastic ceiling that floods the space with light. For diners’ comfort, Bible has installed a portable heater, a light with a dimmer switch, a Bluetooth CD player and even a phone charging station.
It costs between $4,000 and $5,000 to build a unit, Bible said, and he’s happy to do that for restaurants. He’d even customize them.
He’s also willing to sell restaurant owners the plans so they can build them on their own.
Bible, who moved to Wichita from Long Island, New York, seven years ago, is passionate about his new calling and said he hopes his invention goes nationwide, though he’d like the first one to be installed in Wichita.
He thinks the units have practical applications beyond the pandemic, too, and might appeal to diners who hate noisy restaurants. He also designed into the dining rooms a space that could hold a portable air conditioning unit.
“In a perfect world, every restaurant in America would buy 10 of them from me,” he said.
Anyone is welcome to swing by his house near Yale and Ninth Street, just north of the Sleepy Hollow neighborhood, to check the unit out, Bible said. Any restaurants that want to talk about the units can call him at 631-790-6802.
This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 10:55 AM.
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