Cooking as a Service
An interesting aspect of this is the social role of restaurants in the US and abroad. In the US pretty much every restaurant I've been to hands me the check right after I finish my last bite. Lingering in restaurants to socialize is not so much the norm. If you go to a very popular place, you and your party may end up spending more time in the line to get in than on your table. So the tradeoff between going to a restaurant just to eat and getting food delivered is fairly small.<p>In other countries (e.g., Mediterranean region),  it is perfectly normal to linger for a couple of hours after finishing your dinner. The social experience is the point of the restaurant visit, the food and drinks are just a catalyst.