ICE - a Good Idea

Today, I went to clinic for the follow-up consultation (I was coughing earlier, for those who just started to read now). My cough is almost gone but the doctor gave me more syrup with Promethazine, Bingo ! Therefore, lunch was from the canteen near that clinic. But not that Muslin food again (there was a very very long queue and I was so hungry). I had Wonton Soup and Noodle with Char Siew.

Char Siew is basically bbq pork. However, it is not just smoked out. They apply some kind of sauce - including some soy sauce - before heating the meat up. That's one of my grandpa's favorites, my father's favorites and my own favorites. It is delicious - a little sweet but tender. That stall, like the Muslin stall, is also good. That guy sell all Hong Kong style noodles.

In today's Straight Times, I read about the movement of storing ICE-blarblarblar in the handphones. ICE stands for In Case of Emergency. In Singapore, public services can send emergency cases to hospital in time (in very short time). However, after getting to the hospital and after initial investigation, if operations is necessary to save the life of patient, getting permission takes a long time since it is difficult to sort out the Next of Kin's contact, thus, losing precious time. The idea is to store your next of kin's, for example your wife's, phone number in your phone with the name ICE-wife. The medical practitioners will search in the patient's phone if there is some entry with ICE tagged, a very nice idea !

Another news is that a family is about to sue KFC for their daughter fell sick after eating some unclean meals (wrap the paper said) at one outlet. They blamed the food franchise outlet and claimed there may be cases if the food is dropped, they may be put back by careless staffs. That news really shocked me as I am a huge fan of KFC. When I returned home from Philippines in 2000, I bought the whole bucket of Chicken Fries when I had to spent some time at the old Bangkok International Airport, which my family enjoyed. Now, I must think twice before I step into KFC.

Talking about KFC, it reminds me that each of the fast-food franchise, KFC, McDornald, Burger King, Pizza Hut etc have their own network of delivery teams. My idea is "Wouldn't it be cheaper if they just outsource that business to some third party?". I understand they have propietary technology in handling food from the kitchen to destined consumer - like Pizza Hut's way to make their Pizza hot on delivery. I also understand some outlet offer time-critical delivery - like if your meal arrives 30 minutes after your order, you don't have to pay. However, a third party delivery network - like those delivering utilities like electricity and water supply - involving automated conveyor belts would be profitable both for the service provider and the fast food chains. The networks would utilize some IT tools - like RFID, SCM etc.

If that is successful, the service can readily be extend to household consumers since the network is already there. Later, a small city like Singapore won't need services like post offices and DHL for intra-city-deliveries.