Serial Entrepeneur Melts Down in San Francisco

Jonathan Kaplan is best known for his entrepreneurial endeavors as the founder of Pure Digital - the company that gave the world the Flip Video camcorder - a company he sold to Cisco in 2009 for $590 million. Now he's melting down in San Francisco.

His latest hi-tech venture is based on a familiar concept - that people love grilled cheese sandwiches and soup. Kaplan has decided to open five The Melt stores in San Francisco this year that deliver on the bread and cheese promise of the title.

This isn't your basic missionary style sandwich though - it's a little more adventurous. Think aged gruyere on wheat with mushroom soup, brie on rye with carrot and ginger, or gouda on ciabatta with a cup of heirloom tomato soup.

Kaplan's distinctive technology focus means that hungry shoppers don't have to wait in line to pick up a sandwich. That would be too mundane. They order online or from their phone and are presented with a QR tag - a barcode that they can hold up when they arrive at one of The Melt locations. In less than a minute, molten cheesy goodness is delivered from advanced combination microwave/grills for $8.

Kaplan hopes to have 500 stores nationwide by 2015 - if his success with the Flip camera is anything to go by, expect to be eating at one near you in the not too distant future.

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