Cynthia Wall, vice president of Autocrat, a coffee producer in the Providence area, traced coffee milk's origins back to the 1930's, when enterprising diner and drugstore operators sweetened leftover coffee grounds with milk and sugar, creating a slurry extract that became as popular with children as hot coffee was with adults.
When asked by the operator if the diner was located in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens or Manhattan, Wells replied, "Yes".
He lasted about a year, followed by a second equally unsuccessful operator, and the diner built up a reputation for so-so food and not particularly pleasant atmospherics.
On the other end of the line was an operator instructing the diner to dial one for sweet and two for bitter, and they were played the high and low-pitched sounds accordingly.
Results from the company, the world's biggest hamburger chain, showed that the sluggish American economic recovery as well as the sovereign debt crisis and austerity in Europe were pinching even the most resilient restaurant operators by forcing diners to trim spending for meals away from home.
And then for two and a half years, the 15 local investors behind the diner transplant considered and discarded ideas from at least 23 potential operators.
Lately, the site has been running Golden Local contests, in which users submit nominations and then vote for the top local operators in a range of local businesses, from late-night diner to microbrewery to dry cleaner.
WHEN M. Wells, a tin-can diner on a windswept corner of Long Island City, Queens, closed in the summer of 2011, its operators blamed its demise on a rent increase.
As the diners chatted, reports of icebergs in the vessel's path were being communicated to the ship's radio operators, who did not deem them worthy to pass on to the bridge.
After noting the desired date and time and the number of diners in the party, the operator promises to call back within 30 minutes.
