To the editor,

In his review of my book Disks of Food: How Two Heartland Nuts Started a Great American Restaurant, Stefan Hamer misrepresents several key events in the history of the Disks of Food family of restaurants.

Disks of Food, not Bandwidth Drive-In, was the first internet-themed family restaurant. When my partner Red Woijzchoski and I transitioned the original Stamford CT-based restaurant to an ArpaNet theme in the mid 1980s, Disks of Food was already a beloved family restaurant with a personal computer theme (we still have a signed photo of Matthew Broderick at our ribbon-cutting ceremony). During our web-centered redesign in the 1990s, we considered a range of naming conventions - T.G.I. Cyber's Family Food and Fun Restaurant, The Many to Many Diner, Browsers, The T-1 Cafe, to name a few; but we decided that the beloved Disks of Food brand name was too valuable a portion of our off-balance-sheet good will.

The claims of J.A. "Styx" Wheelock - that his Bandwidth Drive-In pioneered the internet theme in family restaurants - are completely insupportable. But on this matter I prefer to let the record speak for itself. Disks of Food led the industry in all major 'net-restaurant innovations. We were the first restaurant to feature a search engine menu, the first to support Java-enhanced meals, the first to offer deep-fried 128-bit encryption, the first to provide secure server rest rooms. Disks of Food pioneered the use of a salad bar firewall in addition to a sneeze guard.

Wheelock's contention that his restaurant chain developed interactive kids' party rooms contradicts the extensive public record on this matter. In our 1995 lawsuit, we claimed that Bandwidth Drive-In's interactive party rooms infringed on our "404 Rooms." As part of our settlement in that suit, Bandwidth was enjoined from using the term "file not found" in any of its advertising or restaurant decor.

Moreover, it is not accurate to classify our patented Online Food Disks as "pizzas." Disks of Food's data-rich round meals can be formatted with your choice of more than 30 toppings, and have set industry standards for round, flat food. Our Chicago-style deep dish disk is the top-selling round meal in the continental U.S. Mr. Hamer is correct in saying that the pesto and brie floppy, which we introduced in 1996, has taken some time finding market acceptance, but we are confident this disk will find its fan base.

Disks of Food was never a supporter of the Communications Decency Act. It is true that we are a family restaurant, and as such we respect the sensibilities of our customers through the use of our patented CyberHostess enforcement agent. Both Disks of Food and Bandidth Drive-In have expressed our concerns about CU-See-Me Nightclub, whose buxom waitstaff and suggestive slogan "Upload in your shorts!" we find questionable at best. But Disks of Food has always supported freedom of speech as well as food preparation.

While it is true that Disks of Food stock suffered along with most tech stocks in late 1997, it is not accurate for Mr. Hamer to write that the stock "was overvalued, and continues to take a beating." The long-term picture for Disks of Food remains sound, with branches in 38 major US cities, as well as restaurants in Tokyo, Stockholm and other locations overseas. New franchises in St. Petersburg, Beirut, Prague and Bucharest will allow people in those cities to join the millions-strong Disks of Food family.

Of course, we invite you to drop in any time to sample the fine 'net-related meals and apps at Disks of Food.

Sincerely,

Brandon Mohel
President and CEO
Disks of Food