Elon Musk's plan for Tesla's restaurant business moves a step closer

A futuristic diner has been on the menu for the electric carmaker for some time

Tesla is planning to move into the restaurant business. AP Photo

Electric cars, space exploration and now burgers. Elon Musk's latest venture is a little more down to earth than what we've come to expect from the billionaire entrepreneur.

The Tesla founder expressed his plans on Twitter back in 2018 for an "old school drive-in, roller skates and rock restaurant at one of the new Tesla Supercharger locations in LA".

Now the idea is a step closer to reality after Tesla submitted documents to the City of Los Angeles for a diner that would be open 24 hours a day at 7001 West Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood.

The 864-square-metre space includes plans for a drive-in movie theatre and a 28-stall supercharging station, Bloomberg reported.

There will be a two-storey diner with more than 200 seats, indoors and outside, with views of two tall movie screens.

Last June, Tesla filed an application for three new trademarks with the US Patent and Trademark Office, with the intention of using its T logo design and two other versions of the Tesla stylised logo in the food industry.

These trademarks would cover "restaurant services, pop-up restaurant services, self-service restaurant services, take-out restaurant services", Tesla said in the application.

The original location of the Tesla restaurant was reported to be in Santa Monica, although that supercharger location opened in February without any branded eating options.

Tesla has not commented further on the restaurant plans, although Mr Musk did add weight to his plans in February when on Twitter he again mentioned a "futuristic diner / drive-in theatre" concept.

"And, of course, you can pay in Ðoge," he said, referring to the open source peer-to-peer digital currency Dogecoin.

Tesla shares plunged 6.9 per cent to $628.16 in New York on Tuesday because of production woes in China.

The shares rose 50 per cent last year and closed at $1,145 on April 4, when Mr Musk announced his 9.2 per cent stake in Twitter.

Tesla’s stock has been in freefall since, sinking to $620.57 at its lowest on Tuesday and wiping out almost half its market capitalisation after touching a record high in November.