The idea came to Wyatt Wilkes one evening in College Town.

The sharp-shooting Florida State basketball player was sitting with teammates Will Miles and Harrison Prieto at a local restaurant back in October 2020, enjoying some tacos, when the thought first dawned on him.

"I wish I could make these tacos at home," Wilkes told them. "I wish they could just give me the ingredients. I feel like I could make them even better."

Miles responded: "Yeah, that would be kind of cool if they could give you the ingredients all portioned out like 'Hello Fresh' does it."

The sentence sat there for a few moments, without a sound at the table, as the FSU student-athletes let the idea ferment next to their drinks and tacos.

Some business concepts are formulated in conference rooms. Some are dreamed up online. And some bubble up while hanging out with friends on a patio and eating Mexican food.

Miles, Prieto, Wilkes and Jake Seaman think theirs was the latter. And the four partners have started a brand-new online business, centered around Wilkes' idea, called Staying In (www.stayinginonline.com).

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The business officially started in February.

Here's how it works: You visit a participating restaurant, enjoy one of the meals and think you'd like to try making it at home. Staying In will not only provide you the ingredients from that restaurant, but it will also provide a how-to video from a manager or chef of that restaurant, showing you exactly how to prepare the meal.

"So everything you're looking at in front of you in your kitchen is everything the chef is looking at when he's making the video," Miles said. "And it comes out exactly how it should. ... People love the food. People love the videos. And it makes it unbelievably easy.

"I can't cook a lick myself. And I made Blue Halo's Triple 'P' Chicken and Filet Mignon with Chimichurri sauce in about 20 minutes."

Blue Halo is one of three Tallahassee restaurants working with Staying In at the moment. The other two are Madison Social and Township.

The plan, if successful, is to expand statewide and then beyond.

Right now, the business is still in the infancy stages. And two of the founders -- Wilkes and Prieto -- are still college basketball players at Florida State. (Wilkes is a scholarship player, while Prieto and Miles were members of the popular walk-on group known as "The Green Vipers.")

And Miles said they hope to build an app to go with the website, so orders can be made on mobile phones as well.

"Eventually, we want it to be an app and also a meal-prep service," Miles said. "Like your 'Hello Fresh' and 'Blue Apron,' where you can pick what days you want it delivered to you. And you get those ingredients and then you have those videos to help you cook for you and your family that night. ...

"And it's a lofty goal, but I'm hoping that we launch full-scale service, meal-prep, delivery, all that in Tallahassee and Orlando by January of 2022."

Miles, who recently graduated from FSU with a master's degree in finance, said he would like to have about 15 to 20 local restaurants on board by the end of August. And then he'll go back down to his hometown of Orlando and start adding ones down there as well.

Miles said they're also still seeking and vetting investors for the business. Head coach Leonard Hamilton isn't one, but he did give the players his blessing to start the endeavor in the middle of last basketball season.

"He knows about it," Miles said with a laugh. "He's a supporter of it."

And with the new Name, Image and Likeness rules allowed in Florida starting June 1, Miles is hoping that they'll be able to provide promotional opportunities to Seminole athletes.

"Oh, we'll definitely be taking advantage of the whole rule change this year," Miles said with a laugh. "FSU Basketball is hot right now. This is the first time I've ever walked around and people are like, 'Hey, you're a Green Viper, right?' Where else in the world does the walk-on team get recognized?"

And where else in the world are two of those walk-ons and one of the scholarship players in the midst of trying to build a company that lets you eat actual restaurant quality food from ingredients in your own kitchen?

"The restaurants are getting the lion's share of the [profits]," Miles said. "We're just taking a small transaction fee. And this will definitely help out restaurants. ... I saw first-hand how they were hit during [the coronavirus pandemic], and that's been the kind of drive behind this. We could make a win-win situation for us to grow and then help more restaurants.

"We're young. We don't have a lot to lose. And everything we've heard from people so far has been positive."

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