Online food delivery has grown exponentially in the past few years courtesy of companies like GrubHub, UberEats, Door Dash..etc and everybody knows and understands that. It is true that one of the biggest contributors to restaurant industry growth in today’s times is coming from online delivery but the matter of the fact is that online delivery is not something to look forward to the majority of the restaurants.
Online delivery caters to a very different consumer need state compared to fine dining. Traditionally, the Restaurant industry of the US strengthened because of people’s willingness to go out and dine at a fancy place but the need for convenience at home has made a significant impact on this.
Over the past few weeks, we have spoken to several Fine Dine Restaurants who have had one sentence in common with all of them.
“The current food delivery mechanism is affecting the fine dine experience of the customer.”
But why is that? The answer is simple really,
The way a fine dine restaurant offers food to its customers at its premises is completely opposite to the way it is being delivered. That is because the food is delivered in a rush on a delivery vehicle and the only thing important in this whole endeavor is that food is being delivered on time. But the fine-dine experience is completely ruined because the aesthetics of food is the least of the delivering company’s concerns when the food is dropped off barring there’s no spillage.
People are starting to order-in more. Though this growth still contributes to the growth in the restaurant segment, the reality is, only a few players out of the majority are able to bank on this.
Online delivery works really well for cuisines like Pizza, Burgers, Salads and the most famous Chinese/Asian Cuisine but then the majority of the dishes are not deliverable in the sense that the value proposition offered in delivery is far far less compared to Dine-in.
Here’s why some cuisines are not delivery friendly
- Texture: We know that condensation is the enemy of food. Putting hot food inside a box ruins the texture of the food entirely. Though condensation affects all the food but for certain types of food, it’s not a deal-breaker but then for a $46 Steak, this becomes a deal-breaker.
- Temperature: Food Items like Chinese Food / Pizza are something that can be delivered piping hot to be consumed almost immediately or even be reheated at home but fine dining cuisines like French or Italian are very specific to the temperature that they need to be served.
- Aesthetics: Plating has been one of the biggest marketing points for most restaurant but delivery doesn’t care about that. Everything needs to be stuffed inside a box and then sent which is not appealable for most dishes.
Let’s take an example of a very famous Fine Dine Dish served at many Restaurants, “Lamb Loin with Fennel Genoise” which is Tender lamb chops braised in wine and served with pea puree and freshly made fennel-flavored crust.
The Prep Time of the above dish is 20-30 minutes if you provide the Lamb Shank Half Fried, Freeze the Lamb (as this recipe requires freezing the meat) along with the Pea Puree. The customer only has to bake the dough and grill the lamb for about 5 minutes and with proper instructions, the customer can bring the aesthetics or the presentation close to the above picture.
The perfect way to serve a dish like the above would be in the form of a Meal Kit.
Meal Kit is a ready-to-cook solution that contains all the ingredients pre-portioned according to a recipe. A Meal Kit is not convenience food, which is actually cooked and ""prepared"" at a kitchen facility before shipment--typically in a refrigerated container. The ingredients in a Meal Kit are usually fresh or pre-prepped. For more information, Click Here.
Here, you being a Restaurant Brand can instruct your customer to prep in accordance with a certain set of instructions which when followed would result in a great customer experience.
With the Food Delivery, the restaurants are at the risk of earning a bad rep because a person who has dined at that particular fine dine restaurant does not get the same food experience when it’s delivered to his/her home. The presentation, the aesthetics and the entire experience of consuming their favorite food will be a disappointing one. This will reflect in reviews and the restaurant is at risk of not getting that customer back due to no fault of their own.
This is not a problem a few restaurants are facing rather something that has frequently come upon our conversations with owners.
But when we talk about Meal Kits, the restaurants can relate this to not as an alternative but rather as a solution ‘to go or not go with’ food delivery dilemma because now, the customer has a choice of getting the Meal Kit of his favorite dish or dine at your place.
Now with a Meal Kit, the customer has complete control over his experience. All they have to do is follow certain instructions and viola, their food is ready with the same presentation as he would get at that restaurant.
Meal Kits suit most cuisines and more appealing to specialty cuisine and recipes using specialty ingredients so, for restaurants concerned about the aesthetics of the food being presented to the customer, Meal Kits is no brainer. As a matter of fact, the restaurants can go further along the experience by upselling prepared side dishes and bottles from their wine cellar that can make the whole experience a satisfactory one to the customer.
This will build brand loyalty of the customer with the restaurant and also the customer will talk about this experience to his peers inviting more customers to the restaurant who would have otherwise neglected you.
Meal Kits have become the talk of the town all over social media and people have created various groups/pages just to talk about the experience of cooking their favorite Meal Kits.
A successful restaurant thrives on word of mouth, and by putting meal kits in their kitchen, you will be catching that golden goose of the Marketing World.
End of the day, the restaurants are not just keeping their loyal customers happy, they become the talk of the town. All thanks to Meal Kits. So, What are you waiting for?
Bring us Today, our DailyKit.
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We are the world’s first and only meal kit software that helps the restaurant expand into meal kits effortlessly. Chat with us now to learn more!
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