Description
The restaurant industry is facing a fourth revolution, which is pushing restaurant companies into two big categories.
The first one is ‘convenience’, and is reflected in all the concepts that focus on speed of service, delivery, technology etc. Domino’s Pizza has been spearheading this evolution over the past years. The second category is ‘experience’ and encompasses restaurants that focus on creating environments that are actually making customers want to leave their house and their sofa and go out to socialize and have a great dining experience.
To induce people to leave their homes, restaurants will have to focus on the physical experience between the four walls, because this is the only thing the aggregators cannot deliver. They can give you the convenience, the price, the speed of service, but they’ll never be able to match the experience provided inside a physical restaurant. Operators will have to double down on designing and curating great guest experiences because that counts more than anything else in attracting the footfalls.
No particular food or cuisine will be the next big thing in the industry. I think there is not just one trend or movement to watch out for. I would say we need to break it down by different regions. If I may choose, I’d rather talk about eatertainment: the next big thing will be concepts that give you something more than food. That’s really where I see the industry focus going: give me a great experience to remember and to share it with others. Brands that are disruptive, that are brave enough to take things out of the comfort zone and try ideas that others haven’t before will the ones to taste success in the foodservice industry.
