Restaurant, Deli, Grocery, Which One?
I hate to use the word COVID-19! We hear it everywhere in every occasion! Got it! The world is changed, and we have to rethink the way of doing business!
Restaurants are serving food, that’s the practice, isn’t it? The answer is yes, but still, the restaurateur can think of other revenue streams as well. If a restaurant has adjusted its core operation and established a delivery workflow and managed to improve its digital presence, why not adding a new revenue stream?
A casual dining operation is designed to attract people into the restaurant. It offers an experience, same as fine dining, and the same as a coffee shop that wants to become a gathering point or a hot-spot. Some F&B outlets sell other merchandise than their food menu in their operation. But in many cases, those merchandises are not necessarily food items or something that the customer desire to buy frequently. One Starbucks mug is enough if you are not a mug collector!
We have seen many groceries and supermarkets entered into the food business by offering deli products and buffet type of prepared food to take away. Why not the F&B business establish the opposite direction?
If the restaurant maintains proper communication with its clientele, and promote its business in the neighborhood, it can sell other items like deli or groceries to the same clientele. I don’t mean that a restaurant to become a full-fledged grocery! We already have one grocery down every building in Dubai, and we don’t need more!
But, let say there are some items that the restaurant buys in bulk, and it can process and sell them like grocery. Maybe the best example is the bread that Arabic or Iranian restaurants make in-house. Or pickles, or specialty sauce of a restaurant, or masala, home-made pasta, semi-prepared kebab, and so on.
Along with the semi-prepared or produced materials, restaurants can sell fresh fruit, vegetable, dry food, spices, and other raw materials with their new packaging. These items are usually quality products, and customers like to buy them occasionally. If they know the items are always available at a reasonable price, why not order them regularly through the online ordering and delivery service of the restaurant?
The restaurants do not need to do much out of the ordinary. Materials are already in the regular purchases, and the production takes place for the menu. Restaurants only need to do a better retail packing and labeling with shelf life and expiry date.
We as the customer are already buying from the delis in the supermarket or from their meat section. And for sure, we will buy the same from our favorite restaurants if they offer and deliver.
