A few days back I was invited by the Indian Restaurant Congress to moderate a session around Digital Innovation in Food Services. I somehow convinced the organisers to give me another 15 mins so I could partake in some self-therapy by sharing my views on the online food delivery eco-system and sharing some ideas around the same.
The goal – to spark conversation around new ways to generate online food delivery traction. To do my two cents towards helping restauranteurs, consumers and marketplaces think beyond discounts!
The hypothesis is – everyone knows the online, discount fuelled aggregator ecosystem is NOT ideal. It even pushed restauranteurs to create the very well branded #logout movement. But instead of writing about that (because enough has been written already), I wanted to crack an attempt at ideating around an alternative to discounts? Is it really possible to get people to order for food if you refuse to give a 50% off?
I really think it is – and I even have a few ideas, specifically around food delivery.
Here’s my attempt at Re-imagining Online Food Delivery (12 mins)
Below is a summary of the ideas that I have discussed in the video, I will soon write about each of them individually in greater detail. But its important to see them all together first to understand the greater holistic goal of completely reimagining this space, literally taking the gunk of discount addiction out of it and recreating it for something that generates demand not because food is cheaper, or even because it comes to your house — but like Rashmi Daga of Fresh Menu once told me – to generate natural demand.
Idea 1 – Product First, Brand Second
Idea 2 – Multiple Brands, Same Basket
Idea 3 – Predicting Customer Demand
Idea 4 – Spottify my Hunger Pangs
Idea 5 – Food.ai
Idea 6 – AdWords for FnB
Do share your thoughts and do share this article with others,
Cheers!
21st October Addition
Incredibly relevant piece by the CEO of Spencer Retail on the Netflix of Food being a nearby reality.
