Page 52 - May2021

SPECIAL FEATURE: F&B LATEST CONCEPTS AND TRENDS

Food For

Thought...

The proportion of meals being ordered online – from
restaurants, central kitchens or grocery stores – is now rising at

such a pace that according to market research firm Euromonitor,
the average urban household will likely order more meals than they cook before the
decade is out. With this in mind, Salima Vellani, Founder of Kbox takes a deeper look

at the restaurant & hospitality industry.

t is the most profound change in food production and with business owners over-extending themselves by opening
distribution for generations, and it’s happening all over too many venues and too many kitchens. These shortcomings
the world. It’s the reason why, as traditional hospitality have already been exposed within casual dining. In food delivery,
Icontinues to battle the devastating impact of the Covid-19 it’s a model that is even more inadequate, given that the average
pandemic, the delivery market is currently predicted to be delivery kitchen serves just a 2-4 mile radius.
worth £1tn globally within the next 15-20 years, according Goodbye One-Brand One-Kitchen
to Euromonitor. The world does not need more kitchens. And fortunately,
And it’s the reason why all kitchen owners must be looking at we’re now seeing fundamental changes in the thinking behind
how they can get into food delivery to supplement their income food production and distribution.
and safeguard their business in the uncertain months ahead. Savvy kitchen owners recognise that they can reconfigure
The Need For A New Delivery Model their kitchens to support the preparation of multiple food
The food delivery market has its problems, not least of which brands. They realise that delivery customers simply don’t care
are the monetisation and labour force challenges faced by the which kitchen prepares their food, providing the food itself is
delivery providers themselves. But for kitchen owners, there’s high-quality, well-presented and delivered on time.
a more fundamental challenge. Of the 100,000s of commercial It is a breakthrough for our industry because it blows up
kitchens worldwide, most of them are unprofitable or falling the one-brand one-kitchen mentality that has constrained
well short of their true utilisation and revenue potential. operations for decades.
It’s a situation that the industry has tolerated for too long – On a basic level, it means hospitality operators can prepare

52 RETAIL & LEISURE INTERNATIONAL MAY 2021