I've been thinking a lot about this topic lately and this is so on point! A friend in NY who is seeing all the fine dining close said this is as near an extinction event for restaurants as there ever has been. A great chance to redesign a food experience for our post covid world - but also the end of many experiences as we know it.
In India, Swiggy is the biggest aggregator which owns close to 100 cloud kitchens. They posses enormous customer data (about preferences etc) which is not shared to Individual restaurants and their pricing is significantly lesser than its peers. Don't you think when these companies would further build scale and promote their kitchens on their platform, it would end up destroying the competition. How do you see such a scenario unfolding?
Great point, VG. I wrote this of course with the U.S. market in mind but there are a lot of learnings from India, China, Latin America. I tried to hint at the issue with distribution on DoorDash and Uber Eats near the conclusion of this piece - the challenge with them being aggregators is that they control distribution, and can compete with restaurants by launching their own cloud kitchens, like Swiggy. So that's why my hope is that platforms can enable new distribution channels for independent restaurants without being aggregators. Amazing restaurants can have powerful brands, but there need to be ways for delivery-only restaurants to grow their brands in the same way that offline restaurants have.
Hey Nikhil, thanks for this! I remember reading an article a few weeks back by an investor who rebutted restaurants' claims that the food delivery ecosystem is ruining the restaurant industry - and the investor shared reasons why (incremental revenue etc....). I can't seem to find that article anymore. Would you have read it too, and if so, could you please share it?
Nikhil great article and food for thought. I couldn't agree more with you there's a huge opportunity for a restaurant renaissance and we're starting to see it happen more and more each day. I also believe there's an untapped opportunity from a social perspective to drive excitement and engagement around food. Though cloud kitchens are great they don't solve the communication gap between restaurants and their diners. Restaurants want to have a relationship with their diners and a sense of community. Being able to see or hear about the joy of a diner loving a restaurant owner's food is one of the reasons why they open up a restaurant in the first place :).
Good overview, thanks for sharing! We’ve certainly seen a surge of restaurant groups, large and small, rushing to offer delivery through their own fleets of drivers to avoid relying on the third parties when most of their sales going out the door for delivery.
Thanks for this post, Nikhil. It's definitely interesting to see where the industry is heading and how it will adapt. Check out a company called sprwt.io, they are working on a software to streamline the inventory and recipe management at restaurants.
I really enjoyed this article! The idea you're suggesting of a platform to enable delivery-only businesses made me think of Shopify in the e-commerce space.
you're right, Saif. if DoorDash and Uber Eats are vying to be the Amazon of food delivery, who will be the Shopify? Toast and Square are both in the running, I think.
I've been thinking a lot about this topic lately and this is so on point! A friend in NY who is seeing all the fine dining close said this is as near an extinction event for restaurants as there ever has been. A great chance to redesign a food experience for our post covid world - but also the end of many experiences as we know i
I've been thinking a lot about this topic lately and this is so on point! A friend in NY who is seeing all the fine dining close said this is as near an extinction event for restaurants as there ever has been. A great chance to redesign a food experience for our post covid world - but also the end of many experiences as we know it.
💯, Raina.
Hi Nikhil,
In India, Swiggy is the biggest aggregator which owns close to 100 cloud kitchens. They posses enormous customer data (about preferences etc) which is not shared to Individual restaurants and their pricing is significantly lesser than its peers. Don't you think when these companies would further build scale and promote their kitchens on their platform, it would end up destroying the competition. How do you see such a scenario unfolding?
Great point, VG. I wrote this of course with the U.S. market in mind but there are a lot of learnings from India, China, Latin America. I tried to hint at the issue with distribution on DoorDash and Uber Eats near the conclusion of this piece - the challenge with them being aggregators is that they control distribution, and can compete with restaurants by launching their own cloud kitchens, like Swiggy. So that's why my hope is that platforms can enable new distribution channels for independent restaurants without being aggregators. Amazing restaurants can have powerful brands, but there need to be ways for delivery-only restaurants to grow their brands in the same way that offline restaurants have.
Hey Nikhil, thanks for this! I remember reading an article a few weeks back by an investor who rebutted restaurants' claims that the food delivery ecosystem is ruining the restaurant industry - and the investor shared reasons why (incremental revenue etc....). I can't seem to find that article anymore. Would you have read it too, and if so, could you please share it?
unfortunately i have not seen it... sorry!
Nikhil great article and food for thought. I couldn't agree more with you there's a huge opportunity for a restaurant renaissance and we're starting to see it happen more and more each day. I also believe there's an untapped opportunity from a social perspective to drive excitement and engagement around food. Though cloud kitchens are great they don't solve the communication gap between restaurants and their diners. Restaurants want to have a relationship with their diners and a sense of community. Being able to see or hear about the joy of a diner loving a restaurant owner's food is one of the reasons why they open up a restaurant in the first place :).
💯 Bomani!
Good overview, thanks for sharing! We’ve certainly seen a surge of restaurant groups, large and small, rushing to offer delivery through their own fleets of drivers to avoid relying on the third parties when most of their sales going out the door for delivery.
thanks Khaled!
Thanks for this post, Nikhil. It's definitely interesting to see where the industry is heading and how it will adapt. Check out a company called sprwt.io, they are working on a software to streamline the inventory and recipe management at restaurants.
cheers Eric, thanks for flagging this!
I really enjoyed this article! The idea you're suggesting of a platform to enable delivery-only businesses made me think of Shopify in the e-commerce space.
you're right, Saif. if DoorDash and Uber Eats are vying to be the Amazon of food delivery, who will be the Shopify? Toast and Square are both in the running, I think.
was there a recording of the Town Hall? Any interesting topics and insights you will capture in writing by any chance? Bummer that I missed it.
yes, i'll post a link when it's processed and on YouTube!
I've been thinking a lot about this topic lately and this is so on point! A friend in NY who is seeing all the fine dining close said this is as near an extinction event for restaurants as there ever has been. A great chance to redesign a food experience for our post covid world - but also the end of many experiences as we know i