The restaurant industry has undergone major upheavals since the Covid crisis, which ultimately accelerated the transformation of a sector that was already changing rapidly. Delivery, click and collect, meals on the go and the overall dining experience are just some of the new ways people consume food services that restaurants had to adapt to at speed.
Today, consumers have new habits as well as clearly defined expectations and needs. Here are the key issues shaping the sector.
L’explosion de la livraison et ses implications dans la relation client
The Covid pandemic and the rise of remote working have given rise to new consumer habits.
“On Sundays, customers used to order both lunch and dinner for delivery, while in the UK demand was spread evenly throughout the day. We saw those two peaks give way to breakfast, the between-meal period (local shopping and snacking) and late night. Now Friday is a peak day for treating yourself at the end of the week.”
says Kevin Mauffrey, Deliveroo’s commercial director and a speaker at the 2022 Food Hotel Tech conference, “How have consumer habits in restaurants changed?”
Thierry Veil, CEO of Bagelstein, points out that before Covid, 8% of Bagelstein’s revenue came from Deliveroo. Since the pandemic, that share has stabilised at around 20%, and he does not expect it to fall further. Delivery has become firmly established in consumer habits, so restaurants have had to equip themselves accordingly, both with packaging and digital tools.
For Victor Lugger, CEO of Big Mamma,
“Dine-in customers are completely different from online customers, who want low prices and speed.”
To maintain brand consistency, the group decided to create brands dedicated specifically to delivery.
Conflicting expectations
Thierry Veil points to a
“French consumers say they care about CSR, yet they do not want to pay an extra 10 cents for new packaging. They value the customer experience, but no longer want to wait 20 seconds without speaking to anyone. These contradictions make concepts difficult to roll out.”
Regional cities drive delivery growth
“Growth is being driven by smaller regional towns. Consumers discovered [Bagelstein] in big cities and want the same service in their own town. We were among the first to see delivery platforms arrive in these towns. The market often starts this way,”
Thierry Veil adds. These towns have a strong need for closer customer relationships and delivery services, a trend confirmed by Victor Lugger, who sees higher delivery penetration rates in regional cities.
Find out more about our customers
Collecting and analysing data helps track changes in consumer behaviour and enables businesses to respond and adapt more effectively.
Victor Lugger notes that data can be collected through the ordering process.
“80% of customers who pay with Sunday are identified.” Customer information is then handled differently depending on the type of order, whether placed on-site or online.
“Depending on how our physical and digital offerings complement each other, we can work on several levers: 1) getting to know customers, 2) cross-channel activity, repeat visits or increasing the average spend,” he explains.
Alternatively, data can be collected through loyalty programmes: “Our loyalty card gives us a detailed, clear picture of our customers,” adds Thierry Veil.
Data and a focus on consumers and their expectations remain essential to the future and resilience of restaurants. Visitors to Food Hotel Tech were able to discover a range of solutions for analysing data, distributing offers across multiple channels and, above all, attracting and retaining an increasingly diverse customer base.