Finer Dining restaurants moving into delivery - good?

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Permalink Reply by susan holaday on November 29, 2008 at 12:31pm

The operations mentioned in the story in NRN are not fine dining - but rather, the higher end of the moderately priced segment - Café Ba-Ba-Reeba has an average check of around $30, for example. There's nothing wrong with these restaurants going after takeout/delivery customers and I think it certainly makes sense in this economy for them to do so. They serve a real need and I expect there'll be many more who go after customers who would rather eat at home and save money (tips, gas or transportation, etc.).

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Permalink Reply by John Dumbrille on November 29, 2008 at 1:35pm

thanks Susan -important distinction. Added - er.
I agree with the story's gist, it's a matter of adaptation, isn't it. And the stronger restaurants will adapt.
Adding the entire menu, as in some of the cases listed, to delivery is an interesting challenge - as even Fast Casual operators don't do this. Café Ba-Ba-Reeba has paella and tapas, for instance.

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Permalink Reply by susan holaday on November 29, 2008 at 1:39pm

It will probably put more stress on the kitchen, I would guess. Some of the restaurants in the story were quoted as saying they would not be doing the whole menu - which makes sense where there are items that would suffer from being held.

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Permalink Reply by John Dumbrille on November 29, 2008 at 5:37pm

Susan, just rechecked the NRN article headline ;)

This is a lot more than delivery tacked on as a new distribution mechanism. We are often talking about delivery of a limited menu, and/or some items that need to be reheated at the other end, to a place where there is no waiter to deal with issues, no managed eating environment, no cracked pepper. The service has different ordering and billing processes, different imperatives on timing, and even different pricing. This is probably best characterized as a distinct business line; if you like, a different product. Business process flows that are different from the main restaurant bring in a new complexity that has to be reckoned with.

The point is, I think, that restaurants are onto something.

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Permalink Reply by susan holaday on November 29, 2008 at 6:50pm

Despite all those factors, I agree, they are onto a whole new market. And lots of customers have pepper mills at home!

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