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The rapid increase in meal delivery services is emerging, as companies such as Deliveroo and Uber Eats send riders and drivers across the city carrying all varieties. But as is often the case with new platforms, a less visible secondary revolution is reverberating in the restaurant industry with the rise of virtual kitchens.
The London-based company Taster is an example of how the intersection of meal delivery services, artificial intelligence and data creates opportunities that threaten the restaurant business with even more disruption. While meal delivery services initially seemed to be a boom for local restaurants, it's virtual cuisines – with their ability to optimize and automate – that could ultimately win the food war .
Taster was founded two years ago by Anton Soulier, one of the first employees of Deliveroo, who wanted to go further in this food processing.
"I thought there was a great opportunity to build a food business on these platforms," he said. "They are really good at logistics. My job is to provide food.
Delivery services lead to a fundamental shift in the way people buy and consume food, gradually reducing the amount of home-cooked food for convenience food delivered on demand. By 2018, UBS predicted that the economy of meal deliveries would reach $ 365 billion, or $ 365 billion by 2030, according to report 201
"There could be a scenario where, by 2030, most of the meals currently cooked at home are ordered online and delivered to restaurants or central kitchens," the report says. "The ramifications for the food retail, food and catering industries could be significant, as well as for the impact on real estate markets, appliances and robotics."
One of the effects of this scenario will be the continued growth of food delivery services. However, this change will be largely driven by third-party companies seeking to take advantage of the scope of existing delivery services.
This includes newcomers such as CloudKitchens, a start-up from former Uber president, Travis Kalanick, which offers space to chefs wanting to launch brands exclusively for delivery. Last year, California-based Kitchen United raised $ 10 million to expand its warehouses, which provide a cooking space for startups that deliver only products. And earlier this year, Berlin-based Keatz raised an additional $ 13.5 million to fund its virtual kitchen network in cities such as Berlin, Amsterdam, Madrid, Barcelona and Munich.
Meanwhile, the delivery platforms themselves have also begun to play the game of food preparation. Two years ago, Deliveroo launched Deliveroo Editions to provide data and kitchen spaces for restaurants offering only deliveries. Uber would also have been involved in this space, testing a kitchen space rental service for virtual brands. And he's also working with existing retail restaurants to use their kitchens to host virtual brands only available on UberEats.
This means that Taster is facing an extremely competitive landscape. Consolidation of these efforts will probably be inevitable. But an overview of Taster's current operation provides insight into why this trend towards virtual kitchens is accelerating.
Taster has 115 employees (including 100 chefs) working in 11 kitchens. At the end of last month, Founders Future's Battery Ventures, Heartcore Capital, LocalGlobe and Marc Menasé raised $ 8 million in venture capital.
The startup operates a series of kitchens in London, Paris and Madrid, where it prepares meals that are only available by delivery. These products are sold under brands that exist only on the different applications of these services: Out Fry (Korean Fried Chicken), O Ke Kai (Hawaiian Food) and Mission Saigon (Vietnamese). From the consumer's point of view, Taster as a brand does not appear in any marketing for these virtual kitchens.
This approach confers a number of immediate benefits over existing restaurants. There is no need for a dining room or a purchase counter, which means savings on real estate. Everyone who works focuses solely on preparing meals, reducing home expenses. And kitchens can be used to launch new virtual brands as new opportunities emerge.
"I was watching how people used Deliveroo every day," said Soulier. "The growth was just amazing. But traditional restaurants, where you cook for a human who comes to eat here, are not very well suited to a delivery model. "
Because a service like Taster was designed for delivery, the packages were designed to keep food fresh and hot and the menu items are chosen with the idea that they will not be consumed. right away, said Soulier.
This approach becomes even more powerful when combined with the data that Taster receives from distribution platforms, allowing the company to quickly adjust menu items, depending on what is most popular, "he said.
Taster's back office is also directly connected to many of its own suppliers. Thus, when the menu items are changed, the system updates the orders with the suppliers.
"This is a big challenge that we wanted to meet early," he said. "Being able to place orders directly to suppliers really automates the process and reduces losses."
These data have in turn enabled the company to develop its own algorithms and project how supply and demand will vary depending on factors such as holidays and weather. The system tracks these fluctuations and automatically adjusts the orders.
This part of the business is still emerging. But Soulier is convinced that as the number of kitchens and the amount of data increases, the company will be able to go further with artificial intelligence to extend automation and create even more predictive operations. and data-driven.
This scale and level of automation will make it even more difficult in the coming years to maintain independent restaurants. Consumers will likely see a growing range of niche options based on the data collected by these platforms, which will further boost adoption. And the virtual kitchen movement will further streamline operations by dramatically reducing the risks badociated with launching new restaurants.
This transformation will have repercussions far beyond the possibility of getting sushi delivered by a bicycle messenger.
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