Home Delivery - Top 10 Trends 2021/22 - thefoodpeople

For us, Home Delivery sits as part of two megatrends, the New Cocoon and Flexi-channel. 

The online and home delivery revolution was well underway pre-pandemic, and its relevance has only been amplified by it. Today's consumers expect everything delivered and quickly!

Accelerated by the pandemic, this notion of at-home moves very much from a novelty to necessity. Retail brands and hospitality brands alike have turned to direct to consumer and on-demand as an essential evolution of their channel strategy.

In the new world, the need to get food to people is equally, if not more important than getting people to food. 

It's estimated that the pandemic has shifted delivery's share of the total addressable market forward by two to three years. Some operators are so bullish on the sector that they believe in a few years’ time, for those of us that live in an urban environment, it won't make sense to cook at home. They see a world where it will be far cheaper, tastier and more convenient to always get delivery. What is certain is that the opportunity around hot food delivered will only continue, but perhaps not of the ferocity that we saw in 2020.

One of the key areas of innovation, perhaps more from a survival perspective during a pandemic, has been hospitality brands and restaurants developing their own meal kits. The question, as we look to hospitality re-opening over the next few weeks, is; will the demand for meal kits remain? 

'Photo of the amazing classic rendang curry recipe kit from Rendang + Rice' check them out!

There's no question that a kit that you have to put the effort into preparing and clearing up from doesn't replicate going to a restaurant (which, by the way, I think we can all agree, is one of the most magical experiences on earth), but it does satisfy a very different need. The meal kit is a different opportunity. 

Check out the delicious GROUNDbreaker burger kit from GROUND

It provides some of the convenience that you'd expect from a supermarket meal, but with the kudos, craft, finesse and specialness of a restaurant meal. We're now in a place, in the U.K. at least, where wherever you live in the country, you can get everything from a Dishoom DIY bacon naan kit or a Climate Positive burger kit for, say, ￡20 or ￡30; to a Quality Chophouse or Helene Darroze, at The Connaught, meal kit for several hundred pounds, delivered to your home. 

Many of these are now also coming with things like; printed menus, cook along apps, playlists and other experience-enhancing additions. 

As a restauranteur, particularly with aggregators such as Dishpatch emerging, some of the operational costs and complexities are removed. Such meal kit aggregation businesses take delivery of preprepared, bulk dishes from the restaurant and manages everything from portioning, to packaging, to the marketing and the delivery. 

Therefore, it can mean that independent outlets, small chains and groups, can broaden their reach beyond their immediate locality. Meaning that kits can co-exist alongside dining services and, for some, conventional delivery as well. 

We believe that both from a consumer and an operator perspective, that there is a viable proposition here going forward. Particularly as solutions for both operators and consumers become more streamlined around the experience. 

The restaurant meal kit may just steal a little from a number of other meal experiences into the future: the take-away, the scratch-cooked meal or a restaurant meal. 

There's perhaps something quite appealing about cooking a restaurant quality meal kit at home that you can eat on the sofa in your pyjamas - at least sometimes!

Photo of the Pitt Cue BBQ Box in collaboration with Green Egg

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