Food delivery is big business in 2019, being valued at ‘£8.1 billion in 2018 – up +13.4% year-on-year’. Paired with dark kitchens, also known as food delivery kitchens, these services are becoming not only more popular but more important. And with that increase is coming changing power.
In this Must Read, we look at how the top food delivery companies are looking to develop their relationships with small food brands, how our roads might be affected by the growing food delivery market and how hotels are getting on board with dark kitchens.
Restaurant Delivery Juggernaut Will ‘Help’ Restaurants by Monopolising Supply Chains – Eater London
One of the largest food delivery companies, Deliveroo, is going to use its significant presence and, therefore, bulk buying abilities to introduce supply chains to its offerings. Working with small food businesses and restaurants, Deliveroo says it wants to get better quality ingredients to kitchens at lower prices. But is that too good to be true?
While, in this article, Eater London does raise some questions about the value of this new model from Deliveroo, it will ultimately be down to each food business to decide if partnering with a much larger company will benefit them. Certainly savings can sound attractive, but you would have to pay Deliveroo to access this middle-man service and, on balance, it might not mean much savings at all.
Read full article: Restaurant Delivery Juggernaut Will ‘Help’ Restaurants by Monopolising Supply Chains
This Food-Delivery Robot Wants To Share The Lane – Wired
Wired dives into the next stage for food delivery bikes: AI driven robots. The company behind the latest innovation, Refraction, has been developing their technology for some time but has recently found a new way to apply it. This article notes that: ‘Refraction’s move into this niche—local food delivery within bikeable areas—is just the latest example of how the self-driving industry has expanded in recent years.’
Food delivery bikes are fast becoming the norm in London and other large cities, and roads are quickly being taken up not just by cars but mopeds and bikes from food delivery companies and even supermarkets. Soon though, you might not even need to employ people to transport your food deliveries.
Read full article: This Food-Delivery Robot Wants To Share The Lane
Hotels set to start hosting dark kitchens from food delivery firms – Boutique Hotelier
Hotels look to be getting in on the dark kitchen action by turning their restaurant spaces into food delivery kitchens. The key idea here is that your food delivery business would be able to deliver both out, to customers making online orders, and up, to guests staying in the hotel.
We’ve seen how small food businesses and startups have benefited from sites with commercial kitchens, located in more affordable areas since they don’t have to have shopfronts. Working within hotels like this could be advantageous to some food delivery companies as it will give you access to a built in customer base.
Read full article: Hotels set to start hosting dark kitchens from food delivery firms
Read More About Food Delivery
If you’re looking to learn more about building a food business, you should check out our interview with our client GymFood, or if you are already delivering and want to make sure you are doing it properly, have a read of our food delivery safety guide.
Foodstars is pleased to be able to offer food delivery kitchens for license in locations across London. We work with numerous clients who operate all kinds of food brands in our kitchens, and food delivery is fast becoming one of the most popular. Get in touch to discuss options for your business.