QSR January 2023

SHORT ORDER

Anewyear brings freshpredictions for fast food, and some old and novel ideas on deck. Just like 2023, this coming calendar promises plenty of consumer-driven innovation ignited by technology. What’s to come? We check in with some experts.

Smaller footprint stores will emerge focused on off-premises strategies and rapid order pickup.

As consumer restaurant habits continue to shift away from in-store dining and mobile ordering becomes more prevalent, some restaurant brands have acquired real estate as well as off-premises technology solutions for new stores uniquely designed for mobile orders, curbside pickup, and the drive-thru. In lieu of in-store dining, we’ll see distributed, smaller footprint stores that offer a highly personalized customer experience and real estate optimized for order pickup, whether that’s dedicated mobile-only drive-thru lanes or curbside pickup spots. These initiatives will be further enhanced by automation such as AI voice ordering, reconfirming order details, and the like.

VICE KIOSK: ADOBE STOCK / WIFESUN, TAKE-OUT FOOD ORDER ON A RESTAURANT COUNTER: ADOBE STOCK / DAVID

Consumers are slowly moving away from takeout and delivery and are starting to enjoy more meals at brick-and-mortar stores. During the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer demand

Competition in fast food heats up. Quick-service restaurants aren’t just competing with their rivals anymore; there’s growing competition between fast-food brands and stores that offer a faster, easier, or more engaging buying experience such as smaller footprint stores, coffee chains with shorter drive-thru lines, or conve nience stores that continue to invest heavily in foodservice initiatives. Some fast-food customers are also lured away from quick-serves in search of healthier options, clean ingredients, or even en vironmentally friendly packaging that reduces the carbon footprint. In some cases, smaller restaurants may need to be more mission-driven and provide a healthier menu to compete. —Emil Davityan BLUEDOT COFOUNDER AND CEO

for takeout and delivery services reached an all-time high. Now, consumers are starting to return to restaurants and food halls to sit down and linger in-house. To gain new customers, menus will have to be inno vative. To meet this need, PITA will launch a completely new menu in 2023 highlighting new, innovative items to capture more loyal customers, and of course, keep their current consumers happy. This menu launch will coincide with PITA’s 10th anniversary and will include new items such as spanakopita, veggie grape leaves and an appetizer cheese roll that will double as a dessert. —Nour Rabai FOUNDER AND CEO OF PITA MEDITERRANEAN STREET FOOD

Fast-casual dining segments will become

more popular. Coming out of the pandemic, inflation will hit full-service restaurants heavily, and fast casual will trend higher in terms of dining experiences for consumers. Consumers will gravitate toward the fast-casual restaurant market for its convenience and away from full-service and fine-dining experiences.

Pickup is the NewDelivery Driven by inflationary fears and escalating delivery fees, people are shifting to picking up their own food. Fast-casual and fast-food chains are making it progres sively easier by building double- and triple-pickup lanes at their restaurants,

Menu Re-Development. With rising inflation and the cost of goods at an all-time high for restaurants, virtually all restaurant operators are looking at re-engineering their menus to find unique and creative ways to be able to provide perceived value to the guest in terms of menu items, while tweaking or changing the ingredients used and the portion sizes. I also believe we will see price increases across the board in all sectors of the dining industry to offset these rising costs. —James King FOUNDER & CEO OF TITAN HOSPITALITY GROUP

exclusively for people who’ve pre-ordered online. The idea is to wean customers away from profit-killing delivery apps and, at the same time, save customers money, often as much as 30–50 percent. —Baum+Whiteman consultants

BINOCULARS ON A YELLOW BACKGROUND: ADOBE STOCK / ALEX, BUILDING: ADOBE STOCK / RCP, CHESS: ADOBE STOCK / PASCAL BIOMEZ/EYEEM, EATING BURGER IN THE RESTAURANT: ADOBE STOCK /CREATIVEFAMILY, FAST-CASUAL TAKEOUT: ADOBE STOCK / POLINALOVES, SELF-SER

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JANUARY 2023 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com

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