Platforms and Food- Part 2

Food is hungry for Platforms !

Thanks for reaching out and sharing your food related memories. Food has been a great unifier and comforter. Perhaps you may have also received a survey link from Zomato asking about views on InterCity food delivery. It seems that Zomato is reaching out to “migrants” or rather “homesick” in us to serve our hometown favourites dishes. Well, I have been blessed to have friends who bring back their city specific savouries and sweets when they visit me after a vacation. Pancchi Petha from Agra, Doda Barfi from Delhi and of course Nolen Gurer Sondesh from any of the traditional Kolkata establishments have been my favourites.

bon appetit !

DTW

During the Week, we discovered that Parle G still remains the favourite comfort food for millions of Indians. Whether it was nostalgia of having a Parle G biscuits dunked in hot tea at home or the misery of Parle G dunked in plain water on road but India’s favourite food brand made a comeback during #LockDown. While being used as an immediate relief for thousands of migrant labourers on their way home or millions struck at home, Parle G clocked its best quarter in over eight decades of existence. Of course, the Insta-Ready Chefs also baked cakes out of it.

mint_lounge @Mint_Lounge

Delhi-based baker @bakewithshivesh shares an easy recipe of an eggless Parle G cake. @Jahnabee writes. @officialparleg

livemint.comFancy a Parle G cake that tastes of nostalgia?Use Parle G biscuits to make cakes, panna cotta and tarts—the secret is keeping in mind the flavours it pairs well with

COVID-19 has upended the food business is an understatement but Platforms could help revive Food might be contrarian as the wounds of #LogOut campaign might still be fresh for all stakeholders. We also saw the entry of Amazon in Food Delivery and the general gloom settled on Zomato and Swiggy(Amazon started it from Bangalore ). Anyways, Amazon is a formidable competitor in any industry but habit forming, frequently purchased , high margin and convenience focussed businesses are sort of ideal match for them. Food Delivery seems to be ripe for Amazon and even when Zomato and Swiggy have been around for long now, Amazon might be humming this Suresh Wadker number from Prem Rog ! So much for First Mover Advantage !

COVID 19 has just accelerated some of the changes that we were anyways witnessing- Time-Starved Work Force coupled with More Women in Work-Force and Food for Socialising. Anyways, I see two scenarios that Food Industry might evolve going forward. First, There are No Restaurants OR Second, Restaurants are more than Just Food.

Is this End of Restaurants as we know them ? We have already seen the rise of Cloud Kitchens and Ready to Cook Kits. Both of these bring the restaurants as commodities to Foodies’ homes. Both Zomato and Swiggy run Cloud Kitchens and are scaling them faster to serve multiple partners. Entry of CloudKitchen led by indomitable Travis Kalanick who knows a thing or two about scaling a business (He was Co-founder of Uber) points to exciting times ahead. We have also seen an increase in Do-It-Yourself (DIY) cooking kits. Both existing platforms like BigBasket as well standalone platforms like BlueApron are ready to bring a whole new food experience to Indian Homes. FoodTech start-up Rebel Food with brands like Behrouz Biryani have also started experimenting with DIY food kits.

What more than Food in a restaurant ? #LockDown, #SocialDistancing and #Unlock may force food joints to bring in more technology for reservations, food selections and payments. We have multiple platforms including recent entry of Paytm who would like to effectively build a Operating System (OS) for restaurants. Social Commerce in Food might bring in more revenue and engagement. Instagram has just announced a partnership with Swiggy and Zomato to order discovery and spur engagement. This brings in the Influencers back in picture and also emphasise on the social nature of food. That brings me to leveraging community for food ! Food joints have to create experiences around community and belongings to make it worthwhile for patrons to visit them. They might want to experiment more with menus and layouts to entice customers back to dining-in.

Authenticook @authenticook

Experience the flavours of #Benaras in #Mumbai! Come join home chef Veera at her lovely home in #Bandra West to feast on a delicious homemade spread! To know more, log on to authenticook.com/local-places-t… #authenticook #food #indianfood

Global Platforms like EatWith and AuthentiCook in India bring in good food and sense of community when guests can “Step inside hosts' homes to explore new cultures through intimate culinary events”. Of course, office as a social interaction platform would increasingly decrease in importance and perhaps food & bonding over food in food places (may be not restaurants )can provide that social opportunity for all.

OTW

Over the Weekend, I reached out to my childhood friends where we reminisced about our food habits. One of the idea which struck a cord was “Open Kitchen”-not the interior designer type but one with an open heart. Moms offering food/drinks to all who would turn up and the mad scramble to gobble up fast to rush out to play again. Brands like Rasna and Maggi used this facet of life very well to communicate and connect with their audience.
I have earlier written about In Praise of Slow by Carl Honore and would like to practice Slow Food. One of the many ways we could practice this even in urban settings is to buy our raw produce from Farmers’ Market and ensure that the family has at least one meal together.

Maya Angelou who wrote “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” , has some advise on cooking and writing ! I am not surprised that they are alike in many ways.

"You need the best ingredients when you're going to cook," she says. "The writer has to take some nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, et cetera, and boil them up in such a way that you can throw them against the wall and they'll bounce."

"When you cook," she says, "put all these things together in a way that the person who eats says, 'Mmm, this is really good.' "

Be Patient with Yourself !
I Love You

Shailendra

PS- We start our Online MountainSpeak today evening with my life-coach Dr Sharda Nayak joining in from New Delhi.