With the year 2020 kicking off in an unprecedented way with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, revolutionary options for India’s hospitality segment have shot into prominence. For Indians who want to take pleasure in a decent meal at their workplace cafeteria or opt for weekend getaways and staycations to work in peace, a single of the initial factors they weigh in now is the security quotient.
Amruda Nair, a third generation hotelier and founder of Araiya Hotels and Resorts, told The TheSpuzz Online, “With a sudden boom in the need for digitisation, a rational approach employed towards combining guest technologies with refined UI and UX only where relevant and necessary. Frequent travellers and repeat guests are likely to be more comfortable with prevalent practices and could find mass digitisation of all processes cumbersome. As the first touchpoint, hotel websites must have all the information about enhanced sanitisation methods.”
Highlighting how the Araiya Palampur web-site homepage presents a snapshot capturing vital info a guest would like to know prior to they make an informed selection, Amruda Nair adds, “Almost fifty per cent of all our bookings in the recent past have come through our website. This can be attributed to the amount of time that guests spend on the website trying to learn more about what to expect.”
Another secret to Araiya’s digital tactic of engaging guests on their hotel portal is that they send out a private preference menu (PPM) prior to the guest’s arrival. This is completely ready ahead of the verify-in. This tends to make guests knowledge an extra level of security and safety.
Coming to how workplace cafeterias now cater to the new normal, the challenges are multi-dimensional even as digital platforms roll out exclusive options to tackle the very same for the security and well-being of personnel.
According to Sanjay Kumar, CEO & MD, Elior India, “Technology has evolved as a new normal playing a prominent role in digitalising the process of serving food in corporate cafeterias while also enforcing social distancing norms. To address the same, the company put forth its digital platform known as El Chef, which lets employees pre-order a day earlier or on the same day. Another available option on the app is workstation delivery, which allows users to place delivery orders to pre-designated locations within the office premises.”
Unlike hotels, workplace cafeterias have to strictly enforce digital options to limit the total quantity of personnel inside the cafeteria so as to be in sync with the mandatory social distancing norms.
Sanjay Kumar tells The TheSpuzz Online, “We have also opened a tech platform which facilitates Multi Vendor Aggregation support for onboarding other third party vendors, safe cafeteria ops, multi-cuisine offerings, 4 tier social distancing features and e-banqueting for facilitating bulk food ordering during conferences.”
According to Varun Khanna, Director and Founder, Fullife Healthcare Pvt Ltd, “The COVID-19 crisis has brought huge uncertainty but it also provides a new dimension to the food scenario in India. There is a fresh approach to promote nutritious, safe and sustainable diets. There is also renewed interest in old traditional ingredients and also focusing on the health aspects along with the taste. I feel urban India will be moving towards healthier alternatives. Of course, there will be some element of junk food but a large part of the choices will move to “better than” and “good for” possibilities.”
He additional adds, “Another important aspect which companies are working on are building nutrition into the experience and also making them ‘fun’. Fullife Healthcare is building interesting products for children as a basic supplementation in a fun format. We are using lots of natural sweeteners, natural colors and focusing on ‘fun oriented’ yet natural products for them.”
Given how digital options are fully redefining meals experiences across the corporate, travel and hospitality segments, an exciting premise can be linked with the notion of futuristic digital Darwinism has been shared by major digital anthropologist and futurist Brian Solis.
The very best promoting author and social media influencer has not too long ago shared a video speak on his official web-site about developing restaurants for tomorrow. In his detailed explanation of the very same. he has been decoding what this truly suggests for the planet.
Sharing a futuristic viewpoint on how restaurants are most likely to emerge in the future, Solis shared his definition of innovation and iteration.
Pointing out how markets and industries are regularly altering, he says, “Iteration is about doing the same things better whereas innovation is about doing new things that create new value.”
Digital transformation, according to Solis, is an infinite game. We strive to create agility about what requires to be distinctive when we are moving forward. In his view, digital darwinism is about our continual modifications due to the digital transformation taking place in our behavior and anything about us has to either adapt or not – anything digital is rapid accelerating.
“The idea of ‘ghost kitchens’ and ‘cloud kitchens’ is no longer a new concept as it has mushroomed everywhere. The idea of it has undergone radical change as service is now about serving people we didn’t reach before, this is about thinking about distribution and thinking aspirationally, and this is true even beyond restaurants and kitchens. Earlier the value proposition was localisation.
According to Soli, infrastructure application for restaurant brands is key – he points out in his video talk.
“The American eclectic burger is not even a real restaurant but it is owned by a delivery service through ghost kitchens and the consumer doesn’t know that it is owned by the app where they are ordering the food from. We have to think creatively as apps are thinking of ways to compete against you while helping you reach new orders ,” Solis highlighted in his video message on futuristic restaurants.
While futuristic restaurants continue to be debated in the context of innovations in the hospitality space, there is small doubt on the reality that it is in the end the finish user who gets to provide the verdict, or rather the final say.
As Amruda Nair summed it up, “Engagement through information reaps quantifiable benefits.”