It's really a high honor to be included in this KTCHNrebel story (from @rational_usa @rational_ag ) by writer @michaelhuwjones. It's all about #ghostkitchens. Thank You, Michael!

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IMAGE: ADOBESTOCK | ARTURSFOTO
Convenience vs. customer
experience: the food
delivery trade-off?
BY: MICHAEL JONES - FCSI READING TIME: 5 MINUTES JUN, 2021
Food delivery operators, using ghost kitchens, all aspire to be different, better, and
special, but can they ever truly match a quality restaurant experience without compromising
on convenience, and vice versa?

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During the first Rational ‘Trend Talk’ webinar on ghost kitchens, US
foodservice consultant Joseph Schumaker FCSI, founder and CEO
of FoodSpace, was asked his views about an apparent “trade-off” customers
must choose between the experience of dining in a physical restaurant with
the convenience of food delivery. Must the two be mutually exclusive?
Schumaker replied that “humans will always sacrifice a little experience” for
the sake of convenience, but believed operators will have to eventually think
of ways to elevate the food delivery experience. The question remains then:
can food delivery and the ghost kitchens that provide for them crack the
intractable Gordian Knot and improve the quality of the customer experience,
while still maintaining the convenience of super-fast service? Fellow
consultant William H. Bender FCSI, founder & principal at W.H. Bender &
Associates, believes that “there does not need to be a trade-off” in terms of the
customer experience when it comes to food delivery, supplied by a ghost
kitchen, provided that certain key elements are in place. For Bender, the
essential components for a high-level guest experience in food delivery
include the following: ease of purchasing and restaurant information and
menu presentation (menu engineering) with all the necessary information
and data; greeting customers with the recognized ‘ServPoints™ Sequence of
Service’ followed exactly by the company delivery representative (including
them saying, “Thank you for being our guest”); a company representative
wearing “a perfect uniform with professional grooming”; order accuracy, with
the order being recited at the point of handover; proper packaging for all
items, including the carrying bag or box; ensuring the order is complete and
verified; ensuring special requests have been included or addressed and
completed; the timing and temperature of the food are on target; the tag is
attached to the order slip or back with the person who packed the order;
branded directions for reheating and other marketing materials are included.
“When leadership is in place and the ServPoints™ are executed correctly, even

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by a ghost kitchen, a delivery ‘customer experience’ is convenient,” says
Bender. Only then, he says, can the goal cited in Zergio Zyman’s seminal
book The End of Marketing As we Know It – of each restaurant delivery
brand being “different, better and special” – be achieved.
Image: Shutterstock | jessehamad
ADDING VALUE
Consultant Rudy Miick FCSI, founder and president, The Miick Companies,
LLC, also agrees with Bender that there need not be a trade-off, but feels there
is much work to do to improve the food delivery experience for customers.
“The fast answer is no. More so, delivery has the potential of being value-
added and enhancing the guest/customer experience. Sadly though, the value-
added part – the experience part – is a negative as often as not,” says Miick.
“Food delivery is a convenience. After all, food is delivered to our door. But
convenience at what price? I need not drive or walk or induce effort to get the

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food I choose. Great. Convenient. However, how bad is the food, or unsanitary
the delivery on reception?” For Miick, the challenge of “value or experience” is
getting the order to the customer: hot food staying hot/cold food staying cold
and “packaged to a brand standard that is equal or better quality than I would
receive in the restaurant/store itself.” The opportunity for ghost kitchen
operators, says Miick, of all our learning during the Covid-19 pandemic is this:
“My brand is sacred. How do I package a product in a way that travels well and
as great as it is in the restaurant? Do that! This action is a choice and an
investment in itself – to do the due diligence to care enough about the brand
to achieve both the experience and the convenience. Great delivery, where all
functions are a match (quality, packaging, experience) and a price is added for
said delivery, is value. Just like most things, value is perceived and ever more
valued when consistent.” For Miick, the ghost kitchen element here is
essentially “irrelevant” because “food could come from a commissary,
ghost/catering kitchen or the restaurant.” Instead, he believes, the emphasis
should simply be on the “quality of product, quality of product packaging and
quality of delivery experience – the person or vehicle delivering also impacts
the experience. Venue is irrelevant, just an excuse,” says Miick.

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Image: Shutterstock | SFIO CRACHO
ESSENTIAL TOUCHPOINTS
Arlene Spiegel FCSI, president, Arlene Spiegel & Associates, Inc believes
the food delivery model “creates a journey where many touchpoints can make
or break” the guest experience. “It starts with the ease of accessibility to the
menu, either on an app/mobile device; the company’s website; via phone-in;
or even a QR code on a postcard,” she says. “The journey continues with the
ordering process, especially in the organization and graphics of each menu
item including descriptions, modifiers and prices. Communicating along the
way with emails or texts from the foodservice provider acknowledging the
receipt of the order and a tracking tab to anticipate arrival time. The final
touchpoint is always the quality and care of the way the food is packaged.”
There is, says, Spiegel, therefore “no trade-off” required if every detail is
considered and delivered. In fact, she says, “it is instead “an opportunity to
establish the brand as ‘better than’ in the delivery category.” So, which food

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delivery brands are currently getting this right? For Miick, traditional foods
that “travel well” are still “pizza, wings and noodles/rice/beans products. Test
kitchen production is critical to this experience. Testing production, packaging
and service/hand-off is all a brand choice. Without testing, without conscious
awareness by brand owners, there’s a set up for failure.” And, says Miick, that
doesn’t matter if the operation is a concept, mom and pop independents,
chains, or a franchise. As far as Spiegel is concerned, “ironically, the traditional
restaurants such as pizza, Asian, and burger concepts have mastered delivery
and faired very well during the pandemic – as delivery was always part of
their model. In New York, an independent operation, Hill Country BBQ,
really nailed it by developing packaging that kept the food at the perfect
temperature and added lots of side dishes, sauces and specialty beverages –
for a single portion, family-size meals, catering and even meal kits. The chain
Panera Bread also does an excellent job offering menu options with custom
packaging to maintain product integrity during the journey and nice enough
to serve from. Miick cites Louis Basile of The Wild Flower Bread Company in
Scottsdale, Arizona; Nick Sarillo of Nick’s Pizza & Pub, Crystal Lake, Illinois
and David Owen of De La Mer Fish Market, Toronto, Canada, as operators that
have got the right balance between convenience and a great experience.
Bender believes “the only brands consistently executing at a high level for
QSR” are In-N-Out, Habit Burger, and Chick-Fil-A. “They execute perfectly and
consistently. They have great team members.” Conversely, in the casual dining
segment for food delivery, Bender feels there is currently “no standout brand”,
while “all other segments fail miserably. They miss opportunities endlessly
and are the biggest disappointment.” A primary reason for this, Bender
believes, is those brands have “too many accountants and lawyers in
ownership or corporate positions.”

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Image: Shutterstock | Hrytsiv Oleksandr
PERSONAL CONNECTIONS
So, other than simply charging customers more for their food, what else will it
take to change the current status quo for food delivery models – enabling
them to enhance the customer experience? Bender believes “it’s really about
the personal relationship built with customers, and the ServPoints™ delivered
by a caring person that represent the restaurant [kitchen] brand.” He says
more “effective, structured training and coaching,” is required, feeling it’s the
only way to build a “company culture” and references how the book Adored:
The Leader Your Team Needs You To Be by Tom Decotiis is a helpful
reference point for delivery operators looking to balance convenience with a
quality customer experience. Equally, can bricks and mortar restaurants
possibly match the speed and ease of the pacey new food delivery models?
Spiegel feels “striving for excellence and differentiation at all touchpoints will
keep brands top-of-mind and may even convince the ‘delivery crowd’ to come

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into the restaurant when they’re ready to resume dining out.” Clearly, this is a
moving feast, but the fact that experts believe there doesn’t have to be so-
called trade-off between convenience and a quality experience will be
heartening for ghost kitchens and food delivery operators everywhere.
Quality needs to improve, especially in the ‘last mile’ of delivery itself, but
with the right training and attention to detail, it’s perfectly possible to
recreate a “different, better and special” food delivery experience that will
have customers hitting up those apps again and again.
Image: Shutterstock | Rido