How To Win Big In F&B Sector Amongst Pandemic

Vishal Jindal Jun 01, 2021

Pandemic has disrupted businesses across different sectors especially hospitality and F&B. But D2C & Online Brands have done better during these tough times. In F&B, Delivery first Brands like Dominos and Biryani By Kilo (BBK) who have been always known for their great food & safe delivery along with direct access to customers through their website, App & Call centre have been quite successful.

What is required for F&B is to be nimble, resilient, delivery friendly and communicate well with their customers. More than anything, customers want a great healthy delicious meal delivered safely with right packaging. Categories like Pizza & Biryani cater very well to delivery and are versatile complete meals.

Dine-in focused F&B outlets have to be very careful about socially distanced seating, hygiene & safety of their patrons & employees.

Also there should be some USP all F&B outlets should strive for which can stand out. Like, BBK is the only Biryani Chain to prepare fresh Dum Handi Biryani separately for every individual order & deliver the same Handi to customers in which it is Dum cooked to ensure freshness, safety & flavours. Also BBK uses only 2 years of naturally aged premium Basmati rice, carefully selected spices from Kerala & best ingredients & stringent quality & processes to deliver consistent Biryanis & kebabs across 20+ cities.

Consistency of quality, hygiene, safety and communication is going to be even more important going forward for F&B. Worldwide economy should see a new normal post Covid 19. Economists are giving different scenarios for recovery from V, L to W shaped recovery. Restaurant industry shall have to be innovative in addressing social distancing & new realities. Cloud Kitchens being primarily into delivery are in a better position as Food Delivery seems to be less affected & should bounce back fastest from this crisis considering people might not go back to Dine in, outings & clubs for a long time. Customers should shift majorly to food delivery with Big Brands that they can trust for safety & hygiene.

Customers are rightly focused on safety & hygiene measures taken by F&B outlets. Not only should the F&B take these extra safety measures whole heartedly but also communicate them to customers. All BBK extra safety measures are listed on their website & regularly communicated through their Instagram & Facebook Handles.

The need for local ingredients has also increased lately. As the import of foreign ingredients has become risky. People are appreciating the authenticity of home-cooked meals and their flavour.

It would be premature to assume that Fine Dining would be no more viable. It might take a year or so for them to come back fully. Take Away & Drive through would definitely be a big part of the restaurant's strategy going forward. However, due to less Capex & rentals, cloud kitchens are here to stay as they can focus more on Product quality & delivery. People can

celebrate their special occasions at home with families making food home delivery a safe & viable option going forward.

Keeping your audience in loop seems tougher than usual. As traditional services are blocked due to lockdown. Creating engaging content and making use of social media to keep your audiences informed is an effective way to stay a part of the conversation. Many companies have shown their creative capabilities by coming forward with innovative campaigns and tried to engage with their audiences by posting stories, updates, cooking tutorials, recipes etc on their social media. BBK has kept their Instagram profile live and interactive by updating their audience with the latest news, discounts and initiatives taken by them.

Charitable initiatives can always help with the promotion of your brand. With the increasing number of deaths and cases in India, such initiatives are not just a promotional stunt anymore, but a way for brands to help people. Various companies in the F&B sector have come forward to help those in need by providing meals, making donations and raising awareness. BBK has also stepped forward during this hour of crisis and has helped feed people by giving away free meals to those in need.

In conclusion, the landscape of F&B sector is definitely going to change post pandemic. The newly adopted eating and dining habits will stay on and for good. Companies will try and provide more customer-centric services. Health and safety will remain a priority. The sector will also keep digitising and will bounce back stronger soon.

The author is Vishal Jindal, Co-Founder of Biryani by Kilo