Putting food master planning on the menu
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Consumers who buy food and beverages now seek experiences more than just the products themselves. Developers who understand this can turn their F&B offering into one of their strongest assets.
Providing a ‘certainty of experience’ around sustainable food and beverage destinations requires a structured approach that many organisations neglect, according to Francis Loughran, managing director of consultancy Future Food.
“Many make the mistake of displaying their products without thinking about how they fit into their overall vision,” he says. “This may be because food and beverage is secondary to their core business. But delivering a memorable experience around food every time can maximise an organisation’s potential and encourage an increase in frequency of visit.”
The food and beverage sector is one of the fastest-growing categories within the retail industry. For more than 25 years, Future Food has been helping its clients, who own and develop shopping malls, mixed-use developments and retail centres, improve the value of their assets through its multidisciplinary approach to food service and hospitality operations planning.
“We’ve had incredible feedback from clients such as Bondi Junction, Westfield Sydney and more recently the Emporium Melbourne,” Loughran says. “All our projects start off with the same questions: Who are your customers and what do they want?”
Once these questions are answered, opportunities can be identified and solutions can be implemented.
“Developers and operators need to be more customer-centric and get to know about the lifestyles of their customers,” he says. “They need to understand that a customer who visits them on a Tuesday afternoon has different needs to one who visits on a Saturday, for example. This understanding helps them make adjustments to the way they present and sell their food and beverages.”
In the last financial year Future Food consulted on more than 100 projects, 20 per cent of these overseas in places such as Dubai and Santiago.
“Customers don’t just go out to buy food, they go out to buy an experience based on social congregation and what they should be offered is a positive one,” Loughran says. “Once developers understand this, they can build their food and beverage offering to a point where it becomes the foundation of their retail offering and an attraction that surpasses the risk of online shopping.”
For more information, visit www.futurefood.com.au