The Covid-19 pandemic has helped in the acceleration and acceptance of emerging technologies, which have changed the way we work, read, and function in many ways.
Customers became more comfortable with online shopping as a result of increased digital adoption and e-commerce. Online food ordering was, of course, the natural next step.
Customers who had grown accustomed to online shopping wished for the same comfort and ease when ordering dinner, resulting in the development of the online food delivery market. As a result, back-end technology took off as well.
Cloud kitchens were one of the many inventions that rushed to capitalise on the pandemic's social restrictions. As the overall F&B industry was put through the wringer, cloud kitchens – industrial facilities purpose-built to produce food for delivery to consumers at home or work – gained traction.
New F&B structures, such as virtual restaurants, grew in popularity as customers who used to walk through the doors dwindled. Several foodservice establishments that deliver food through third-party delivery services and do not provide dine-in service sprung up in quick succession.
“Online food distribution has exploded in popularity in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) over the last few years. According to Mubarak Jaffar, CEO and co-founder of KLC Virtual Restaurants, "Covid-19 has accelerated the growth of virtual restaurants as many traditional existing food players see this as a solution to use their infrastructure during the current landscape along with the rise in cloud kitchens."
“Despite the fact that there has been a large increase in restaurants that began delivering prior to the pandemic, we have seen a strong consumer response to our virtual brands over the last five years. Since many restaurants have moved their businesses from dine-in and take-away to delivery, some cuisines have become saturated on the aggregators, consumer behaviour has changed dramatically and fuelled growth in online food delivery.”
According to Jaffar, KLC Virtual Restaurants operates over 40 virtual restaurants built in-house across a variety of cuisines from 15 cloud kitchens.
“Because the majority of our kitchens have met capacity goals, we are also finalising the launch of two additional cloud kitchens and 20 new virtual brands within the next few months. As a result of the limitations and constraints that many dine-in establishments have had to contend with, we will be able to tap into upcoming new cuisines that are trending online and becoming more common in the delivery scene.”
The business has partnered with Dubai-based Kitopi to launch more than 20 of its brands in the UAE, with plans to launch all of its existing and new brands later this year.
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