The Future of Food Service: Is the Home Delivery Market The Dark Knight or Will Fast Casual Continue to Reign?

With a recent report by Euro Monitor highlighting how changing lifestyles affect how we eat will the home delivery market continue to be the ‘Dark Knight’ or have we woken up to its impact and innovate more? Or will the Fast Casual market (QSR) continue to reign?

With the lives of many becoming busier and busier, there has been a reduction in the number of people who are cooking at home; simply because they do not have the time. This reduction has led to an increase in the popularity of home delivery and fast-casual restaurants. In the last few years, there has been a certain level of healthy competition between the home delivery market and the fast-casual establishment, both offering food quickly and without the need to book a table or sit down to dinner. However, which will reign supreme and which will we see more of in the future of foodservice?

Home Delivery vs. Fast Casual

There are many similarities between the home delivery market and the fast-casual trend. For example, both provide food quickly and efficiently with no need to make a reservation or plan too far ahead; these are both things to those that enjoy the speed and ease which ones with these types of foodservice. Plus, with so many different options available diners are able to find pretty much any type of cuisine they want.

Recently, fast-casual has been the more popular of the two and there are many restaurant chains that have made their name in the fast-casual market, achieving year on year success. However, thanks to apps such as Deliveroo and Postmates, the home delivery market is now booming. Whereas before people were limited as to what they could have delivered to their home – often Chinese and pizza where some of the few options – now many areas can offer a lot more. In fact, in many cities, people can get their hands on home-delivered food from most of their favourite restaurants. Before, this wasn’t at all possible.

How Does The Future of Food Service Look?

It is safe to say that the fast-casual market won’t be going anywhere anytime soon and it serves a huge purpose, one that can’t be replaced by home delivery; it attracts those who are out and about wanting food, as well as those who just want to pop out for something to eat. However, the home delivery trend will continue to grow as more technology become available it will become cheaper. It then becomes easier for savvy restaurant operators and owners to develop cost-effective technology that allows orders to be placed directly from a guest’s home to their restaurants.

You will see home convenience concepts grow in strength merging more or adding fast causal elements. All in all, the fast-casual market and the home delivery market are both here to stay but it is to be expected that home delivery will become more popular than ever. Luckily, there are always going to be those looking for fast-casual food service, especially as we all require or crave human interaction or plainly speaking good old straightforward ‘service’

This article was first published in September 2017.