Delivery has become hugely important to restaurants during COVID-19, and so has technology. More than ever, people want a quick and convenient way to buy food. Digitizing the online ordering experience does just that, using technology to create a smoother delivery process. For one brand, that meant inventing mobile marketplaces.
In Boston, some luxury apartment buildings have installed food lockers that sell pre-made lunches. They aim to help out all those who now work from home.
Photo by Nate Hovee from Pexels
Who’s Behind Mobile Marketplaces?
In 2012, Alchemista was founded to deliver great meals to busy office buildings. Instead of having to travel and spend time and money on lunch breaks, workers could get food made for and brought to their demographic.
Then the worst happened. When quarantine hit, all the office buildings they served shut down. Of course, they canceled their contracts then, too. Forced to adapt to the new way of doing business, Alchemista shifted focus. Forming partnerships with a couple of Boston-based restaurants, they started developing food lockers to meet their old customers in their new workspaces.
What Are These Food Lockers?
Branded as The Lockets, these mobile marketplaces cropped up in the lobbies of luxury apartments during March. They started with ten, but more have rolled out weekly ever since.
These temperature-controlled lockers can store any meal until guests pick it up. The mobile marketplaces also operate digitally, rather than through a cashier, to guarantee a clean and contact-free experience. They self-sanitize with UV technology after each use to ensure every customer an equally safe encounter.
How to Use Mobile Marketplaces
Customers just sign onto the Alchemista app and they can order and use either Apple or Google pay, right from their phones. Then they access the appropriate locker via QR code, also accessible through their mobile device. All of this makes it easy for anyone to use the service quickly and get back to work.
Alchemista cooks prepare the day’s meals, although the company has also partnered with Toro, a tapas restaurant, and the Italian enoteca, Coppa. Both created reduced menus to sell in the Lockets.
The Lockets get restocked twice a day, with contributions from all three kitchens. This gives workers in those apartment buildings the opportunity to buy lunch during the workday just like they would in the office. It’s certainly one way to meet your customers in this new world.
Learn more about mobile marketplaces by Alchemista here.
Photo by J. Kelly Brito on Unsplash
Shaping Boston’s Future
Restaurants run more efficiently when they find creative solutions to modern problems. Streamline your business as much as possible. For example, they donate all the food leftover in the Lockets at the end of each day. As the pandemic finally reaches its end, restaurants will continue finding interesting solutions to evolving marketplace trends and official regulations. Technology will continue to grow alongside the industry to make business more efficient wherever it can.
This, alongside an emphasis on flexibility, will ensure your restaurant can keep up with whatever the pandemic throws next. As we prepare for full-scale restaurant recovery, the ability to adapt to new regulations will prove as important as it has thus far. That’s why restaurants need a smart Point of Sale that can evolve with the changing market.
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