Hotel Meal-Kits take a Swipe at Restaurant and Grocery Sales

Back in the day business travelers were the lifeblood of full service restaurants.  Business traveler boasted about wining and dining clients on bloated expense accounts.  Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® was quoted saying that business travelers were too full service restaurants what a “Hand is to a Glove.” 

Oh, how times have changed.  Business travel has evolved today travelers are under increased pressure, dealing with restricted budgets, and incrementally time-starved. Today’s seemingly business travelers are trapped in Airport’s for longer periods of time than ever before.  All the while millennials are becoming the mainstay of the business traveler, they are in search of discovery and increasingly health-conscious. 

Hilton’s Homewood Suites has found a solution that time starved traveler.  Millennials can now re-create the comfort of home without the need to leave your hotel room.  Addressing the halo of ‘better for you’ meals / dinner with meal-kits as most of you know  Homewood Suites by Hilton  has a full kitchen that is a point of differentiation for travelers particularly those staying more than one night.

In a test travelers staying at participating Homewood Suites, in Atlanta and Dallas can order meal kits directly from Atlanta-based PeachDish at a 20-percent discount. The kits include pre-portioned ingredients and instructions for cooking fresh meals that guests can prepare easily in their suite’s kitchens. The pilot program, which takes place from March 7 to June 9, will be tested out at a total of 22 properties. 

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® back in 2013 as regular readers know detailed how Homewood Suites already offered complimentary grocery delivery service at its properties.  The Meal Kit sector is  growing in customer relevance, last year the sector  reported sales of $ 1 Billion worldwide. 

In this test Homewood Suites chose to work with PeachDish, because it offers regionally-inspired Southern cuisine. “PeachDish tested out all of its Homewood Suites-specific meals in the in-suite kitchens to make sure they could be made with everything that’s already in the suite kitchens. Are you ready to try it? 

Here’s how it works: “When guests book direct at a participating property, they’re alerted to the new PeachDish service and they also receive messages about it when they sign onto Wi-Fi during their stay. All orders for the week have to be made by Sunday before midnight, and kits are delivered on Tuesdays in Atlanta and on Thursdays in Dallas.”   Sure that’s not a perfect solution.  But it is a start.

Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food in infiltrating all areas of retail from liquor stores, drug stores, hotels, and dollar stores creating a disruptive force in food retailing busting grocery stores pantry business and reducing table turns within the restaurant sector. 

 Is your company Looking A Customer Ahead?  If your business is not growing it is dying.  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us can help you place a product, service, or brand in a proactive grocerant niche opportunity. The consumer is dynamic not static, do you need outside-eyes to drive inside profits? Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us today.