Lunchbox Enables Independent Restaurants and Small Food Retailers a Success Platform

If you did not attend this year’s National Restaurant Show in Chicago last May you may have missed the information that Lunchbox is launching a commission-free online ordering system for ‘mom-and-pops’ as it looks to expand its reach beyond chains. 

That’s right, Lunchbox Essential includes many of the same features as the startup’s chain-oriented product, including online ordering, marketing and loyalty tools. It does not offer a mobile app option, nor does it integrate directly into a restaurant’s POS system according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®, “Lunchbox is equalizing the playing filed. Opening a lave on the information super highway for everyone.”  

Now consider that restaurants with three or fewer locations can set up a Lunchbox online ordering page themselves in as little as 30 minutes, according to the company. They will pay Lunchbox nothing, though they may be on the hook for delivery fees if they use a third-party delivery provider. A “negligible” convenience fee will be passed on to customers, the company said.

So, this new product is geared toward restaurants that don’t have online ordering or that depend on a marketplace like DoorDash for their digital business. 

What’s good for the little guy is also good for Lunchbox, as it allows them to enter the independent restaurant market. Founded in 2019, its initial focus was mid-size chains, and it has recently gone after large brands with the acquisition of online ordering company NovaDine. More than 2,500 restaurant locations currently use Lunchbox.

“We’re really excited to go into SMB because that’s what we always wanted to do,” said founder and CEO Nabeel Alamgir. “I don’t feel like we’ve ever done enough to help the mom-and-pops.”

The move puts Lunchbox in competition with other indie-focused online ordering companies, such as ChowNow and Popmenu.

Considering that Lunchbox will get no direct revenue from the new product, Alamgir said it will support the company’s ongoing battle against delivery marketplaces. And if it helps keep restaurants in business, “we can figure out how to make money later” with upsells or other add-ons, he added.

The system is in the middle of a soft launch, but Alamgir said he expects it to be in 1,000 restaurants in the next two months and “thousands” by the end of the year.

To keep up with the growth, Lunchbox is beefing up its tech support team. Lunchbox Essential customers will have access to the same services as chains do, Alamgir said, and the company is working on adding staff to help get them set up.  “I’m just excited to speak to both groups now,” he said.

Don’t over reach. Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions® can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit us on our social media sites by clicking the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter 

Independent Restaurants Can Get More for Sales for Less Cost

 

Over the past ten years or so food retail technology companies have seemingly focused on developing App’s and software for chain restaurants. They would discount the price charged for the service provided to larger chains and or allow chain to invest in their growing start-up according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.    

The wind may have changed directions as there is a new ecommerce company wants to bring its technology and marketing smarts to independent restaurant sector, and the service offers commission-free online ordering.

Have you heard of Lunchbox?  Well, Lunchbox is buying another small online restaurant marketplace Spread as it looks to build a more restaurant-friendly version of giant aggregators like DoorDash and Grubhub. 

Spread launched late last year in New York City with the goal of offering a marketplace for independent restaurants that is more affordable than those of the large delivery providers. It does not charge restaurants per-order commissions, and also allows them to keep all customer data. The idea is to give mom and pops a large but economical platform on which to market themselves.

It was a model that aligned well with Lunchbox's vocal anti-third-party delivery stance. 

“We have been preaching how much we don’t like what third-party delivery companies have been doing to restaurants,” said Lunchbox CEO Nabeel Alamgir, referring to high commissions, a lack of data sharing and other things restaurants take issue with. Acquiring Spread, he said, was a way for Lunchbox to put its money where its mouth is.

Now fast growing Lunchbox, offers online ordering, website and marketing services for small restaurant chains. It will bring that expertise to Spread, with plans to relaunch the site in about two months after updates and stress testing. There are already more than 1,5000 restaurants listed on Spread, and Lunchbox will work on adding more as well as eventually expanding it to other markets.

You have to like the fact that Alamgir, who earlier this year launched a restaurant listing site dubbed NotGrubhub.org, is not shy about his distaste for the traditional third-party delivery model. He hopes Spread will double as a shot across the bows of its larger competitors. 

"If we can motivate some of these partners to bring down their third-party price, I think that’s a huge win," he said.

So, Spread works like the other third-party marketplaces. Customers can browse its restaurant selection, filtering by cuisine, dietary preference and price, before placing an order for delivery or pickup. Unlike its larger competitors, though, Spread does not have its own delivery workers; rather, it dispatches the order to whatever service a restaurant is using, be it DoorDash, Relay or its own couriers. 

Here is what I like, Spread makes money mainly by selling marketing campaigns to restaurants; a $1 order fee for restaurants to pay for website upkeep will be discontinued under Lunchbox. Its selection will continue to be limited to independents for now, though Alamgir said he hadn't decided yet whether to eventually allow chains into the marketplace. The data will help the team a lunchbox create a marketing campaign just for you.  That is your point of differentiation in you market.

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may have the clue you need to propel your continued success.

Both Lunchbox and C3 are Looking a Customer Ahead

Technology companies provide platforms that drive customer adoption for less money to operate than current platforms or business models within the food space including for restaurants, grocery stores, convenience stores and food trucks according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. Does your business model look more like yesterday that today or tomorrow?

Lunchbox, is one of the next-gen online ordering engine for restaurants, and C3, is the innovative culinary direct-to-consumer ecosystem that manages and operates award-winning global brands, today announce their partnership to develop the very first virtual food hall for sbe subsidiary c3’s digital kitchen brands. Say, What, that’s right digital kitchens. Now that’s looking a customer ahead, creating new electricity for your brands growth.

So, here is how it is going to work. c3 (Creating Culinary Communities) will use Lunchbox’s patent pending technology through the virtual food hall; to solidify its leadership as the fastest growing virtual kitchen company by accelerating its nationwide expansion as the restaurant industry continues to embrace a digital-first approach to serving customers. Cutting through the crap you can grow your brands geographic presents for less than ever before.  Now, just think about that.  Are you growing your brand or closing units?  Growing customers, or losing customers?  Is your brand on a digital side road or a digital highway?

So, C​3​ was launched by Sam Nazarian, founder and CEO of sbe, and a visionary in defining the future of global lifestyle hospitality, to meet the rapidly changing needs of consumers has emerged as a revolutionary way to approach food halls, digital kitchens, and mobile delivery.

Through C3, Nazarian has built a first of its kind brand incubator where consumers can order from some of the best chefs and quick-service culinary brands in a single transaction. The C​3 portfolio which includes Krispy Rice, Sam's Crispy Chicken, Plant Nation, Ella Mia, and Umami Burger, is poised to grow rapidly with a pipeline of 7 new brands that will launch in the coming months through their digital kitchens that will number over 200 by then end of 2020.

The virtual food hall, developed in partnership with Lunchbox, will unite all C3 brands under one next-gen app and web experience. Through this unique, industry-first solution, users will be able to group orders from multiple C3 restaurants into one bag and checkout. This is about growing your brands SHARE OF STOMACH:

 In a Battle for Share of Stomach

The brands the ilk of chefs like Masaharu Morimoto and Dani Garcia that offer higher-end meals that can withstand 30-minute delivery routes. The virtual food hall is designed to seamlessly serve diners with varying and eclectic tastes. 

“We are excited to be leading the much-needed wave of innovation within the restaurant industry and the virtual food hall will provide consumers a seamless solution for ordering high quality food from multiple C3 restaurants without needing to visit a physical location. Lunchbox has been a critical partner in developing and executing this solution and we’re excited to continue working together as we prepare for our next stage of growth,” says sbe Founder & CEO Sam Nazarian. 

By developing the platform for c3’s virtual food hall, Lunchbox is helping the company seize the opportunity for ghost kitchens as the restaurant industry continues to rely on delivery orders to drive revenue. With Lunchbox as its digital platform, c3 will be able to decrease their reliance on third-party apps to fulfill orders and own most of the revenue generated. The virtual food hall will be an integral part of the company’s next stage of growth as they aim to open more than 250 ghost kitchens by 2022. 

Nabeel Alamgir, CEO and Co-founder of Lunchbox stated, “It’s important now more than ever to shift the restaurant industry towards a digital-first model, and we’ve been impressed with c3’s leadership on this initiative. Our partnership will set the standard for how ghost kitchens and mobile solutions will evolve moving forward and we’re thrilled to be a key partner in realizing those opportunities,”. Is your brand looking a customer ahead?  Are you building brand relevance with digital natives, you know Gen Z, Millennials and the like or do you units look more like yesterday that today or tomorrow?

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply chain and includes such things as fresh foods, online ordering, delivery, plant based foods, virtual restaurants, sampling, toy’s, cereal, developing brands,  grocerant positioning, fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.

All food and beverage retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food and beverages that are portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different.  Does your retail path forward look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Why?

For international corporate presentations, regional chain presentations, local educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions.  His extensive experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and public speaking will leave success clues for all. For more information visit GrocerantGuru.com, FoodserviceSolutions.US or call 1-253-759-7869