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OCT. NOV. 2020 V the courses with specially designed packaging. Table Set Go, producer and event consultant based in Los Angeles and specialized in high target catering, looks to Japan and points to Japanese bento boxes, which are reminiscent of food containers divided into compartments that we sometimes bring to school or office. A use of the food boxes would also facilitate the doggy bag through which the customer would collect the leftovers of his meal. And in times of economic difficulty for everyone, it would be no small thing to avoid waste. LOYALTY IS DOING THE REST Customers are increasingly looking after security, familiarity and ease of ordering. Entrepreneurs, for their part, seemingly against the trend, will continue to open refreshment points in new areas. And this will happen to fill the gaps in a geographical map redrawn months ago by the pandemic itself. Starbucks has been talking about this behind closed doors to several investors. The periphery could become the new centre and offer more space, which, among other things, allows to perceive an important factor such as signs. This is why many municipalities believe and invest in gentrification (transformation of a working-class neighbourhood into a valuable housing area), to support citizens who could pack up and leave. New migrations are taking place: those who return home to their parents (and not only the younger ones), those who reject the cities (stalled), those who find themselves focusing everything on unthinkable and, perhaps, longed for shores as a choice of life. And in any case one must prepare for the light at the end of the tunnel. FEWER BUT BETTER To maintain social distancing you need to form small groups of people, even in larger places, and stop thinking that a crowded place is a good thing. In the past everyone looked at size and turnout. In the future we will get used to seeing people probably looking for places that offer large areas, almost as if to send crowds out of fashion. Ilan Pivko, Israeli archistar, says that the tables can be totally rethought. Enlarging them is not enough, they need to be rethought for the spacing, repositioned properly, perhaps with the help of some visionary designer. Instead, he points to the staggered Burger King clientele, which has presented new designs for its restaurants in response to the crisis by simply calling them “Restaurants of Tomorrow”, giving a mandate to the group of interior designers, Restaurant Brands International, with the contribution of the technological, operational and food innovation teams, to rethink the spaces. In the paradox, the restaurants are 60% smaller than BK’s traditional ones but aim to improve the guest experience by offering more ordering and delivery methods. The idea of the drive-thru (take-away drive-ins designed for take-away with cars and widespread in McDonald’s) and the pick-up (doors where orders are picked up ready to go) could one day be relegated not only to fast food but also to kitchens that aim at take-away: in special spaces, small groups, in new cars or under a gazebo, recreating the private area, for decades used and consumed exclusively by discos. THE IDEAL ORGANISATION FOR SURVIVING AND THEN LIVING It is essential to understand the new habits of your catchment area in terms of demand and competition. In the pre-Covid period perhaps many parents could not bring their children to school. Today, however, with smart working and changing habits, new and potential customers are intercepted and can also be reached with innovative formulas. One way to go could be to propose a brunch model breakfast, near the school, maybe proposing to the customer to stop for work too. There are no more limits to imagination: you have to give space to imagination. You can open in the morning for breakfast and stay closed for lunch concentrating on dinner by checking the closure (or hourly reduction) of the structures nearby (induced) and adapting. A combination of more attentive and flexible schedules also for employees’ shifts, which should be revised in order to improve the efficiency and management of the flow of people within the point of sale. It makes sense to review the entire operating model of the premises and to fully understand what has been defined by many as the “new normality”. These new activities include establishing a more intimate relationship with suppliers, paying attention to the fact that eat out customers have become more attentive to sustainability, and this is a reality that we cannot overlook. In fact, the Nomisma-Crif Observatory confirms how consumers have focused on products made in Italy and of local origin: during the lockdown 28% of those responsible for purchasing started buying locally produced products. And this is a figure to reflect on. The rules of the game have changed, the numbers too, the pure needs and new forms of balance must be sought immediately. We’ll get to the bottom of it and, as Salvatore Viola, CEO of RepUP, an innovative start-up that manages the online reputation of restaurants, bars and similar, maintains, in spite of what TripAdvisor and Google may report, that people go less to restaurants but write more on social networks. If after the lockdown a restaurant has received online reviews, it means that it has reopened and customers have started to frequent it again. Now communication has risen to an epic level because it is traced and processed by algorithms, machine learning and artificial intelligence. The priority is to intercept the evolving (global) demand. VISION AND MANAGEMENT Contactless today in the catering world usually refers to digital order and payment processes that reduce, but do not eradicate, the contact between people completely. A retail outlet in Brooklyn, in collaboration with local restaurants, has devised a way to avoid physical contact between diners. It’s called Brooklyn Dumpling Shop with zero human interaction, one of the many realities we have to get used to. The fully automated restaurant concept is based on temperature-controlled food lockers by ONDO (a high-tech version of the classic Automat). The orders that pass from the restaurants to the kiosks managed in touchless mode start from the smartphone. SPECIALISATION: THE CROSSROADS THAT LEADS TO THE TARGETS Stop who offers everything. An endless menu is one that wastes precious time, at lunch but also at dinner. Customers must be able to browse a menu from their device, order a meal and pay for it from their device. It is therefore better to order the specialities of the house. In fact, it is evident that it is the one in which the chef is the best and most experienced, and probably, thanks to which customers arrive numerous after years and years of word-of-mouth. It never made sense to ask for a steak in the fish restaurant, a Chinese pizza or a mixed fried in the mountain hut. It is even less so today. A MIDWEEK DINNER FOR FAMILIES Today more than ever it is necessary to invest in families. We have to start