QUALITALY_128

April/May 202 2 XII MAGAZINE typical from Carnia, which call for bitter cocoa in the filling, or wild boar in dolce forte, a Tuscan dish of Renaissance origin, which calls for dark chocolate. __________________________________ AT PAGE 40-42 DID YOU KNOW? Shadow kitchens, new business opportunities THEY ARE CALLED DARK, GHOST, CLOUD AND VIRTUAL KITCHENS. THEY EMBODY A NEW CATERING FORMULA THAT EXPLOITS THE POTENTIAL OF FOOD DELIVERY. AND THEY PROMISE TO BE AN INTERESTING PLAYER FOR WHOLESALERS. by Manuela Falchero Covid has literally swept through the eating-out habits like a hurricane. The restrictions on mobility imposed by the health emergency have led to a rediscovery, against the will, of the domestic aspect even at the dinner table. And so they breathed life into the sails of an emerging channel, which found a potent fuel in the pandemic: food delivery. This is backed up by the data. Coldiretti notes that in 2021 the turnover of home food deliveries in Italy will reach a record value of 1.5 billion euros. A goal reached on the back of an acceleration that, according to the National Observatory on the home food market, in 2021 leapt up +59% compared to 2020. And the trend, based on early evidence in 2022, seems to have what it takes to become a permanent fact. Hence the idea of exploiting the trend to offer restaurants new and practical business opportunities. The explosion of food delivery has in fact represented fertile ground for the birth and expansion of a new phenomenon: dark, ghost, cloud and virtual kitchens. Shadow kitchens that work exclusively for home delivery. And which could represent an interesting new outlet for wholesalers, who already supply traditional restaurants. And therefore also for our Cic members. FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE The formula, on paper, seems to be promising, so much so that it has convinced many to move from theory to practice. The trend is illustrated by a few current events of recent times. Former Masterchef 5 contestant Alida Gotta, together with Maurizio Rosazza Prin, opened Delivery Valley in Milan in June 2020, a kitchen serving dishes from nine different brands present on the main delivery platforms: Giragirarrosto, Gigaribs, Lievito Mother F*****, Catsu Sandro, Like A Pita, 20 Cm, Fritt Fighter and Driiink. And, to date, the third lab in the city has already been opened. Also in 2020, and again in Milan, Kuiri came into being, a kitchen sharing service, comparable to co-working applied to the world of catering, which offers the possibility for small and large entrepreneurs to start up their own food delivery business in just thirty days with a completely accessible initial investment. In essence, it is a restaurant model in which a sole operator manages a remote laboratory/ kitchen, within which to develop one or more brands, exclusively dedicated to home delivery, which fall solely under his management. All while limiting the costs of rent, personnel, cleaning and technology. Not to mention - and here is the interesting fact for our readers - the opportunity to forge common relationships with suppliers. But that’s not all. In recent weeks, the news has highlighted the case - destined to set the standard - of Cigierre, a catering giant with more than 370 establishments in Italy and abroad, which has set up a cloud kitchen in the Lombard capital. For now, two of the family’s brands, Old Wild West Express and Il Padellino, are involved, and their menus can be ordered by customers through the city’s main delivery partners. However, this is only a first step, as the company’s objective is to concentrate the service on its various brands. The idea is to receive in a single order and deliver in a single trip different types of products and cuisine, ranging from hamburgers to pizza. “With this initiative,” - says Marco Di Giusto, Founder and CEO of Cigierre, “we intend to test a new tool that will enable us to respond even more efficiently to the growing demand of the take-away and delivery market, a channel which, for Cigierre, before the pandemic represented 6% of sales and which by June 2021 had come to account for 17%”. For the market, in short, the dish hidden behind the ‘shadow’ kitchens is likely to be rich. It’s about cooking it properly. ________________________________ BOX Key words Dark kitchen. This consists of reserving an area of the kitchen of an existing restaurant and dedicating it exclusively