Business models in a world that has no scarcity of food.
What would restaurants business model look like if food fell from the sky?
Recently I thought over an old celebrated children’s book called “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”
The basic story is about a town where food falls from the sky. So, instead of rain they get juice, hamburgers and broccoli. While the story is interesting, I was especially drawn to the page that portrays a local restaurant. In this restaurant there is no roof and the food drops directly inside.
How would you design a restaurant business model in a world where there is no scarcity of food?
Personally I would see the restaurant as selling the experience of eating rather than the food. Based on this there can be range of complimentary products you could offer.
If given a chance I would put a roof on the restaurant and have waiters bring customers the food. In addition to this I would offer customers a wider choice of beverages than those falling from the sky and make the experience exclusive, basically the same things that most restaurants do today.
I would charge for something that people can’t get for free. The very same principle that brands like Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and Moby has had success with. Along with traditional products the non scarcity of food would allow me to create a range of additional products.
These complimentary products could be inspired by the 8 generatives better than free as stated by Kevin Kelly in ‘better than free’. It would include the ability to get food all day as opposed to when it came down from the sky or a larger selection of food, made possible by the restaurant saving what rained down the day before.
How would you design business model for restaurants in a world with no scarcity of food?
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2 Comments
I believe that the best things that one would like to pay a premium for are those that are CUSTOM made! One goes to a restuarant not for having food but to get a quality experience which is a combination of ambience, service and of course a great collection of special cuisines. This is one of the reason that you see speciality restuarants always being priced higher than a multi-cuisine restraurant. In a freemium model, the restaurants should charge for the entire experience excluding the food charges. Per the narrative in the blog, the business model should be built around giving the user a very unique and personalized experience including a tailor made menu, choice of drinks, choice of seat, customized food delicacies, may be something exotic etc. Charge for the exotic experience rather than food ! Concept restaurants will be extremely successful in freemium model !
Glad to see you read the book and drawn to the same page that I wrote about.