Has the Covid-19 global pandemic altered the course of the future of restaurants? Or has it merely accelerated the speed in which we approach inevitable change? For the answers to the fate of hospitality, after lockdown and beyond, we need not look any further than the pages and screens of science fiction.

Detective Deckard of Philip K Dick’s ‘Blade Runner’ dining at the street food market district sat brooding and eating amongst billowing pillars of steam from the seedy city surface and bowls of noodles. Leeloo in ‘Fifth Element’ getting their instant gourmet, roast chicken from the white box in the apartment block. The Jetsons with their flying trays of food in the ‘Space Burger’, the food replicators of Star Trek and the ubiquitous single, “last-brand -standing” existence of the Taco Bell restaurants in the Demolition Man. In the face of Covid-19 these fictionalized commentary on our dining and food culture don’t appear so fantastical in the face of Covid-19. In fact, they may become the new norm.

Yes, just as H.G Wells predicted everything from the iphone to genetic engineering in the 1930s, the social commentary of the great dystopian page turners can offer powerful industry predictions to the changes to our dining habits in response to a reality altering catalyst such as a pandemic. As the father of science fiction Isaac Asimov perfectly puts it:

““Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today - but the core of science fiction, its essence, the concept around which it revolves, has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all.” ”

— My Own View,’ The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

No matter the picture of our lives these narratives illustrate using food a the social commentary vehicle - their warnings are unanimous, that humanity will always be pushed to breaking point by overload. Overload of people, overload of information and disinformation, overload of need, overload of wants, overload of choice, overload of culture, overload of diet, overload of environment and overload of our minds and body. We only need to take a step back and do an infinity scroll on the dining options Google, to see the groaning shelves at the supermarket or sit crammed like sardines in some restaurants, to think, are we at breaking point? Is Covid-19 just the straw on the camel’s back?

“ “I’m not a prophet, science fiction is about the now.””

— Margaret Atwood (Author of the Handmaiden's Tale)

As well as warnings we can also heed the lessons from sci-fi. That from disaster and breakdown comes physical, positive change. We as a species are a resilient bunch with a wonderful ability to adapt. Food is quite literally life. It’s social, it’s nourishing, it’s culture. These stories show hope that new, better norm can be forged out of crisis having a restorative and rebalancing effect in the long run. There is no more resilient or creative bunch of humans than the restaurant folk. People who constantly operate in flux and high-octane change. I believe that with the correct support there is no better bunch to make fiction into a reality for the better when it comes to the future.

So here are some examples of those trends and don’t worry I don’t think we will be eating dog food al la the hostile post- apocalyptic world of Mad Max:

HOME ENTERTAINMENT

No surprise here but delivery will continue to grow as bricks and mortar business models continue to suffer with rising operational costs and consumers who want to entertain more at home. Look at any sci-fi, dystopian apartment and you won’t usually see a kitchen. Today in lockdown, as we see meal delivery positively disrupting traditional table service in front of our very own eyes, it has established the home as a crucial space for food and drink brands to operate. Let us not forget it’s not the pandemic driving this trend, it’s the rise of the single-person household, the transformation of our working week, the remote workforce, smaller living-spaces and the consumer’s retreat back to home comforts. We need to not see it as a threat to the traditional hospitality model but an opportunity. It’s not cannibalism it’s amplification and extension of your experience. How amazing for you as a brand to be invited home by your customers?

💡Ideas:

Deliver More: Do delivery in any shape and form and do it across multiple platforms. Best-in-class example: Rice Error by Bao.
Chefs to Your Door: Long term, when lockdown ends but social distancing or anxieties linger, how do you reach people at home? Can tested Chefs go over to cook suppers for friends and family? What can your brand offer beyond catering such as ultimate experience package that bring the taste, sounds, smells and sites from your restaurant?
Subscription Dining: Can you evolve monthly wine or cheese box subscriptions to be much more? Dining boxes?

TECHNOLOGY & SYSTEMS FOR SAFEGUARDING:

We have all seen ‘Yanu’ the AI bartender or the robotic kitchen prep machines. Fab! Epic! But, fucking useless if you don’t have customers. Post-pandemic food technology, producer logistics and operational model change will force technology and systems to focus on making the customer experience seamlessly safe. This will be around limiting human contact through payment, order and table/home delivery methods. The real challenge isn’t going to be delivering those systems, model or technology innovations but doing so and retraining your brand experience. Good technology will free up time to enable us to do what we do best, that’s be hospitable.

💡Ideas:

Scream Safety: How do you communicate the systems you will put in place when you reopen? Think environmental sensory cues across your online and offline customer/team journeys’ that prime safety consciously and unconsciously.
Literally Contactless: Set up pre-ordering systems and look at app payment technology that takes contactless payment further, like Wagamamas’ “Walk Out and Pay”.
Getting Street Smart: Taking inspiration from the food stalls of European markets, success could be made by changing your service flow to be more “street”. High bar and stools spaced apart allow diners to stand in their own groups, food served on disposables, a simple at counter or bar ordering system - will remove any friction in the fear of contact during dining. Bringing the informality of street food operations into the casual dining restaurant format will be a winner. We will no doubt see the food market/hall trend further increase with a new velocity.

ESCAPISM ON STEROIDS

Social, intimate and understated excess. Restaurant design will have to be reactive to the mounting pressures on brands to meet consumers demands for a holistic, sustainable experience to combat social aniexities. Conscious escapism on steroids - with careful crafted spaces that emulate a sense of wellbeing, evokes a strong ecological purpose and offers a distinctly unique culinary, cultural experience beyond what a consumer can get from home. Restaurants will return, and return stronger more than ever to be multipurpose spaces.

💡Ideas:

Conjure Experience Beyond Bricks & Mortors: Looking at The Dream Corporation’s immersive VR cocktail bar experience ‘The Otherworld’ in Haggerston it shows you can heighten experience beyond four walls by using technology or storytelling. I am sure you would all like to escape at the moment, it doesn’t have to be VR - video, images and sound are just effective in “amping” escapism. Think Heston’s ‘Sound of the Sea’ dish.
Dine & Buy: If we are going to make fewer social outings, restaurant/market place hybrids will excel. Whilst I am out for a meal I can stock-up on all my store cupboard essentials - win, win!
Strip It Back: Realistically the rumours will be true with restaurants opening with 40/50% covers. Diversification of the business model will be everything to make ends meet. But long term if you can barely squeeze an arse cheek between your current table configuration then you need to look at stripping it back. Making spaces will suppress diners’ anxieties. Yes, I am calling it now the Evening Standards top 50 restaurants with big dining rooms.

BACK TO WORD OF MOUTH TRUST

We already struggle with trust issue in these days. There are too many gatekeepers of trust. Brands, the media, our communities, our friends and families - all fling large volumes of information at us every day through hundreds of different channels. We simply don’t have the cognitive capacity or time to verify all of it. So, we let it mount up, process what we can and what we need looking for small cues to allow us to trust what we are hearing or seeing. The current situation has amplified this. False news, fake brand storytelling, rumours - have all been given way too much oxygen in the pandemic. Our trust as a consumer is at an all-time low. Think as an operator how can I gain and reassure your customers’ trust? As this situation has brought to light, that we as brands have taken for granted for way too long an expectation to receive trust without earning it.

Look at where trust is winning in the current climate and replicate it. Acts of selfless kindness, supporting others, supporting your community, making people laugh, adding value to people’s lives - mouth to mouth, face to face trust. This is the powerful currency you as a restaurant need to be trading in. Trust will return back to the old form, by word of mouth in a community - so think how does this affect the way you communicate and operate.

💡Ideas:

Disconnect: After all of us this with us all living online disconnect your comms a tad and get back out into your community physically. Arrange a social distancing street party when we can with profits supporting your local hospital or care home.
Get Personal: Show you appreciate your customers -,trust is a two-way street. Put pen to paper and write your loyal customers a thank you card.
The Price Has To Be Right: Value is a big pillar of trust, be as price sensitive as you can as every transaction is going to be felt and if you haven’t deliver quality you will be out of the circle of trust.
Indusrty Trust: Create campaigns that show you have earnt the trust of your employees and suppliers. How can you help them more when the pace starts picking back up - maybe links to suppliers’ websites where they can buy farmhouse cheeses or wines? Maybe a digital generosity jar for waiters? Or here is a big one, publicly open the payroll to show your top tier aren’t drinking cream when the bottom tier is drinking water.

To close, don’t get disheartened. Get creative. In the words of a very wise dinosaur Doctor: “Life will find a way.” Food, drink, dining is one of the fundamental parts of our culture - we will find a way!