Chefs+Tech: Danny Meyer Says Restaurants Must Compete for People's Time
Skift Take
Meal kits and delivery may replicate some of the satisfactions of dining out, but a restaurant's value lies in its experience. On top of everything else, restaurateurs must convince us to take the time to visit.
Editor's Note: In September we announced that Skift was expanding into food and drink with the addition of the Chefs+Tech newsletter.
We see this as a natural expansion of the Skift umbrella, bringing the big-picture view on the future of dining out, being fanatically focused on the guest experience, and at the intersection of marketing and tech.
Bonus: We now publish C+T twice weekly.
The Real Competition in Restaurants Is for People's Time
The biggest challenge facing restaurants isn’t rent or margins or tipping or marketing: It’s competing for customers’ time, according to restaurateur Danny Meyer. Speaking to CNBC, he says: “It's not that there are so many restaurants that you are competing against. I think you're competing for people's time."
In a short clip accompanying the article, the CNBC host says that restaurants have to compete with the price of food and meal kits at grocery stores, which isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison. Much of the restaurant business — at least the business that Meyer is in — is about the experience, not a cheap meal. (Even Shake Shack, his fast food chain, prices its food above the typical fast food restaurant; $5.55 for a burger and $2.99 for an order of fries.)
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