What does the consumer want ?

What does the consumer want in relation to Food Delivery Services? They surely want to know that the food product they’ve ordered is fresh, safe and good. What kind of a food management system is needed? What kind of food delivery system would this require?

There are a number of new start-ups looking carefully at this question. For many, the first principle they adopt is that of transparency of information for the consumer. The Directors at foodonthemove.today, believe that:

We will need to create a new kind of Food Management System, one that is designed from the ground up and one that will succeed only if it provides the consumer with a true God’s eye view on their food

For a consumer to know that a food product is fresh, safe and good, we will need a Food Management System that can access as much information about the current food product as possible (origin of ingredients, date/time of production, shelf-life, packaging, transportation requirements, temperature, etc) and be capable of securely collecting all relevant product information (raw ingredients, etc) along the full supply chain (suppliers, restaurants, delivery team, etc).

The Food Management System would also need to provide or link up with a system or systems that help the consumer interpret and act on that data. Thankfully, new innovations and technologies like blockchain that will make this possible are being adapted and made available along with other requirements of the system.

What is being proposed is a Food Management System that integrates three key areas:

• knowledge of origin (raw ingredients, materials)
• knowledge of production (how and when it was made, etc)
• knowledge of collection (delivery, etc).

This might require the interlinking of current systems (Supply, Production, Delivery) or it might lead to the creation of an entirely new system with additional capability oriented towards consumer needs and wants. What, for instance, would a Food Management System look like if it were able to provide an answer to some or any of the following questions:

• When was the product made?
• How ‘fresh’ are the ingredients?
• By when must the product be consumed?
• Is it safe to reheat this product?
• Can I put the product in a microwave?
• Is the packaging suitable for this product?
• Is the packaging recyclable?
• What do I do if something is wrong with the product? Whom do I notify?
• What is the carbon footprint of this product?

Then, there is also another whole range of questions which can only be answered through an integrated system such as that described above:

• If I order this product (and eat it), how much of my daily salt allowance have I had?
• How many times have I ordered this product?
• How often has the product been delivered late?
• Have I been unhappy with this product before? How have I previously rated it?
• How much am I paying for this product? Is this an above the average price for a product of this type?
• Is the product truly ‘organic’ and what are its credentials?
• What is the company’s labour record? Are there issues with its employment history?
• Are there any alerts relating to this product or the ingredients of this product that I should be aware of?
• Am I recycling the packaging? Where does it go? What is the company’s record on recycling?

They are, after all, paying for the food product and will base their future buying decisions on what they have come to know about the product and their experience of it. They could also (and this is at the heart of the work of the foodonthemove.today) base their buying decisions on the availability of relevant and easily interpretable information.

In the near future, it could very well happen that if a company chooses not to provide this information, customers look elsewhere and actively choose to purchase from companies that do.

Information that is actionable is increasingly being sought by consumers who no longer base their decisions merely on price..

At the moment, nothing like the above capability exists. Foodservice professionals from organisations like foodonthemove.today, are looking to change this.

With the number of complaints about the quality and safety of delivered product increasing daily and heightened concern about the security of the food supply chain, the much needed innovation in the Food Delivery Service may well be underway.

If you would like to know more about foodonthemove.today or would like to be involved in the development of alternative food delivery platforms, please contact us.