Smart food courts - the next phase

Technology is the new frontier to bring amazing number of changes in the hospitality industry. The one prominent place, tech is really driving a change is in the area of Food courts. 

The Birth 

Smart or tech-driven Food courts started with the concern that a lot of people in institutions were not getting the food that they wanted and it was turning into a real concern for students and corporations alike. It also came into realisation that a lot of institutions were facing challenges in their cafeterias as they were run by local unorganized vendors, and there were issues in terms of quality and hygiene, especially during the pandemic. Colleges and workplaces in particular were often limited by having just one particular vendor at their canteens and food spaces, which often led to limited menus and nonoptimized ordering processes.

Across the country, food courts were operating in a tried and tested manner, and were often limited by the services they could provide. This often led to a significant amount of wastages, long queues, and an overall limited experience for those who wanted to sit and have a good meal at food courts.

The institutional and corporate catering is not the same now, independent vendors are leaving and a better, more organised space is being created by tech driven food units.And gradually the change seeping through into retail services.

The Evolution

Smart food courts is about reinventing conventional institutional food courts by pioneering tech-enabled processes in cafeterias across institutions.

It is about transforming the traditional canteen experience into one that was inspired by technology and driven by excellence.

It's about bringing a more organized cafeteria management structure to these institutions.

In a way, the pandemic spearheaded the digital transformation of traditional food courts into tech-driven ‘smart’.  

Post covid, the change in customer buying habits and safety and hygiene standards led to a rise in demand for professional players in the space.

The pandemic also led to more extensive use of digital payments, allowing forward looking hospitality brands like Isthara to be able to implement a system of contactless payments. It made it easy for customers to get their daily meals at the food courts by easily browsing through (e)menus and making payments for their dishes, all the while away from direct people contact.

The unorganized cafeterias, which has been a pain point for educational institutions and workplaces since the pandemic, is today a unique proposition due to the unique SOP driven food-tech platform introduced through smart food courts.  

The Accomplishments

The aim of smart food courts is to provide customers with a tech-centric culinary ecosystem where patrons can interact with menus, delivery services, among others. It is also to implement tech solutions across the quality control processes, and use tech solutions and tracking to ensure that the quality of food is maintained across the system.

Smart food courts also integrate mobile applications to process customer orders and a well-designed POS system to note down orders of customers visiting their food courts.

For vendors, the tech here provides them with vendor interfaces, stock management solutions, menu management solutions, machine monitoring, delivery management and many more quality-of-life features that are not prevalent in traditional food courts. 

Additionally the whole ecosystem allows the revenue team to provide insights to vendors and institutions management teams on business trends/ revenue in food courts, and SKU level information for better management and demand analysis.

Through the technology, professional food court companies have been able to gather valuable information on their customers and emerging food trends, which has in turn helped vendors create menus that are more refined and in keeping with customer demands. This technology also provides vendors with data that can help them identify unique dining patterns and preferences, thereby enhancing the overall dining experience and improving sales.

The use of technology in such an extensive form allows the curation of food experiences based on demographics of the institutions by bringing together multi culinary curated vendors. Multiple vendors are brought together and each vendor gets enough space to have their own set-up. The multi-vendor format ensures that each vendor delivers the best quality food to ensure they attract customers.

The Growth 

And with the unique adaptability of our industry operators, prominent firms have moved into the field offering and operating Smart food courts in commercial spaces such as malls, hospitals, etc. Some examples include:

• EatSure Food court: India's first, located in Erandwane and now also in Jammu, allowing unified ordering from multiple brands.

• SmartQ (Various locations): Operates tech-driven spaces in malls, tech parks, hospitals, and universities.

• Isthara: Focuses on upgrading institutional and corporate cafeterias with tech-enabled, hygienic processes.

These modernized, tech-enabled spaces are rapidly replacing traditional cafeterias to meet the demand for convenience and safety. 

With over 50 food courts currently operational in India, it is safe to say that the response to the concept of smart food courts is positive, and is set to transform the entire food court industry.

And with this, I also see a continual growth of the “Smart Restaurants”. In fact, as we talk today, changes are happening at an incredibly fast pace in larger urban markets and i predict that within a few years, it will percolate to every city and town professional establishment.

Undoubtedly there's an immense amount of potential for a new tech-inclusion and the benefits it explores and offers.

The hospitality industry is ever growing, and I expect the food court industry to also grow in a similar trajectory. Let's enjoy the ride.