The catering and hospitality industry has been slow to see the commercial advantages of investing in the best new technology. That’s the view of Alex Fisher of Bidvest 3663, who delivered the annual Savoy Lecture for networking group Arena in London recently.
To provide a telling example he looked to his own company and the contrast between its operations in the UK and in Australia.
“More than 70% of orders in Australia are placed by mobile phone or tablet, making them much more profitable. To give you an idea of how much more, the two businesses are comparable in size but the Australian business employs 45% fewer staff.
“I believe that it’s not just us as suppliers, but the whole foodservice industry has still to really embrace e-commerce.”
He moved on to identify some the issues facing the industry, suggesting margin squeeze was a major concern.
“What can we do? We might look at the retail examples of Aldi and Lidl and seek to follow their example. They have adopted a strategy of re-engineering products and packaging to provide a good product at a cheaper price.”
In fact, the retail examples were of particular relevance because of the challenge presented by the sector.
“The foodservice market is being challenged by retail, with Asda starting up an online order and delivery service for caterers and Waitrose being awarded the catering contract on Eurostar.”