Three-Michelin-starred chefs such as Guy Savoy, Alain Ducasse, and Anne-Sophie Pic have begun to take their offerings online, offering gourmet and bistronomic dishes for home delivery. Last December, the following was reported on TF1’s 8 p.m. newscast:
“Many French people have decided to spend New Year’s Eve at home, but that doesn’t mean they can’t treat themselves. Some restaurants and caterers have really caught on to this. Ever since the lockdown, they’ve been delivering ready-to-serve dinners—some of which are even gourmet.”
However, designing these devices remains particularly challenging for haute cuisine, which is known for its caution regarding the use of technology and for the importance it places on tradition and heritage.
Our research, conducted among industry professionals and consumers, shows, however, that there is a real opportunity for growth here—provided we focus our efforts in the right areas.
An initial qualitative study, conducted among 15 restaurant chefs and haute cuisine experts, gave us a better understanding of the concept of the digital dining experience. Five stages of the customer journey are associated with it: online ordering, click-and-collect, unpacking the package, reheating, and, finally, the tasting experience.
Faced with this unique experience, the chefs and experts interviewed expressed fears of a “loss of control.” The dining experience in a restaurant begins, in fact, with exploring the menu—which invites conversation with the waitstaff—is followed by waiting for the dishes, tasting them in the order chosen by the chef, and concludes with paying the bill. In the case of a digital dining experience, payment occurs before the meal, which suggests a greater risk for customers ordering online. Julien Guèze, pastry chef at Pierre Gagnaire, puts it this way: “ We like to get to know people; we adapt to what they like. And going through a platform runs counter to that, because we have less direct contact with customers.”
Respondents also shared their views on four fundamental dimensions of the digital dining experience:informativeness, which encompasses the functional information consumers obtain throughout the journey; entertainment, which refers to the immediate pleasure derived from the experience; social presence, which refers to the warmth and sociability felt during the experience; and sensory aspects, which relate to the aesthetic qualities of the stimuli involved in the experience.
These factors were also assessed quantitatively among 217 French gourmet diners. To do so, we created a fictional website for ordering a gourmet meal online.
The study confirms the positive influence of verbal and, above all, visual elements on a website on the evaluation of the digital dining experience. Consumers believe that this type of experience should elicit cognitive (related to the website’s informational content), affective (particularly entertainment), social, and sensory responses.
More unexpectedly, the results indicate that impressions are positively influenced by the steps of reheating and tasting the dishes, but are negatively influenced by ordering online. Another surprising finding is that, although the chefs and experts interviewed in the qualitative study reported going to great lengths to make the moment of unboxing the package extraordinary, consumers seem to pay little attention to this aspect. In short, their attention seems to be focused more on the difficulties associated with ordering online.
In recent years, chefs have recognized the value of using social media to attract customers and build relationships that foster loyalty. Delivery services have emerged as an additional way to diversify their customer base. Our research shows that digital platforms allow casual diners to become familiar with certain aspects of fine dining. This, in turn, encourages them to decide to enjoy a fine-dining experience at a restaurant.
This service ultimately seems to meet the postmodern individual’s desire for immediacy and simplicity. But this assumes that navigating the online ordering site is a pleasant experience. Chefs must realize that it’s not just about offering a delivery service; they need to think of the digital experience as a fully integrated gastronomic experience.
Chefs seem to need to showcase their dishes as works of art and express their values through visual and verbal elements—the influence of which our research has demonstrated. We even suggest including videos at every stage of the customer journey. And the choice of content should not be left to web designers, because only the chef is capable of conveying to his or her customers the dining experience he or she wishes to offer them.
