What is dining at home and how did it start?
As more and more people become interested in eating in rather than out, restaurant dining at home is becoming an increasingly popular trend. This trend is fuelled by a number of factors, including the convenience and comfort of dining at home, the rising cost of eating out, and the growing popularity of meal kit delivery services.
Many hospitality businesses pivoted to online deliveries as a response to ‘the lockdown years’, to maintain income whilst their restaurants remained closed. A large proportion of these have enjoyed such success with this business model they have continued to offer home-delivered meals (often frozen) – see our case study on Aktar Islam as an example.
In fact, a number of these restaurants have set up dark kitchens to produce meals solely for the home-delivered market or even turned to co-manufacturers to produce the food to their own recipes.
Why is restaurant-quality dining at home becoming more popular?
One of the biggest reasons why restaurant dining at home is becoming more popular is the convenience of being able to enjoy a restaurant-quality meal in the comfort of your own home.
With restaurant dining at home, there’s no need to worry about reservations, long wait times, or finding a babysitter – you can simply order your favourite dishes and enjoy them at your leisure, at a time that suits you.
Not only that, but you don’t need to spend a lot of time planning and preparing a whole meal; the beauty of home-delivered meals is that the prep is done for you and usually all you need to do is switch on the oven.
Restaurant-quality meals can be easily purchased, either for delivery direct to your home in thermal-insulated packaging or from the convenience aisles at your local supermarket.
Large brands such as Pizza Express, Carluccio’s, Leon and Wasabi have entered the dine-at-home market in recent years, making restaurant dining much more accessible.
Another reason why restaurant dining at home is gaining popularity is the rising cost of eating out. As the cost of dining out continues to increase, more and more people are looking for ways to save money on meals and restaurant dining at home is a great way to do that.
With restaurant dining at home, you can enjoy restaurant-quality dishes at a fraction of the cost of dining out, making it a more budget-friendly option for many people.
Additionally, the growing popularity of meal kit delivery services is helping to fuel the trend of restaurant dining at home. These services provide pre-measured ingredients and step-by-step instructions for making restaurant-quality dishes at home, making it easy for even novice cooks to create delicious meals. This has made it possible for even more people to enjoy a quality dining experience at home and has helped to make this trend more mainstream.
In summary, restaurant dining at home is an emerging trend that is gaining popularity for a number of reasons, including the convenience and comfort of dining at home, the rising cost of eating out, and the quality of meals now available for eating at home. As more and more people discover the benefits of restaurant dining at home, it’s likely that this trend will continue to grow in popularity.
How can you join the dine-at-home revolution?
If you have an established restaurant brand and an idea of where you sit in the market for retail or home-delivered food, your next step is to sort out how to get your product ready for retail.
Thankfully, our team has years of experience and we’ve written a few ideas down along with case studies to show how we’ve helped other restaurants and hospitality businesses.
Have a read through following the link below, and then get in touch with our team for personalised advice.
