How AR Food Delivery is Changing the Food Industry

As COVID kept most people at home, food delivery became far more popular than ever before. It was a means for customers to take a break from cooking and support the restaurant industry. Meanwhile, many businesses relied on delivery or food pick-up services as their means to get by in the uncertain time. 

Even as people return to in-person dining, this method of revenue is still a major factor in ensuring many restaurants keep their doors open. Any way to stand out and innovate the customers’ online ordering process can go a long way in helping the restaurant succeed.

Benefits of Augmented Reality Food Delivery

Augmented Reality is providing some creative methods for restaurants to interact and engage with new and existing customers. 

For example, a customer can open a restaurant’s menu and view a three-dimensional digital rendering of the food item. This process is done by stitching together photos of the restaurant’s food at different angles to create a complete digital 3D model.

Augmented Reality Benefits for the Customer

How does Augmented Reality help the customer exactly?...

“My Eyes are Bigger Than My Stomach”

What makes you crave a certain kind of food? How many commercials on TV are devoted to showing mouth-watering close-ups of burgers or pizza or other aesthetically pleasing fare? Often a craving begins by visualizing the delicious items.

However, sometimes the pictures featured in online menus just don’t do the food justice. With an AR menu, you get to see the food’s scale and texture up close and personal. It helps drive the customer’s purchasing decision. 

Set Apart from the Competition

An AR experience can even help a customer convince others to choose this restaurant. Let’s say you want burgers for dinner but your friend wants pizza. What better way to make your case than showing what that juicy cheeseburger would look like in the room with AR?

Order Customization

Another advantage of AR is order customization. AR can show the customer what the food will look like should they choose to add or remove ingredients.

Connect the Customer to the Source

Also, some customers care a lot about the source of their food. They care if their produce, meat and seafood are organic, responsibly sourced and above all, fresh. 

AR has the ability to show the customer the food production’s source, even the boat where the fish was caught.

Augmented Reality Benefits for the Restaurant

Augmented Reality food delivery benefits the restaurant as well as the customer. It’s a win-win in the following ways.

Visual Control

AR gives restaurants more control over how they want their food to appear to their customers. 

The approximate portion would be on display so the customer has a better idea of what they’re ordering. Thus, it reduces complaints and buyer’s remorse. 

Boosts Reviews

Since reviews on Yelp and other social media platforms are so important to a restaurant’s long-term success, any method that can add to a customer’s positive experience is an invaluable attribute to your business.

Educates Your Customer

Perhaps you serve ethnic dishes or something unusual on the menu that looks aesthetically pleasing. 

With AR, this is your chance to educate your customer on an unfamiliar dish while convincing them to try something new. 

Upsell

Maybe there’s an item the business is looking to upsell. The AR experience could be applied to only certain items and not the whole menu to drive the consumer to what the restaurant wants them to notice.

Social Shares

Also, by giving the customer an interactive experience with your food, they would be more likely to share on social media. This advertises your business and expands your outreach. 

Training

AR for food delivery can also be an advantage to training staff. Before the new employee even begins their first day, they can educate themselves by interacting with everything on the AR menu. This will help the staff serve customers accurately and effectively faster than they would otherwise.

What Kinds of Businesses Besides Restaurants Could Benefit From AR?

Local food delivery is just one avenue that Augmented Reality can benefit. There are several other food industry niches that could use AR to their advantage. Here are a few of the most popular.

Meal Kits

There is an emerging market for working professionals who don’t have time to cook or meal prep for the week. To address this, there are large-scale kitchens that deliver pre-packaged healthy meals. 

For those who still like to cook their food but want to save time grocery shopping, some companies send kits. These kits contain all the ingredients and the recipes for the customer to cook themselves. 

What better way to advertise these services than to offer an AR experience? You can show the skeptical customer exactly what they’re buying.

Cross-Region Specialty Food Delivery

Another rising trend is specialized regional restaurants shipping food across the country where that kind of specific food isn’t available, such as Chicago deep dish pizza. Often this is a premium service bought for a special occasion. So, all the more important to make the customer feel secure in pressing that purchase button by offering AR.

Beer & Wine Clubs

Even beer or wine delivery services can benefit. Those who taste wine at the vineyard, or sip beer at the brewery where it’s made have a higher chance of building trust with the brand. This same principle can apply with AR. By showing customers a 3D rendering of those fields of grapes, even a vineyard halfway across the world can sell wine. 

Augmented Reality Solution Providers

Aircards is a highly experienced AR marketing developer. We’ve created Augmented Reality experiences for individual entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 companies. We can help you engage your audience and boost your sales within your budget.

Contact us today to learn more about how AR can help your restaurant take your delivery game to the next level. We’re happy to provide a free demo and consultation.

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