The advantages of using locally sourced products in your ghost kitchen

Advantages of using locally sourced products in your ghost kitchen

Why you should use locally sourced products in your ghost kitchen. Benefits of buying ingredients from local producers for your virtual kitchen.

Enhancing competitiveness is an essential aspect of ghost kitchens. In market environments where there is a large supply of restaurants and hospitality firms, if we want to offer a different experience, we need to offer answers to the customers’ needs.

Restaurants’ customers don’t simply buy food; they buy a gastronomic experience. And here is where locally sourced products can help to make the difference in ghost kitchen chains.

What are locally sourced products?

They are those products that are obtained from local farmers.

They are foods whose ingredients come entirely a single geographical area, and in many cases they have also been produced following craft processes, so these products are more exclusive and of higher quality.

There is an increasing sensitivity to the origin and quality of foods. Many consumers focus on the processes of production, eco-friendly approaches and sustainability.

There are ever-more specific niches in the market: for example vegan and vegetarian customers, sportspeople who want to keep in shape and are looking for a particular type of dish, or customers who are looking for classic products from one specific locality. It’s a matter of different palates that a dark kitchen chain can focus on, as it’s easier to generate customer loyalty when we are targeting a very clearly defined customer.

Choosing proximity products for the offering of your ghost kitchen and restaurant chain can mean great benefits to strengthen your brand.

Why use locally sourced products in ghost kitchens?

There are numerous reasons why it is worthwhile using locally sourced products in ghost kitchens.

Whether you are managing a chain of ghost restaurants that specialise in particular sectors or you have a generic dark kitchen, knowing the advantages of locally sourced products will help you to stand out from the crowd of competitors and identify factors that will make you more appealing to the customer.

1. Garner the support of local farmers

Local farmers who will supply their products for your virtual kitchen can be a sales channel.

The first steps are always difficult, but having local farmers on your side can open up new avenues. By word of mouth, you can attract customers in a given geographical area, which will allow you to grow and consolidate your dark kitchen.

2. Plan your purchasing ahead of time and improve logistics

When you purchase local products and ingredients for your ghost kitchen, you don’t have to make complicated logistical forecasts on how much you are going to sell.

The fact that you can receive your foods in much less time allows you to adapt nimbly to the demand, without having to make large purchases beforehand.

Through solutions like Bistrohub, you will be able to analyse your sales reports and see what products are needed, buy them in advance from local producers or order them in advance to avoid running out of stock or wasting perishable food.

3. Differentiate yourself from your competitors

Think about the reasons why someone would want to buy a dish or menu in your virtual kitchen. There are many firms in the sector, with powerful kitchen stations, able to create all kinds of dishes, especially in big cities. As the market grows, so too the competition gets bigger.

If you want many users to notice you, you must offer something different. Products sourced locally, that are not easy to find just anywhere.

4. Have the necessary resources to cope with the demand

Having local farmers you can rely on can give you a backup when there are peaks of demand in your ghost restaurants. Think that in the mobile applications and delivery platforms, when you have achieved a good positioning in the market, there may be many sales in a short time, above all on red-letter days.

Always have a varied array of local producers you can call on if you need new ingredients to cope with the demand.

5. Enhance the customer’s culinary experience

The use of local products can mean great advantages to improve the customer’s culinary experience. Even so, it is necessary to analyse the satisfaction data in order to make our purchasing decisions smartly. Listening to the comments that customers leave in your mobile application about their experience can help you improve results.

For example, opting for some local producers and not others, offering those products that the top sellers, or that meet the quality required by customers.

Having a solution that allows you to manage all orders from a single tool will be the key to avoiding errors and enable you to consult all your inventory data, making purchase forecasts and controlling the costs of ingredients, an essential aspect for your virtual restaurants to be profitable and achieve a good ROI in the short term.